PROJECT OUTLINES

List of projects:

Project 1: Biochar – manufacture and uses of biochar material

Project 2: Conversion of Plastics to Fuel
Project 3: Diesel Particulate Filters – Cleaning, Reuse and Disposal
Project 4: Drilling Muds – post use treatment
Project 5: Polystyrene Fish Boxes
Project 6: Recycling Glass for Glass Wool Insulation
Project 7: Rubber Tyres – Recycling Options
Project 8: Seaweed – Producing Alginate Products
Project 9: Sports Head Gear
Project 10: Water Purification Units
Project 11: Small Scale Wind Turbine Generators
Project 12: Photovoltaic Cells – Production and Disposal
Project 13: Mobil Coms Equipment
Project 14: Non polymer materials in car manufacture
Project 15: Polystyrene Packaging – Recycling and disposal
Project 16: Woodchip products – compressed wood materials
Project 17: Recycling High Value Metal Waste
Project 18: Power Supplies for Batteries

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Project 1: Biochar – manufacture and uses of biochar material

With the interest in carbon capture, biochar is seen by some as a useful method to
capture and store carbon. The technique is historically very common in Europe but
operated for a completely different reason. Today the acceptance of biochar as a
carbon capture technique is yet to be proven but the technology exists to convert
organic matter into essentially carbon and release gases that can be used to
generate power. Topics you may like to consider in this project are:

 The technology to produce biochar

 The source of raw material and the burden of transporting this to your
manufacturing site
 Distribution of the product - the markets
 Volatility of costs - the energy costs to manufacture and the selling price of
the product.

Project 2: Conversion of Plastics to Fuel

With rising landfill costs, disposal of plastic is a big issue today. One recent method
that has worked in the laboratory but yet proven on a commercial scale is the
chemical conversion of plastic material into liquid fuel. The sustainability of the
process however is governed not only by the efficiency of the chemical conversion
but more about the supply of the correct plastic (collection, sorting, transportation),
the mechanical shredding of plastic to make it suitable for the conversion process.
Your project should cover the supply of correct plastic, the issues in treating
segregated and non-segregated plastic and the variability in supply of fuel via the
plastic to fuel conversion process.

Project 3: Diesel Particulate Filters – Cleaning, Reuse and Disposal

The current UK low car tax on certain diesel cars has meant there is incentives for
drivers to switch from petrol to diesel cars. However, for the short journeys in city
traffic, the DPF (diesel particulate filter) has raised doubts in some customers that it
is economic to switch to diesel cars; replacing the DPF can be costly. Most DPF units
contain a catalyst material that often contains high valued metals. Your project is to
look at the collection of used DPF units, the potential to clean these, recycle the units
or safely recover the key metals from the unit.

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Project 4: Drilling Muds – post use treatment

For the offshore oil and gas industry, regulations on the disposal at sea of
contaminated waste from drilling operations has meant that companies need to
invest in methods to safely treat drilling mud used to lubricate and remove drilling
waste from drilling operations. There are two classes of drilling muds; those which
use biodegradable oils and those that don't. One common problem however is the
disposal of such muds after they are used. Your project can look at onshore based
processes or offshore based processes to take in these muds, treat to remove water
and oils, recover any oil components and safely dispose of the solid waste.

Project 5: Polystyrene Fish Boxes

The fishing industry uses polystyrene containers to store and transport fish produce
to markets. These boxes are then contaminated with cellular material and are usually
disposed of. Unfortunately with the cost of landfill charges rising, users and
producers of fish box containers have been looking for alternative ways to dispose
of used boxes and potentially reuse the polystyrene in these boxes. Your project
should look at the options for disposal or recovery of the polystyrene to make
alternative plastic products as a way to avoid landfilling used fish boxes. You should
consider the problem that the boxes supplied to you will be from selected areas (e.g
coastal fishing ports), and contaminated with bio-materials.

Project 6: Recycling Glass for Glass Wool Insulation

Recycling glass is a common practice and many new glass products contain a
significant amount of recycled glass. However mixed glasses (brown, clear) may
pose more of a challenge to re-use as glass products. An alternative is to convert
the glass into insulation products for the domestic and industrial sector. Your project
should look at the market for recovered glass wool insulation products, the supply of
used glass and the processes taking the glass and turning this into glass wool
products. The target market is for insulation but you may like to widen the scope to
look at alternative uses.

Project 7: Rubber Tyres – Recycling Options

Rubber as found in tyres is a combination of cross linked polymer materials that

normally use sulphur to bind rubber molecules together. This makes chemical
recovery of rubber for re-use in tyre very difficult and in some cases legislation will
ban the use of recycled rubber for certain vehicles. However there are two options;
one is to use a biological process to strip out the sulphur and produce a rubber that
is not quite at the same grade as fresh rubber, the second alternative is to use rubber
crumb in building materials. Your project can look at two processes - one is the
biological conversion route where rubber crumb is produced and treated to make

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crumb that is chemically suitable for re-vulcanisation, the second project is to look at
the production of and use of rubber crumb directly.

Project 8: Seaweed – Producing Alginate Products

Seaweed is a useful source of food material. The direct use of certain sea-weeds in
food is common in some parts of world while in others, components of seaweed have
been exploited for centuries (use as a dye, as a source of iodine). One of the more
useful products from seaweed is the alginate - alginates are naturally occurring
polymer type compounds that have several food and commercial uses; Gaviscon,
Dupont's Danisco are two examples of "food grade" alginate materials. Your project
should look at the supply of seaweed (the harvesting, drying, transport), the market
for high valued food grade alginate materials and the general process requirements
for manufacturing food grade material. You may like to focus your project in Scotland
as there is currently a resurgence of interest in harvesting sea weed from Scottish
waters.

