Municipal Solid Waste

Circular Economy
WPT15K – Depolymerisation Unit
PhDr. Svätopluk Zeman, CSc.

7th International Conference

Wallop of Globalisation in Engg- Medi-Sci-Agri-Pharm-Tech Research
held by Svami Vivekanand University Sagar, M.P.
on 27th and 28th of February 2019
at the occasion of National Science Day of India
 „One of the most ancient scriptures, the Atharva Veda, spells out
माताभूमि: पुत्रोहंपृथिव्या
This is the ideal we seek to live through our actions. We believe that all resources and all wealth
belong to Nature and the Almighty. We are just the trustees or managers of this wealth. Mahatma
Slide № 2 /***
Gandhi too, advocated this trusteeship philosophy.“
 Prehistory
o At the end of the last year I worked with my colleagues on a prefeasibility
study of a large investment project in Turkey. Slovak based company, owned
by Turkish citizens, decided
to establish an industrial compound in the region of Istanbul,
with two distinct units
o machine engineering production, and
o processing of municipal solid waste.
o The machine engineering unit will manufacture the technology for the thermal
depolymerisation, developed, and designed by small innovative Slovak
company WPTech Ltd.
o The very first buyer of this technology will be the same Turkish company as
they intend to enter into the branch of waste processing and envisage to
reprocess about 600 mt a day of municipal solid waste from broader urban area
of Istanbul.

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 Simple facts – Instead of introduction
Region Indic. Country %
Africa average --- 38.9
Africa min Burundi 10.6
Africa max Gabon 85.7
Americas average --- 61.0
Americas min Trinidad and Tobago 9.1
Americas --- USA 80.8
Americas max Uruguay 94.4
Eastern Mediterranean average --- 65.5
Eastern Mediterranean min Yemen 24.7
Eastern Mediterranean max Qatar 98.7
Europe average --- 68.5
Europe min Tajikistan 26.5
Europe max Monaco 100.0
South-East Asia average --- 32.6
South-East Asia min Nepal 16.8
South-East Asia --- India 30.9
South-East Asia max Indonesia 49.9
Western Pacific average --- 56.1
Western Pacific min Cambodia 13.0
Western Pacific --- Australia 88.7
Western Pacific --- Japan 90.5
Western Pacific max Nauru 100.0
Western Pacific max Singapore 100.0

Source of data - http://apps.who.int/gho/data/node.main.nURBPOP?lang

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 Simple facts – Instead of introduction
o The most conspicous reason why the MSW has been selected is apparent – in
the last one or two decades this waste segment has been growing very fast due
to fact that the number of urban population has increased substantially –
probably in the year 2010 the magical limit has been trespassed – and these
days more than a half of all humans lives in urban or urban-like areas.

Countryside is being depopulated and the cities - overpopulated.

o And this pertains very much India, which still has more than half of its
population in rural communities but is exposed to very strong inflow of
population from rural areas to the exploding cities. Moreover ...

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 Simple facts – Instead of introduction
Supreme Court On Waste Management:
India Will Go Down Under Garbage One Day
March 28, 2018 6:29 PM
New Delhi: Taking strong objections to non-implementation of 
solid waste management rules in the country, the Supreme Court on Tuesday
said “India will go down under the garbage one day”. The top court said that
days are not far when garbage mounds at the Ghazipur landfill site in Delhi
 will match the height of iconic 73-metre high Qutub Minar and red beacon
light will have to be used to ward off aircraft.” 
https://swachhindia.ndtv.com/india-will-go-garbage-one-day-supreme-court-waste-management-18529/

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 Daily confrontation – Lessons to learn
Especially in the urban areas, it is the waste
which lets to know everybody that there are limits
to growth and the illusion of unceassing linear
expansion is not substantiated already on
level of individual day-to-day life. Is here
someone who has not seen this sign yet?
For sure, not. The 3 R‘s depecited became
probably the most famouse sign in the world.
In my view, it indicates – among others –
the end of one era in the history of human-
kind - the industrial one. For me it is not only
simple and symbolic sign calling all to recycle,
it is also warning sing ...

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 Daily confrontation – Lesson to learn
Life in all its forms is by its nature
cyclical, and there is a great circle
of life on the Earth, that must
be respected by humans,
otherwise they (humans) would
endanger or even destroy
not only themselves, but even
the whole life on Earth ...

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 Principal conclusion
Once this is known, then it would
quite normal to expect that
there will be undertaken
concerted activities to stop the
unwanted development and
to intentionaly make such
changes that humans could
survive and with them the whole
Life on Earth.

