Transformer des déchets plastiques en carburant. C’est le pari que s’est lancé une start-up kényane, Progreen Innovations. Elle utilise la technique de la pyrolyse. Les plastiques sont chauffés à une température très élevée, sans oxygène. Le combustible qui en sort est ensuite raffiné, chauffé une deuxième fois. Le résultat final peut être utilisé pour plusieurs types de moteurs. Reportage. #kenya#plastiques#startup 🔔 Abonnez-vous à notre chaîne : https://rfi.my/YTfr 🔴 Suivez RFI en DIRECT vidéo ici : https://rfi.my/YTliveFR 🌍 L’actualité du monde et de l’Afrique en direct : https://www.rfi.fr/fr/ Rejoignez-nous sur Facebook : https://rfi.my/FBfr Suivez-nous sur X (Twitter) : https://rfi.my/Xfr Découvrez l’actu en images sur Instagram : https://rfi.my/IGfr Recevez les dernières infos sur Telegram : https://rfi.my/TGfr
Afrique Economie, we are in Kenya this morning, with the bet that a start-up has launched
to transform plastic waste into fuel.
Pro Green Innovations uses the pyrolysis technique.
The plastics are heated at a very high temperature, without oxygen.
The fuel that comes out is then refined, heated a second time,
and the final result can therefore be used as fuel for several types of engines.
Report from our correspondent in Nairobi, Albane Tiroir.
For two years, James Morito has been experimenting.
His research has enabled this IT engineer to found Pro Green Innovations.
Everything happens in his garden, about 50 km from Nairobi.
A furnace connected to several pipes and a burning throne.
A strong smell of burnt plastic comes out of it.
James Morito.
Right now, we have some plastic that is incinerated.
You see the temperature controller here.
It's at 500 degrees Celsius.
The liquid goes through all these pipes, then we collect it here.
This is raw oil coming out.
It looks like the one we extract from the soil.
It's this liquid that will then be refined to make fuel.
This is what will be refined to now make some clean fuel.
Pro Green Innovations can produce up to 1000 litres of fuel per week
thanks to pyrolysis.
No need for electricity.
The heat is obtained from biomass, plant waste.
The process allows for two types of fuel, James Morito.
We have alternative petrol for low combustion engines
like water pumps, generators or lawn mowers.
And the alternative diesel that works for more powerful diesel engines
like cars.
I use it for my vehicle.
The plastic comes from the waste of the surrounding villages.
It is sorted before it is burned.
James Morito is careful.
His system avoids that these plastics end up in the environment.
The pyrolysis method is nevertheless a source of controversy.
This is what Damien Guironet, a chemistry professor
at the University of Illinois in the United States, explains.
The idea of recycling is to turn plastic into plastic.
The problem with pyrolysis is that we use oil,
we make plastic, it costs a lot of energy
and then we turn this plastic into oil again.
It's true that we can use pyrolysis oil to make plastic again
but in the end we will have lost a lot of energy.
Everything that is energy means directly
rejecting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Depending on what plastic you have in your pyrolysis,
it will release chlorine and hydrogen.
This is super harmful to the environment.
So all these small advances,
pyrolysis with biomass,
it's not the solution.
It's better than throwing these plastics into the ocean.
Only 9% of plastic waste is recycled.
Environment advocates agree.
The best solution is to limit production.
I note that ProGreen Innovation fuels
are not yet commercialized.
They must first be certified by the Office of Kenyan Standards.
