The market
The global calcium carbonate market (CACO3) has crossed the magic bar of 100 million tonnes and should continue to grow to reach $ 35 billion by 2015. Consumption growth in the Asian market should exceed 7 % D 'here 2017. China represents around 70 percent of world production. Calcium carbonate is an inorganic mineral used as a contribution in paper, plastics, coverings as well as Talc and Kaolin for personal care. The paper industry represents the most important market since the mineral generates a highly requested shine, without it being necessary to add chlorine which has recently been eliminated because of its harmful effects on health and the environment. Unlisted wood -free paper, which represents almost 40 % of the total paper market, is the main end user of calcium carbonate intake. Calcium carbonate is not toxic and, to a certain degree of purity, it can be used as direct food additive or as an ingredient for cosmetics and even pharmaceuticals. Its use in writing tools has decreased with the advent of chemical -based pencils. The pearls, shells, fish edges and corals are important deposits of this highly alkaline mineral which would potentially have an increasing demand if it was not limited by mining. Calcium carbonate was produced commercially for the first time in 1841 in the United Kingdom by treating calcium chloride with sodium carbonate. For a century, calcium carbonate has been extracted from lime stone. Today, the largest producer in the world is specialty minerals Inc. (SMI), a subsidiary of manufacturing technologies (USA), which produces more than 4 million tonnes of calcium carbonate per year in 55 factories located in 18 countries , for a turnover of nearly $ 600 million. The largest producer in India is Kunal Calcium Limited, a company that has quintuplet its production over the past decade, which testifies to a sharp increase in consumption in Asia.
Innovation
The main raw material of calcium carbonate is limestone extracted. Most limestones are skeletal fragments of marine organizations, especially corals. Extraction and treatment are usually done on site. Limestone was a popular building material in the Middle Ages, but due to its reactivity to acids, historical buildings were seriously damaged by acid rain and have lost all favor in this climate where acid water and air dominate the urban environment. Pure calcium carbonate as a food or medicinal additive is made from marble, and cosmetics sometimes contain crushed pearls. The dissolved calcium carbonate is in abundance in water, which causes the hardness of the water, the tartar of the pipes and causes damage, especially in water boilers. The chemical process for softening water is based on sodium or phosphates. This makes calcium carbonate unusable for any commercial application, and even worse, the use of phosphates makes water unfit for consumption. Unfortunately, none of the wastewater treatments can effectively eliminate calcium carbonate as a by-product, so that its presence costs more in maintenance and reduces the lifespan of equipment. Brendon Risby was fascinated by vortex technology which was described for the first time by Viktor Schauberger about a century ago. Brendon and his father had been the pioneers of many conceptions and had exchanged very early on their drawings with Curt Hallberg, which successfully developed vortex applications for water conditioning through the company WATRECO AB ( see cases 1). Unlike CURT, Brendon studied possible use of the vortex to separate the materials and one of its first commercial applications was the treatment of organic waste. He studied how to grind, dry and sort waste to obtain high -value products. It focuses on the local waste treatment using this swirling movement which follows a precise mathematical algorithm. He was able to quickly identify multiple business opportunities for his innovative use of the vortex concept. He then created a machine which treats a wide range of flows, peat and sludge to drying sand and the treatment of clay, through specific waste flows such as recycling the worn carpet tiles. This vortex -based device was then baptized "Vortair Processor". In 2009, Brendon created with its partners Agroplas A/S, a Norvégo-British company which focuses on the transformation of research results into intellectual property and business models for construction-exploitation. In fact, Agroplas is devoted to transforming the negative cost of waste into sustainable value products that generate income.
The first cash flow
One of the first flows of waste on which Brendon concentrated was the egg shells, considered as a cost in the covers and food processing factories. In Europe alone, it is estimated that 150,000 tonnes of egg shells are discharged each year at a cost of 50 to 200 euros per ton depending on the place. More than half a million tonnes of egg shells are thrown into China. As egg shells are a well -known source of pharmaceutical quality calcium carbonate, the key is to separate the membranes from the shell. This originally tedious and costly process is greatly simplified by the Vortair machine, transforming this waste into a precious source of renewable calcium carbonate, without membrane, without needing any mobile or human hand. A Vortair unit can process 10,000 tonnes of egg waste at an early cost of 6 euros per tonne, thus offering an income which is a multiple. High quality calcium carbonate treated without the use of chemicals and with a minimum of energy offers a potential income of 1,300 euros per tonne. This breakthrough is likely to make a major change in the high -end calcium carbonate market, going from millions of dollars in marble shredded to hundreds of millions of dollars in potential income. Vortair is the only known technology capable of effective and profitable recycling of eggs. The conversion of waste in a renewable raw material improving the competitiveness of the industry while reducing mining needs is one of the priorities of the blue economy.
The opportunity
While this technology was launched commercially in 2011, it is expected that only the local transformation of egg shells can lead to the creation of 30 to 50 new businesses, all operating a vortair in relation to a large complex industrial. The same principle could apply to paper sludge which, due to their clay content, are landfill as waste. The Vortair first separates water and then produces two dried substances, one with organic fibers and the other with non -organic clay. The two lend themselves to commercial reuse and sale. With a treatment capacity of residual sludge from paper recycling of 25,000 tonnes per year, this innovation not only reduces discharges, but also to increase potential income without the need to resort to drying or pressing to a high energy cost. European paper recycling factories remove approximately 20 million tonnes of paper sludge per year. This implies that this innovation has the potential to lead to the creation of 800 processing factories which could be established in the European Union alone, thus reducing discharges and generating income. Entrepreneurs, where are you? It is not surprising that the potential for reducing landfill and increased revenue has prompted some municipal companies to take the lead and innovate. The first municipal company in the world which decided to invest in these innovations presented by Brendon and its team is the city of Drammen in Norway. Since 2001, citizens have decided to recover as many resources as possible from waste and they have created Lindum A/S to reduce the use of landfills, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce the consumption of raw materials, reduce energy consumption and increase income for the city. The company has made a net profit of around one million euros per year. With its first decade of success, Lindum is now associated with AgroPlas to demonstrate the potential to transform waste management into a material supply chain which makes the community more competitive, by creating jobs and orienting companies to sustainability. Who said that there are only entrepreneurs in the private sector?