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 The change starts in the consciousness
The Earth as a cosmic unit is in principle materially closed system, the inorganic
resources are limited and final. At the same time, the life on Earth depends on
energy received from the outside, from the Sun. The conclusions is
straightforward:
o Should all humans having in mind that their number continually and
dynamically increases, spent their life on this planet in dignified conditions
then the reproduction of the human society may not continue in the old
way,
because
o it is becoming more and more clear – not only to some enlightened scholars or
politicians but also to so-called common people – that the type of societal
reproduction which currently prevails in the whole world is not sustainable,
what equals to the same – it is from the point of view of the whole mankind –
it is suicidal in full meaning of the word.

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 Sustainability – the turning point
Accummulation of waste – among other
issues - sets a question mark on
sustainability.
Once we are aware that to sustain
it is necessary to master the waste,
then we have endavour ti acheive it
at first intelectually and then also
practically.
There are different conceptual approaches, but …

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 Sustainability – not only political dimension
• Bhalswa landfill
• Campaign Clean India (स्वच्छ भारत अभिया) started by India’s Prime Minister
Narendra Modi in October 2014
• the waste causes many practical day-to-day problems
• there is also lot of scienfitic work and discussion, legal regulation, and
political campaining
• and the world is still drowning in the waste
Conceptual mastering of this situation is far from
perfect, in many respects – technically, socially etc.

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 Waste hiererchy or three Rs completed
Factors of waste management
Political: political will, multi-level governance, government
regulations (taxes, subsidies), data collection and
monitoring;
Economic: business model, cost-benefit analysis, availability of
finance, collaboration, and transparency along the
value chain;
Environmental: sustainability policy, human health impact;
Social: community perception;
Technological advances: innovation, infrastructure;
Educational: research centres, cooperation projects.

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 Waste management - 01
Institution type Example/catalytic event
Behavioural: Institutions as standardized (recognizable) social habits (1970s–present)
Cognitive: Institutions as mental models and constructs or definitions – manifested
primarily in what society expects of individuals.
Associative: Institutions as mechanisms facilitating prescribed or privileged interaction
among different private and public interests.
Regulative: Institutions as prescriptions and proscriptions.
Constitutive: Institutions setting the bounds of social relations.

Institutions of the Dutch waste management subsystem (1970–present)

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 Waste management - 02
Institution type Example/catalytic event
Behavioural: Institutions as standardized (recognizable) social habits – manifested in
activities of individuals and groups as reflections of social norms .
Recycling and domestic and industrial waste separation by individuals or
groups of individuals (1970s–present)
Cognitive: Institutions as mental models and constructs or definitions – manifested
primarily in what society expects of individuals. Lannsink’s Memorandum
(1972–79); liberalized markets (1980s); business models for
environmental management, e.g., EMAS, ISO 14001, (late 1980s);
formalized producer responsibility (1990s)
Associative: Institutions as mechanisms facilitating prescribed or privileged interaction
among different private and public interests. Policy networks around air
and water issues (1970s–present); citizens’ and producers’ networks to
define waste management policy on packaging, collecting, separating,
recycling, incineration and landfilling
Institutions of the Dutch waste management subsystem (1970–present)

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 Waste management - 03
Institution type Example/catalytic event

Regulative: Institutions as prescriptions and proscriptions. Surface water and air

pollution legislation (1970s); covenants (1980s, 1990s); Lansink’s Ladder
(1980s– present); incineration guidelines (1980s); environmental audits
(1990s)
Constitutive: Institutions setting the bounds of social relations. Government
environmental departments (1970s); organizational waste management
divisions (1990s); NMPþ (1980s, 1990s, 2000); Liberalized waste markets
(1990s); formalized producer responsibility (1999); National Waste Plan
(2000)

Institutions of the Dutch waste management subsystem (1970–present)

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 Waste hiererchy or three Rs completed
Few years after Club of Rome report, one Dutch politician,
Gerhardus Wilhelmus Adrianus Josephus
Lansink, shorly just Ad Lansink at that time not
very much known, conceived and submitted a
motion in the Dutch parliament in order to provide
a simple, unified and understandable concept or
scheme that
would serve as easily aplicable, commonly
understandable and
value oriented intellectual frame-
work for all dealings in ever greater
problems with the waste in general
and MSW especially.
This Ladder of Lansink, known
also as waste hierarchy was
adopted by the Dutch parliament in the
year 1979.

