We have a problem with cardboard recycling. In the United Kingdom they believe that the solution is to use it in a power plant

Every day, millions of cardboard boxes leave our homes heading to the blue container. They are the last link in an accelerated consumption cycle in online commerce. However, this material, so everyday that we don’t even look at it twice, could be on the verge of an unexpected second life: becoming fuel to generate electricity on a large scale. A residue that enters the energy map. A team of engineers from Nottingham University has shown for the first time that used cardboard can be used as an effective source of biomass in power plants. The investigation, published in the journal Biomass and Bioenergycompares cardboard with a common reference for industrial biomass: eucalyptus. The engineers didn’t just watch the cardboard burn. They crushed it, studied its shape, broke down its chemistry and analyzed how it reacted to heat and what type of carbon it left behind. They even developed their own method—based on thermogravimetric analysis—to measure exactly how much calcium carbonate each sample contains. This component, common in printed cardboard, gives rigidity to the material but also conditions its behavior when burning. Thanks to this procedure, they can predict which type of cardboard will work well in an industrial boiler and which could cause problems. The science behind cardboard that burns “better.” The study did not stop at theories. He tested the combustion of cardboard in two types of systems equivalent to those used in power plants: Drop Tube Furnace: Simulates the rapid combustion of pulverized biomass.Here, the researchers observed that cardboard particles develop chars (the carbonaceous remains that remain after the first combustion phase) highly reactive, with a predominance of fine and porous structures that favor a burnout accelerated. Muffle Furnace: Simulates fluidized bed or grate systems. Even with longer residence times, the paperboard maintained its excellent combustion profile. In addition, the size and shape of the particles were characterized through an analysis with more than one million particles per sample; The tendency of cardboard to form “spongy aggregates” during grinding was observed—a challenge for its industrial handling—and characteristics such as sphericity and aspect ratio were correlated, something that could improve future combustion models. As the academic study explains, this detailed analysis allows predicting combustion efficiency and designing industrial strategies to integrate cardboard into the fuel flow. The result was very favorable. Thanks to this experiment, the engineers managed to demonstrate that cardboard has less carbon (38%) than eucalyptus (46.7%) and its calorific value is also lower (15.9–16.5 MJ/kg versus 21 MJ/kg). However, its chars are finer, porous and reactive, which accelerates combustion; In addition, it contains much more ash (8.9–10.6%, compared to 0.6% for eucalyptus), a critical aspect for boilers. What remains to be resolved? Although the technical potential is evident, the study makes it clear that cardboard is not ready to enter the boilers of a power plant tomorrow. There are three fundamental challenges that must be addressed: Management and processing problems. When ground, cardboard does not behave like wood: it forms spongy lumps of very low density that make internal transport difficult, complicate the continuous feeding of boilers and can increase the risk of blockages and accumulations. The study warns that it will be essential to adapt the grinding and feeding systems to guarantee a stable and safe flow. The behavior of calcium. Cardboard contains very high levels of CaCO₃, especially when printed. This calcium can behave in different ways depending on the temperature and type of boiler. In certain cases it raises the fusion temperature of the ashes – which is positive -; In others it can favor the formation of slag or alter the quality of the fuel. The study recommends analyzing the behavior of cardboard according to the type of plant, because not all technologies tolerate these variations in the same way. Large-scale industrial validation. Laboratory tests are promising, but the decisive step is missing: testing the cardboard in real operating conditions. According to the researchers, the industry will have to carry out tests on different technologies in boilers, evaluate emissions, study the accumulation and composition of ash and check their compatibility with existing biomass mixtures. Only then can it be determined whether the cardboard can be safely and stably integrated into the mix of biomass. An everyday material with an unexpected future. Cardboard protects pizzas, televisions, books and appliances. We recycle it without thinking too much about it. But this research from Nottingham suggests that this everyday waste could become another piece of the energy transition, helping to diversify fuels and take advantage of an abundant and local resource. Today we see it as garbage. Tomorrow it could help produce electricity. The spark has already been lit: now we need to know if the industry wants – and can – convert it into real energy. Image | Unsplash and Geograph Xataka | Selling smoke is now a business in Soria: it purifies it and sells it as CO2 to make soft drinks

The bottle has been reigning for years as the great wine format. Now competitors have come out: the tap and cardboard

