What do you do with ten million cars scrapped in the European Union every year? A group of companies have developed the technology to convert the scrap into methanol that in turn can be used as a fuel for clean-burning fuel cells.
Metal in the car is mainly compressed and recycled. Far more difficult to recycle are bumpers, dashboards and door upholstery that make up about 20 per cent of a car's weight.
Technology developed jointly by SVZ Scharze Pumpe in east Germany, Tecpol and the Brussels Association of Plastic Manufacturers in Europe produces methanol from the shredded residue of these plastic parts, solving one of the most difficult recycling problems.
"This technology is at the moment the most modern and eco-friendly on the market because ASR (automotive shredder residue) is recycled 100 per cent," says Bernd Meyer, professor for energy technology in Freiberg, Saxony.
European legislation demands that car manufacturers recycle by the year 2006 at least 80 per cent and by the year 2015 at least 85 per cent of a scrapped car. Volkswagen and a Swiss research team are working on a similar shredder recycling scheme but the technology is expected to be ready at the earliest by the year 2006.
Technicians at the SVZ company mix the shredded car parts with a small amount of coal heating the mixture up to 1,600 degrees Celcius. The result is synthetic gas that is then converted into methanol an important component both for the chemical industry and the fuel cell market. The technology has stirred interest among automobile manufacturers. "We are negotiating with all the large German car makers," says SVZ managing director Hans-Joachim Sander.
The company is planning to recycle 140,000 tons next year which amounts to shredder residue from about 700,000 cars.
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