Project 9: Sports Head Gear

As the title suggests this project is to look at the manufacture and recycling of cycle
helmets. The market and commercial aspects of helmet manufacture is challenging
given the number of helmets available but one aspect that does not seem to have
been covered is the recycling issue especially for child helmets. Cycle helmets are a
composite of several materials and designing something that can easily be recycled
is challenging. Your project can of course consider the manufacture of similar
helmets for other sporting activities. This will widen the economic scope of the project
but we would recommend you think of this as growing the business - cycle helmets
first, other sports later.

Project 10: Water Purification Units

The supply of clean drinking water to commercial operations such as hotels and for
drinking water in remote areas is of critical importance; a number of charities highlight
the need for safe drinking water in parts of the world. One method to kill off harmful
bacteria is by dosing water with chlorine dioxide. Chlorine dioxide is usually produced
in situ by addition to two solutions, which are brought together in a controlled manner
to ensure the ppm level of chloride is kept at a threshold level. For certain
applications, these units are relatively small. Your project is to look at forming a
company which supplies these small scale units. You should consider the potential
market, the technology needed to control the chemical addition and incentives that
make your units more commercially viable than the competition. You should also
consider the disposal and potential re-use of the units.

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Project 11: Small Scale Wind Turbine Generators

Wind turbine generators are a common sight especially in Scottish areas for
generating power. These are large systems where each blade can cost £xxx million.
Smaller units for the remote farm area or domestic property are also on the market
and it is this market that the project can be focused.

Your project should consider the manufacturing process for the blades, the rotating
housing and the generator, the maintenance and disposal routes once the unit is
decommissioned. You may like to consider the smaller domestic and one turbine
installation units rather than those manufactured for large scale wind farms.

Project 12: Photovoltaic Cells – Production and Disposal

Solar cells are of global interest and it is set to continue as small scale local sites are
established to generate power for domestic and light industry. Given the materials
involved in manufacturing these cells, recovery of the metal components for reuse
or recycling is of interest. Your project is to investigate the feasibility of setting up a
firm that manufactures solar cells for the domestic market (e.g the roof based panels
that the UK currently uses), and the options for recycling the cells after a period of
time in use.

Project 13: Mobil Coms Equipment

Mobile communications devices, smart phones etc have been with us for some time
and some companies have looked into the reuse and recycling of these devices.
Some companies collect and distribute these after some refurbishment. Others take
a more engineering approach by dismantling and recovering the metal components.
Your project is based on the latter - establishing a process for collecting, sorting,
disassembling, recovering and reuse of the components that make up current mobile
devices. You can widen the scope of this project by considering manufacturing
devices that are easy to disassemble via your chosen process route.

Project 14: Non polymer materials in car manufacture

A few notable car manufacturers make claims that certain components which were
polymer based are now manufactured with a certain percentage of recycled materials
or materials which come from non-polymer sources - apart from the metals involved,
car interiors come in a variety of shapes, textures and materials. Your project is to
first identify a possible product targeting domestic vehicles that can be manufactured
from sustainable non-polymer materials - this could be the dashboard, the seats, the
internal panelling but can also be related to the engine - the hose lines for example.
You should consider the re-use and/or disposal of the product when the car is
dismantled.

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Project 15: Polystyrene Packaging – Recycling and disposal

Polystyrene based foam inserts for packaging material is fairly common or at least
was until the charges for disposing of this material started to rise. Companies such
as Sony, Samsung have started work looking at alternative materials and methods
to recover polystyrene based packaging. One of the processes to reduce the volume
of polystyrene blocks is to use limonene - extracted from orange oil. Your project is
to look at one or more alternative methods (including limonene) to reduce the volume
of polystyrene packaging and provide options for the re-use or disposal of the
polymer. You need to consider the supply of the limonene solvent and transportation
of the styrene packaging.

Project 16: Woodchip products – compressed wood materials

Woodchip has been used to manufacture wood panelling and other products for a
while now (furniture, absorbent materials). Your project is to look at setting up a
company that takes in waste wood chip or low grade wood fibre and converts this
into other products including wood panels for general construction and as
compressed pellets for absorbing spills. You need to consider the reuse or disposal
of the wood product at the end of its life time (e.g burning for power or landfill).

Project 17: Recycling High Value Metal Waste

In the aerospace industry, the volume of high quality metal is significant. Most of the
engine parts of aircraft use high quality metal alloys. In the manufacturing process
there will be a significant amount of shavings produced which are usually
contaminated by cutting oils. To re-cycle the metal fragments, these oils must be
removed. Your project is to look at the options for treating cuttings that are
contaminated and to recover the metal fragments so that they can be re-smelted into
metal bars. Your process needs to consider what to do with the liquid waste collected
or converted depending on the process you choose. Market information for this
project may be difficult to come by and you should try and use figures for general
metal waste from alternative industries, not necessarily the aerospace industry.

Project 18: Power Supplies for Batteries

High powered portable battery packs are in high demand these days, given the
number of devices which depend on a self-contained source of electrical power - the
cordless products in the domestic market to large storage for electric cars. Your
project is to look at the manufacturing of these battery components, targeting initially
the small scale electric vehicles that we see today. You need to consider the options
for the return of the battery pack, the recovery of the high valued metals and disposal
of the battery.

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© BAKU HIGHER OIL SCHOOL