The new raw materials that could save the economy and the environment
During the third session of the Circular Economy conference series, we got to know more about the solutions offered by Blue Plasma Power, Repsol, and Graphenea, three companies that work in the chemical recycling of waste; the incorporation of new, alternative raw materials; and in the development of new materials. The debate following their presentations was moderated by journalist Ramón Roca, director of El Periódico de la Energía (The Energy Newspaper).
Blue Plasma Power's project is based on gasification. They clean pyrolysis gases and transform them into a clean liquid gas. Their patented technology is called catalytic hydrogasification with plasma. It converts organic waste and hydrocarbons from plastics into high-value-added products. These are what we call ""green chemicals"". As CEO of the company Mario G. Araya states: ""Thanks to our technology, waste that now goes to landfills can be converted into products to be reused in the manufacture of resins."" Additionally, during this process, other waste can be reused in the construction sector.
One of Repsol's strategic commitments is to reach Net Zero CO2 Emissions by 2050, which is why it has more than 200 circular economy initiatives in 14 countries with investments totalling more than €10 M. Carolina Ibáñez is the manager of environmental development and coordinator of the Circular Economy Committee for the company, and she presented the company's main lines of work. ""We design our products while focusing on minimizing raw material consumption during their production; we optimize resources and processes so that waste can have a new life; we manufacture our products from raw materials that come from waste and are produced using renewable energy sources; and we also drive new consumption patterns by encouraging renting over buying."" The company is already working on products like Reciclex, a new material created from plastic waste, and biofuels made from used oils, wine alcohols from the wine industry, and waste from the food industry.
In Tuesday's session, we also learned more about graphene, a material discovered in 2004 that the company Graphenea synthesises for its subsequent application in the energy, data, electronic, and biomedical technology sectors. Jesús de la Fuente, CEO and founder of the company, explained their two lines of work and stressed that although advanced materials typically take many years before they have an impact in the market, graphene is advancing much more quickly: In Spain, we have a lot of talent, top-level scientific teams, and a leading industrial network in various sectors, so graphene has a chance to provide many opportunities in the market in our country. Now we only need to trust in it a bit more.""