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 Waste hierarchy or how many Rs?
Few years later, one Dutch politician, Gerhardus Wilhelmus
Adrianus Josephus Lansink, shorly just
Ad Lansink at that time not very much known,
conceived and submitted a motion
for adoption of a law on waste to the Dutch
Parliament in the year1979.
The chart on left is know as Lansink’s
Ladder or waste hierarchy [of Lansink].
It was subjected to many criticism but it
proved itself in the practice to be
a simple, generally understandable
scheme that provide main
guideline to all entities involved
in any possible way in the broad
sphere of waste
- from production over consumption down to disposal.

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 First things first
The process
1 Stigmatization
2 Environmental aspects
3 Macro-economical effects
4 Market failures
5 Consumer behaviour
6 Insufficient quality
7 Global barriers
8 Lagging technology
9 Downcycling and energy losses

Author of this scheme is

Ad Lansink

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 Circular economy

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by TERI, New Delhi,
INDIA
 Circular economy - Kernels of crystalisation

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 What next?
It‘s up to each individual to decide.
But each should have in mind:
Society may progress only if individuals progress.
Indivudual progress most efficiently
if they progress jointly.
Cooperation in on all the levels and among all social units
is thus a must to preserve the Earth.

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 What to do practically?
If the old ways to handle and treat the muncipal solid
waste are not efficient then there is the need to look for
new ones. And if possible for excellent ones that would
not only outperform the avialable ones but that would
also respect local conditions – technical, economic, but
also social and moral.
Is there such an excellent technology?

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 Excellent technology
But ... what are the criteria for an excellent technology?
It is generally acccpeted tha it should
 Be able to use a wide range of different waste materials!
 Work without toxic byproducts and zero pollution!
 Work efficiently!
 Have short payback time!
It should be
 Of simple design and durable materials,
 Easy and safe to operate.

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 A Slovak Contribution
PW Tech Ltd., a Slovak company has developed
such technology to treat organic components of
municipal solid waste.
So, let‘s have a short look at the technology this small
company invented, manufactures and offers the world
to alleviate the problems of municipal solid waste not
only in their small country.

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 WPT15K by WP Tech Ltd.
The processing line WPT15K is a depolymerisation line which
belongs to the technology family of
Waste-to-Energy (WtE), or
Organics to Electricity and Heat (OtEaH).
It means that it converts organic part, consisting of carbohydrate
substances of MSW to energy carriers – liquid and gaseous.
These in their turn maybe used on the spot for generation of
electricity and/or heat, or sold to other customers.

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 Processing of MSW
Any treatment of Municipal Solid Waste consists of several operations
which may be technically performed in various means and ways:

 Collection of MSW;
 Sorting of MSW;
 Pretreatment of sorted MSW (crushing, drying)
 Proper treatment by the selected technology,

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 Features of WPT15K (1)
WP TECH TECHNOLOGY OPERATION
The WPTECH Technology lines consist of the following main units:

 Loading/Dosing equipment;
 Extruder;
 Two chambers of reactor in series;
 Cracking unit (third chamber); DEPOLYMERISATION
 Condensation and gas-cleaning equipment;
 Other ancillary equipment...
 (Continuation on the next page)

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 Features of WPT15K (2)
Depolymerisation – What is it?
The WPT technology treats the separate of MSW containing organic
and/or carbohydrate substances by heat and pressure to depolymerise
them, i.e. to break the long molecules into shorter polymers and of
monomers.
In waste-to-energy industry equipment working with temperature below
600 °C usually called depolymerisation units, optionally using a catalyst to
initiate the degradation of polymers. Devices working with temperature
above 600 °C are usually called pyrolytic reactors and there is no catalyst
usually needed/used.  

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 Features of WPT15K (3)
There are several unique features of WPT15K technology:
o It is a Zero-Waste Technology, no unwanted emmission in to the
environment during its operation;
o It is of modular design so it allows for variable system design based on
several scalable principal units, each line could be tailored so to fit the
local conditions and aims of the project;
o It is of compact design, the main processing unit is lodged in a
container, and so it is practically movable;
o It is made of high quality materials that warrant long working life and
operational safety;

(Continuation on the next page)

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 Features of WPT15K (4)
o It is a small, simple, and safe equipment – forget not: SMALL IS
BEAUTIFUL - what provides for its universality, it maybe a small MSW
processing unit or it maybe a large one if several small units are
installed according to the available volume of waste;
o It is almost energetically self-sufficient, as it does not need for its
operation external source of heat only electricity from the grid;
o It is equipped with our proprietary and patent protected system of
automatic regulation that enables and warrants that the end products
liquid and/or gaseous fuels and pyrolytic coke are of highest possible
quality at the given input waste.

