He toilet paper This is very necessary. Just look at how it sold out at the beginning of the pandemic, when we knew we would have to spend a long time without leaving the house. It is precisely because we use it often that it can be a source of obtaining biofuel very useful, something we have not paid enough attention to until now. A team of scientists from several Valencian companies They realized this usefulness and decided to launch an interesting project to get bioethanol which just received funding from two large companies.
On the one side, Valencian Institute for Competitiveness of Innovation (Ivace+i) and on the other hand European Union provided to the company FACSA, INDETEC and FOVASA funds necessary for the implementation of the project called CELEBRATED.
This is based on obtaining toilet paper from wastewater, for processing into bioethanol. But this is not the only raw material they intend to use. They will also prepare biofuels based on agricultural residues and hygiene products such as diapers and pads. This is a good example of a circular economy, as waste from our daily lives is used to create more efficient and less polluting fuels. These are all advantages.
Why bioethanol?
Fuel is a molecule composed primarily of carbon and hydrogen. When they come into contact with oxygen, a reaction occurs in which they form carbon dioxide and water vapor and, above all, a large number energy. We can use this energy to heat ourselves, generate electricity, or run a car. This is all very useful, but there are two big problems. On the one hand, traditional fuels such as oil are derived from fossil material, so they are limited resource. In addition, when it burns, a lot of carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere. It is one of the known greenhouse gases and its accumulation contributes to global warming.
Therefore, it is necessary to look for renewable sources of biofuels to replace fossil fuels. And one of them, without a doubt, is bioethanol. Ethanol is composed of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. It can act as fuel. It’s actually very energy efficient. But at the same time, 44–52% less greenhouse gases are released.
It can be obtained synthetically or from organic material. In the case of bioethanol, it is produced when a number of microorganisms fermented sugars present, for example, in agricultural or food waste. If these are simple sugars, then we are dealing with the so-called First generation bioethanol. On the other hand, when they are more complex sugars derived from waste products, they Second generation bioethanol.
The bioethanol that these Valencian companies will produce is second generation, as it is produced from cellulose found both in agricultural waste and in toilet paper and other hygiene products.
This is how toilet paper is transformed
In about a year, a person consumes 100 rolls of toilet paper. All this paper usually ends up in wastewaterwhere it can be given a second life to produce biofuel.
In the CELEBRE project they will do this, broadly speaking, in three stages. First of all, a filtered and sifted water to remove any remaining paper. After this he is subjected to chemical treatment so that the simple sugars that make up cellulose become more accessible to bacteria. Finally, now they can ferment sugars to form bioethanol.
This is a very innovative and necessary project, which is why some large institutions trusted it. Little by little we will see results and who knows? We may also see other companies and autonomous communities jump on the bandwagon. All to give useful life to all that toilet paper we throw down the toilet every day.
Source: Hiper Textual
