For someone whose research revolves around sustainability, Professor Thomas Maschmeyer has plenty of positive things to say about plastic. “It’s cheap. It’s light. It’s safe. It’s hygienic. Imagine the COVID-19 pandemic without plastic.”
More than 8 billion tonnes of plastic have been produced since it was invented in the 1950s. And despite your bin shuffle, only 14% of plastics are recycled, with 79% of plastic waste ending up in landfill, clogging up the oceans and being shipped from wealthy nations to poorer countries to dispose of. Microplastics have been found in both animal and human organs. It’s an environmental disaster and a global health crisis.
But what if we could not only negate the damage resulting from discarded plastics, but also use them as a renewable resource?
“We can have our cake eat it too,” says Maschmeyer.
A professor of chemistry at the University of Sydney, Maschmeyer co-invented a technology that turns plastic waste into oil to be used in fuel, chemicals or new plastic products in less than 20 minutes. That’s impressive, considering it takes nature millions of years to create the oil from scratch.
And even better, his invention, called the catalytic hydrothermal reactor (Cat-HTR), can process plastics that were previously considered un-recyclable.
We can do all plastics,” he says. “Mixed, end-of-life plastic is the worst kind – films, bits of meat trays, whatever. We can take that, whereas other people can’t.”
The process is less carbon-intensive than mining for fossil fuels to create more plastics. Plastic waste is shredded and mixed with water at a high temperature and pressure. It then goes into the Cat-HTR for around 20 minutes, where it is transformed at a chemical level back to the oil from which it came. This oil can be used for fuels or sustainable chemicals and products, which can at the end of their lifespan be fed back into the technology, where it is transformed for new use over and over again.
Maschmeyer estimates that the economic value of discarded plastic from the 1950s to today is more than a trillion dollars. As he told The Brilliant, the current approach to “recycling plastic” has had its day.
“It was pretty straightforward for people to have reasonably low-tech equipment, charge councils ‘market rates’ to take the rubbish, sort it a bit, then sell it on to China for a dollar or something, and go, ‘That was a good profit margin, wasn’t it? Let’s do some more of that,’” says Maschmeyer.
“Now that China has effectively stopped importing plastic waste by demanding much higher sorting standards, this business model is over.”
Greener pastures
Maschmeyer’s journey into sustainability started when he was asked to give a course about green chemistry in 2004. “Green chemistry principles are about avoiding toxic chemical reactants, reducing the use of solvents, and designing products for lifetime recycling into the product itself,” he says.
“Al Gore’s film had just come out about how the climate was going to the dogs. I thought, how can I go in front of all these students and say, ‘It’s going to be a great world. It’s going to be fantastic, just learn this stuff,’ when I’m thinking, maybe that’s not really true? I thought a way to remain authentic was to go out there and try to make a difference. Then I would be more credible and could talk with the power of conviction.”
But, as Maschmeyer has discovered, creating and commercialising green products in Australia isn’t easy, thanks in no small part to the ‘climate wars’ waged for the last decade by the Australian Federal Liberal and National parties.
Maschmeyer was a director and a consultant to the ASX-listed Australian Biodiesel Group, which at the time was the largest company that could take waste vegetable oils, such as used cooking oil or trap grease, and turn it into what’s now called first generation biodiesel.
“They had an 80-million-litres plant, it was all going well, and then John Howard [the-then Prime Minister] changed the legislation,” says Maschmeyer. “The benefit of renewable fuels in terms of the excise treatment was changed.”
Overnight, biodiesel went from about 20 cents cheaper per litre than fossil diesel to 25 cents more expensive, Maschmeyer recalls.
“That killed it,” he says. “Then, after we all fell down, we got up, dusted ourselves off and said, “Okay, what can we do now?’”
Maschmeyer had been designing a better reactor for the Australian Biodiesel Group, so he decided to apply the advances he had made to find a different material to convert into more sustainable fuels.