(Continuation on the next page)

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 Features of WPT15K (5)
o The output product type and share depend on the input waste
composition and selected technology setting:
• liquid and gaseous fuel in the range of 40% -80% of the input mass, and,
• the pyrolytic coke in the range 8% -15% of, whereby the rule is
The higher the share of plastic materials in the hydrocarbon materials contained
in the processed waste, the higher will be the share of liquid fraction in the final
product of depolymerisation and it will be of higher calorific value,
and mutatis mutandis
the lower the share of plastic materials the lower will the share of liquid fraction
in the final product of depolymerisation and it will be of lower calorific value.

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 Features of WPT15K (6)
o The processing capacity of WPT lines ranges from 200 kg/hr to 2,500
kg/hr depending on the selected design.

Overview of processing capacity by various models

Item Technology Line Specific Capacity
mt/hr 0.25 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50
working hours/day 20 20 20 20 20 20
mt/day 5.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0
working days/year 341 341 341 341 341 341
mt/year 1,705 3,410 6,820 10,230 13,640 17,050
INCREMENT 0.50 mt/hr  

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 WPT15K by WP Tech Ltd.
WP TECH TECHNOLOGY INSTALATION
1. Shredder, 2. Sorting unit,
3. Multi-phase processing unit,

4. Control unit, 5. Fuel tanks, 6. Co-generation unit

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 WPT 15K by WPTech Ltd.
One of the advantages of WPT Technology is its compact and modular design
that provides for simple extension of processing capacity by lineing the units
as needed.

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 WPT Installation in Iža, Slovakia
Pictures of demonstrative installemtn of the technology in municipality of Iža, Slovakia (GSM - 47°45'0.13"N, 18°15'14.32„E)

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 WPT Installation in Iža, Slovakia
Pictures of demonstrative installemtn of the technology in municipality of Iža, Slovakia (GSM - 47°45'0.13"N, 18°15'14.32„E)

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 WPT Installation in Iža, Slovakia
Pictures of demonstrative installemtn of the technology in municipality of Iža, Slovakia (GSM - 47°45'0.13"N, 18°15'14.32„E)

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 WPT Installation in Iža, Slovakia
Pictures of demonstrative installemtn of the technology in municipality of Iža, Slovakia (GSM - 47°45'0.13"N, 18°15'14.32„E)

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 WPT Installation in Iža, Slovakia
Pictures of demonstrative installemtn of the technology in municipality of Iža, Slovakia (GSM - 47°45'0.13"N, 18°15'14.32„E)

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 WPT Installation in Iža, Slovakia
Pictures of demonstrative installemtn of the technology in municipality of Iža, Slovakia (GSM - 47°45'0.13"N, 18°15'14.32„E)

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 WPT Installation in Iža, Slovakia
Pictures of demonstrative installemtn of the technology in municipality of Iža, Slovakia (GSM - 47°45'0.13"N, 18°15'14.32„E)

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 WPT Installation in Iža, Slovakia
Pictures of demonstrative installemtn of the technology in municipality of Iža, Slovakia (GSM - 47°45'0.13"N, 18°15'14.32„E)

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 WPT Installation in Iža, Slovakia
Pictures of demonstrative installemtn of the technology in municipality of Iža, Slovakia (GSM - 47°45'0.13"N, 18°15'14.32„E)

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 WPT Installation in Iža, Slovakia
Pictures of demonstrative installemtn of the technology in municipality of Iža, Slovakia (GSM - 47°45'0.13"N, 18°15'14.32„E)

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 Vistas for cooperation
Management of the company WP Tech s.r.o. [Ltd.] consists of two
Chief executive officers:
JUDr. Samuel Vlčan, 
Ing. Juraj Járik.
Their small company works in the field of technology development and has
achieved internationally acknowledged results.
The management is interested in cooperation with foreign partners as they
partners that would
• - manufacture the equipment in their country,
• install and maintain it.
In case of interest for cooperation, kindly contact the author of this presentation.

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 ध्यान देने के लिए धन्यवाद
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION
Contact person for interested parties from India:
Dr. Svätopluk Zeman, CSc.
Retired university lecturer, advisor in renewable energy
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +421 (2)64 9778 414
Cell: +421 905 919 664

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