ATP-Funded Green Process Technologies - NIST Advanced ...

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• Cost-effective recycling of post-industrial and post-consumer waste streams • Reduced harmful environmental emissions, including greenhouse gases To gauge the effectiveness of ATP green process investments, ATP commissioned a study of five projects to investigate the empirical evidence of the benefits of green technologies. The following projects were selected for analysis: • Renewable-Resource-Based Plastics Manufacturing • High-Speed Identification and Sorting of Nonferrous Metal Scrap • Sorting of High-Value Engineered Plastics (to Facilitate Recycling) • Molecular Gates Technology for Cost-Effective Purification of Natural Gas • High-Intensity Ultraviolet Lamp Systems for Water Treatment and Paint Stripping These projects spanned applications in food packaging, textiles, metals, durable goods, coal mining, natural gas production, and wastewater treatment. To date, four projects have achieved some degree of commercialization and are beginning to generate green benefits, with more significant benefits yet to come. One project, which has not yet achieved commercialization, also has near-term commercial prospects with identifiable green benefits for U.S. industry and society. Two of the five projects that have proceeded beyond early commercialization were selected for detailed case studies, including the quantitative analysis of benefits and costs: • Renewable-Resource-Based Plastics Manufacturing, with applications in the food packaging and textiles industries • High-Speed Identification and Sorting of Nonferrous Metal Scrap—an enabling technology for cost-effective recycling of valuable post-industrial and postconsumer scrap—with applications in the metals, aerospace, and automotive industries Detailed case studies identified key technical accomplishments and pathways to market and quantified energy savings, efficiency gains, and greenhouse gas benefits. Benefits from the remaining three projects were assessed on a qualitative basis. Future economic analysis may determine that their benefits can also be captured and quantified. This report describes the results of the two detailed case studies and the results of three mini-studies that highlight green process technology projects. Data collection and analysis were started in 2005 and completed in early 2006. viii ATP-FUNDED GREEN PROCESS TECHNOLOGIES
Case Study: Renewable-Resource-Based Plastics Manufacturing Cargill, Inc. of Minnetonka, Minnesota and its wholly owned subsidiary NatureWorks developed an innovative process technology, with ATP funding, that uses U.S.-grown corn as feedstock for the cost-effective manufacturing of polylactic acid (PLA) resins. A fundamental methodology for controlling PLA crystallinity was worked out and used to develop processing technologies to achieve resin properties for a variety of polymer products. PLA resins can replace feedstock derived from imported petroleum and are used to make polymer products for food packaging and textiles applications. Commercial-scale operations started in 2003. Two-thirds of PLA production is exported to international markets and one-third sold in domestic U.S. markets. Green benefits from commercial operations are projected to include reduced overall energy requirements for plastics manufacturing, substantially reduced utilization of imported petroleum-derived feedstock along with increased feedstock cost stability, avoided landfilling of post-consumer plastic wastes (which can be composted when plastics are made from corn-based feedstock), and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Public benefits to industrial customers as well as benefits to society were quantified on the basis of a conservatively estimated production volume of less than 34 million pounds of PLA in 2003 and projected volume of 100 million pounds in 2015. Public returns on ATP’s investment over the 1996–2017 study period are summarized through performance metrics that indicate net present values of $21–$50 million and benefits of $11–$24 for every dollar invested by ATP. Private benefits to Cargill and NatureWorks were excluded. Economic performance metrics reflect green benefits and cost savings from the use of the ATP-funded PLA process technology in the food packaging and textile industries. Case Study: High-Speed Identification and Sorting of Nonferrous Metal Scrap wTe Corporation of Bedford, Massachusetts used ATP funding to develop a proprietary alloy-sorting technology for cost-effective sorting of nonferrous metal scrap including titanium alloys, superalloys, and aluminum alloys, thereby facilitating the increased recycling of these valuable metals. A wide range of green benefits can be traced to this ATP-funded technology project, including upgrading of mixed nonferrous metal scrap for highest-value use, avoiding outright waste of some metal scrap that cannot currently be recycled on a costeffective basis, reducing energy use by facilitating less energy–intensive secondary smelting, reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with primary alloy production, and reducing import dependence for titanium and nickel metal concentrates used in the primary production of titanium alloys and nickel-based superalloys. Executive Summary ix
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The net present value of the ATP in
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The net present value of the ATP in
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Table 10: Reduced Petroleum Use—P
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4. Case Study: High-Speed Identific
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In addition, an active advisory boa
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Figure 6: Proposed Two-Stage Approa
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Technical Accomplishments In 2003,
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Titanium Alloy Sorting Titanium scr
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U.S. annual consumption in 2005 was
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Table 11: Approximate U.S. Titanium
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The primary application, however, r
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Table 12: Approximate U.S. Superall
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Figure 13: Aluminum Production Scra
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• Intermediate-size pieces of les
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Table 14: Avoided CO 2 Generation f
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To properly attribute well-timed an
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Given that 2005 cash flows represen
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OTHER BENEFITS The ATP-funded alloy
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5. Mini-studies of ATP-Funded Green
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MOLECULAR GATES TECHNOLOGY FOR THE
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Both water disinfection and lead ab
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6. Green Technologies that Promote
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proposition was borne out in the tw
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ATP has funded a broad spectrum of
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7. Conclusions ATP provided early a
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which mini-studies have been comple
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BioCycle. 1999. “Food Residuals C
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Langston, L. 2006. “Crown Jewels:
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Vink, E., K. Rabago, D. Glassner, a
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