When you step on a restaurant there are certain images you assume as normal. “Normal” is for example that if you ask for a cane the waiter goes to the tap in the bar and throws it with greater or lesser art. And “normal” is that if you want is a wine (Let’s put a river) That same waiter takes out a bottle and serves 150 ml in a glass. However in a time when the cane It is falling cape Things also change in viticulture. Although the bottle remains the queen is increasingly “normal” that this wine is served with a tap, cardboard or kite. And it makes sense. Of bottles and boxes. That we carry years decades associating good wine and category restaurants to good bottles does not mean that the bottle, as such, is the only way to keep it. Not even serving the client. Hoteliers have other options, such as Bag-in-Box either Keykegsthat basically rethink the way of packing and handling the broths. Instead of doing it in the lifelong bottles that close with a cork use cardboard boxes provided with a valve and with a polyethylene bag inside. Or a system of metal bariletes and taps similar to the one used for decades to serve beer reeds. Click on the image to go to Tweet. Image question. The system is not new. As explained already in 2016 Fernando Marinas, from Finca La Estacada, The Grific Wine (Wine on Tap) exists for a long time and stainless steel barrels and Disposable PET type Nor are they a novelty for companies in the sector. In the US, its use can be in fact traced to the 80s. The novelty is how they are expanding through the bars and shops in Spain and (the really curious) how that formula tries to shake the stigma that often associates cardboard packaging to poor quality wine. A tap wine, please! Although the bottle is still the undisputed queen of the sector and it will be difficult for the cards to replace them in homes, in the hospitality it is increasingly easy to meet tap wine. In a context marked by A remarkable increase In bulk wine imports, hoteliers have decided to give a chance to the Bag-in-Box and the taps. It can be checked with a rapid review of the Spanish press, but also the foreigner. In recent years, coinciding with his popularity during confinement have dedicated articles The Guardian either The Telegraph. Recently The country published Also a report in which he cited as a half example dozen premises spread over Spain in which they serve as if they were beer. And the list is only that: a small sample. There are companies Betting on bottling in keg And bars that when they are asked for a wine already give the option to serve it in different formats (glass, half jug or jug) directly from the tap. “A new language in the world of wine”, summed up a year ago Iago Pazos, of Abastos 2.0, in The voice of Galicia. “It doesn’t mean they are worth less”. The pending tap wine does not have so much to do with the product itself, logistics, transport or distribution to hoteliers as with their image. To expand, the wine packaged in Bag-in-Box and served just like the reeds must shake the prejudices that for years associate the format to the low quality broths. “They are careful wines. That they are in a box does not mean that they are worth less. On the contrary: they reach places where they were not before,” claims in The country Maite Sánchez, from the Arrayán winery. So that this idea can producers have a complex and nothing simple task: break with decades of hegemony of the bottle and its success among the clientele. He recognizes it The Galician host Juan Fernández, owner of a place with 10 taps. “We take the wines already served, in a glass or jar and there are people who look at it suspicion. Then they try it, they find that the wine is the same or better than the bottling and they already accept it. We have a work of promotion and didactics.” But … why? The million dollar question. One thing is that the wine can be transported in cardboard and served with taps, just like beer; But … Why resort to that format if the bars lead a lifetime working with bottles? For format promoters the answer is easy: the plus they provide. “Everything is advantages”, Fernández emphasizes About his wine. “It has no contact with oxygen or light and therefore the wine does not evolve and retains all its properties. And there are no risks, such as damaging the cork.” Marine too stands out Format strengths, both for warehouses, which save the expenses of the bottling, and for hoteliers or consumers, who end up being favored by that same cut. “Stainless steel does not generate product flavor migration such as other materials, which ensures that the product will maintain its organoleptic properties throughout the distribution chain,” duck. In the case of Keykeg Marinas points the same qualities, although “unlike the steel barrel does not last so much in stock.” The footprint outside the wineries and bars. In his analysis he also recalls the “ecological savings” that allows the format. “Each 20 -liter barrel equals 26.6 bottles, corks and less labels,” List Before listing other “practical advantages”, such as ease when inventoring and transporting barrels, the speed of the service or the generation of less waste in the premises itself. Of course, it clarifies that not all wines are equally suitable for the format. The most appropriate in their opinion are young people with a few months in barrel. There are producers who They claim In addition, the wine carbon footprint in bags and cardboard format is (much) less than the traditional packaging, with its bottle and cork. How much? According to Oliver Leaby The Bib Wine Company, about … Read more

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