This was the birth of the Cat-HTR technology.
Initially, Maschmeyer had investigated converting brown coal into oil to reduce Australia’s reliance on importing certain grades of crude oil. But as the use of brown coal had become increasingly socially unacceptable, he shifted his attention to another potential source of fuel – biomass waste.
Biomass waste in this context is organic matter derived from forestry, agriculture or waste streams, available on a renewable basis – importantly making use of existing sources.
“There is biomass in the sugar cane industry, at paper factories and mills, builders waste. We just take what is already out there, the woody waste, the paper you can no longer recycle and then turn that into renewable oils to do with what you like, making renewable chemicals, renewable fuels, renewable lubricants, whatever it is,” he says.
And the potential?
Basically, one could replace about 10% of current fossil crude oil use with those renewable oils, without disturbing the world too much,” says Maschmeyer. “Ten to 15% is roughly what you need for chemicals. In fossil crude, about 85 to 90% goes to fuels and the rest goes to chemicals. The chemicals could be largely derived from waste biomass.”
To commercialise the Cat-HTR technology, Maschmeyer and his co-inventor, Dr Len Humphreys, founded Licella in 2007. More than AU$100 million has been invested so far.
Taking the technology to the global market
Despite the potential revenue for Australia from this homegrown invention, Maschmeyer is encountering more enthusiasm from overseas.
“The climate wars in Australia really held us back,” he says. “Australia is a little bit behind. We don’t have special zones that allow us to build new plants. They need the emission data for two years. The first plant doesn’t have that by definition, so we can’t build a first plant. Whereas in other countries, you have what’s called a sandpit, and the sandpit doesn’t have the same legislation. They have tougher legislation in terms of emission standards and reporting requirements – much tougher – but you can do new things. For your one reference plant, you’re happy to wear that tougher regulation.”
For now, two plants are fully funded. The first plant, in Canada, will be a collaboration with forestry product manufacturer, Canfor. The first plastic plant is being built in partnership with Dow Chemicals in Middlesbrough England where, according to Maschmeyer, around two-thirds of the United Kingdom’s petrochemical processing happens. And it’s just the start.
“Through our global joint venture partner, Mura Technology, we are also partnering with KBR, one of the biggest engineering companies in the world, they have taken a licence worldwide,” says Maschmeyer. “We are also partnering with Mitsubishi Chemical. The world has embraced this technology for plastic recycling. Our vision is that this will become one of the dominant global recycling technologies for bio- and plastic wastes.”
Move over Tesla, there’s a new battery in town
Not content with ridding the world of plastic and offering a route to truly sustainable fuels and chemicals, Maschmeyer has also invented the Gelion Endure a fully recyclable zinc-bromide gel battery that is safe, robust, heat tolerant, non-toxic, long-lasting, low-cost and half the weight of its lead acid counterpart.
The Gelion ENDURE battery is made from materials such as zinc, salts and carbon, which are globally abundant, and is especially suited to hot and remote environments to provide stable, inexpensive power. “Ours in the only battery that can survive under extreme heat, and it does that without the need for air-conditioning or fire suppressant equipment,” says Maschmeyer.
Such is the market interest in the Gelion that it will list on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM) at the end of November, and will be first spin-out from the University of Sydney to do so.
“Given the incredible interest we are receiving during our current roadshow, we expect the valuation to end up significantly higher than AU$250 million.” he says.
Maschmeyer’s resilience, his ability to communicate, and his commitment to finding a market for his products have been instrumental to his success.
“I think one just needs to have a weird skillset combination of academic intelligence, emotional intelligence, the ability to talk to whatever audience at their level, the ability to ‘read the room’ instantly and adjust one’s style of communication and messaging accordingly, a crazy drive, and a real belief in having a mission,” he says.
The successful ones are the scientists who say, ‘Alright, I take responsibility to shepherd that journey all the way towards something tangible.’”
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Article by Kylie Ahern
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