3FOOD

Third Industrial Revolution Consulting Group
and innovation (RDI) is focused on advanced technologies like microwave plasma for
transforming organic quantities of wastes and bio-refuse into biogas, high value carbon
graphite, and renewable hydrogen. PLASCARB explains the microwave plasma process:
“Molecular cleavage using plasma is well known. This microwave plasma technology involves
microwave induced plasma to energy efficiently cleave CH4 [methane] into graphitic carbon
and hydrogen, with no CO 2 emissions. The process uses non-equilibrium (or ’cold’) plasma
induced by microwave energy from magnetrons. Microwaves provide a unique means of
efficiently transferring energy directly into the electron bonds in gas molecules. In this nonequilibrium
plasma, ionisation and chemical processes are directly determined by electron
temperatures, and therefore not as sensitive to thermal processes and the gas ion temperature
as thermal plasma. This enables increased energy efficiency, milder process conditions and
reduced process complexity. The key element of innovation is the generation of large homogeneous
non-equilibrium plasma zones for cracking methane into valuable carbon products at
atmospheric pressure with potential for industrial scale operation.” 149
It is unknown as to when the promising ultra-high-efficiency, ultra-low emission microwave
plasma technology will become commercially available and competitive with existing and other
new innovative waste conversion technologies. More immediately, it is worth exploring the
application of ICT/IoT technologies to enhance tracking these material flows, and determining
which of the separated food wastes can be soil composted rather than incinerated or landfilled.
ORGANIC WASTE & BIO-REFUSE DEFINITIONS
“Food waste can be defined as avoidable (e.g. left overs on a plate), partly avoidable (depends
on the personal habits of the consumer, e.g. skin of an apple) and not avoidable fractions (e.g.
bones). In order to have a clearer opinion on waste types it is important to define the
differences between food waste, organic waste, biodegradable waste and bio-waste.
Food waste: Food waste or food loss is food that is discarded or cannot be used.
Organic waste: Organic waste is anything that comes from plants or animals that is
biodegradable
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTURBANDEVELOPMENT/0,,contentMDK:23172887~pa
gePK:210058~piPK:210062~theSitePK:337178,00.html.
149 PLASCARB (2016) Microwave Plasma, http://www.plascarb.eu/microwave_plasma.
178