Joint venture turns old batteries into energy

W2 Energy, Inc., a developer of mass-to-energy technology, and Toxco, Inc., a battery recycler, announced they have entered into a joint venture in which W2 Energy will take approximately 600 tons yearly of carbon cake and plastics generated in Toxco’s battery recycling plant in British Columbia and will convert that battery waste into electricity and ultra low sulfur diesel.

Through its Big Green Box program, Toxco receives batteries of all sorts from some of the largest and most environmentally progressive companies, municipalities and educational institutions in North America. Using a set of proprietary processes, Toxco safely strips the metals out of these batteries and sells it. Up until now Toxco has been sending the shredded battery cases to the landfill.

W2 Energy takes this waste, primarily plastic and carbon, and converts it to electricity and diesel fuel using a set of technologies developed over the last nine years.

W2 Energy’s technology will convert the hydrogen, carbon and oxygen which comprise Toxco’s battery waste into a renewable source of fuel and electricity.

W2 Energy will be building a mobile mass-to-energy unit which will fit on a single 45 foot truck trailer. Inside the truck will be a complete mass-to-energy plant which will process up to four tons per day of plastic and carbon waste. While this plant will require electricity to start it, once running, W2 Energy’s low temperature gasifier and high efficiency steam engine will actually generate excess electricity. The resulting synthetic gas will be converted into liquid fuel. That fuel will either be used by Toxco or sold to a fuel blender for resale.

The carbon and nitrogen oxides normally generated by combusting waste will be sequestered in the W2 Energy’s algae reactor, in which various strains of algae will grow on these flue gases. The resulting algae will be gasified and turned into more fuel and electricity.