August 2010
Case 22: Clean Soap
This article introduces innovations to produce soaps as one of the 100 innovations that shape "The Blue Economy". This article is part of a broad effort to stimulate entrepreneurship, competitiveness and employment.
The Market
The world market for soaps and detergents is valued at $38 billion, the equivalent of 35 million tons of products. It is a highly concentrated business with 50 companies holding 90 percent of the market. Whereas the sector is not characterized by double digit growth rates, it continues to expand in both industrialized and developing nations at steady 1-3 percent annually. Laundry detergents account for 40 percent of the market, while soaps represent 20 percent and dishwashing detergents 15 percent. The soap and detergents business has been described as the SUV of consumer products - it is old, wasteful and costly for the consumer while profitable for the producers.
Soap used to be expensive and was only used by the wealthy until the French chemist Nicolas Leblanc found a cheap way to make soap from salt. For centuries, olive oil, widely available in France, Spain and Italy was used as the main ingredient. In the 19th century palm oil gradually replaced olive oil in formulations. The Germans first produced synthetic detergents from coal tar in 1916 and by the 1950s the industry was dominated by petroleum derivatives. The industry is capital-intensive with an average worker revenue of $700,000 per year. Due to a drive towards automation, the industry has been employing fewer workers. The US soaps and detergents companies increased turnover by 18 percent over the last decade while reducing employment over the same period with 28 percent. The market is highly diversified with a standard supermarket offering 40 different laundry detergents including liquids and powders. The industry is in a constant flux. First introduced around the turn of the millennium, liquid detergents outpace any other cleaning product by a ratio of 4 to 1. It is a remarkable development since liquid cleansers are typically priced higher than powders, thus securing better profitability and low growth markets.
The Innovation
The industry has been under constant attack for its adverse impact on the environment. The synthetic detergents simply do not degrade in cold climates leading to the "continued washing of the fishes and the frogs weeks after the laundry was done". The return to palm oil as a renewable and biodegradable active ingredient seemed a step in the right direction. Unfortunately, a dramatic increase in demand for fatty acids from palm oil lead to an expansion of palm plantations in Asia and Latin America, speeding up the destruction of the rainforest, including the obliteration of the habitat of the urang utan.
Yusuke Saraya, president of a medium-sized Japanese detergent maker Saraya realized the damage done, and the adverse trend which is not appreciated by consumers. He went on to create safe-haven corridors for wildlife, including the dwarf elephant, listed as an endangered species in Kalimantan, Indonesia. And while the larger companies have agreed to farm palm sustainably, reality is that the cleaning up of the rivers in Japan, USA and Europe cannot be at the cost of wildlife habitat in the developing world. The main innovation is not ease of use and increased performance, but rather the search for ingredients that do have unintended consequences, and does not cause collateral damage.
Whereas market leaders put their research teams on the quest for less toxic optical brighteners, more efficient enzymes, soaps that work in cold water, detergents that require less water, Vivian Stars from Louisiana set out to find an alternative use for the left-over orange peels from the local orange juice factories. As consumption of orange juice increases, the processing expanded, the left-overs - which used to be an animal feed - turned into waste due to the preservation agents used to maintain freshness between harvest and processing. As the Brazilian producers of juice started filling tankers with juice, they soon started to extract limonene from the peels. Since the extraction is rather simple, using liquid CO2, which could be harvested sustainably as well, a new business model started emerging.
The First Cash Flow
Vivian went on to create the company Naturally Yours Inc. in Louisiana and she successfully entered the institutional markets based on a different type of life cycle analysis (LCA). Instead of simply arguing for price and performance, producing a highly concentrated product as the market is increasingly demanding in an effort to reduce packaging which tends to be a major contributor to pollution, she argued that the use of a raw material extracted from waste peels which would otherwise rot and generate methane gas, created a major "systemic" advantage. Using what is locally available, and giving value to what had no value is one of the core principles of the Blue Economy.
The Opportunity
At a time when the market leaders continue to expand their quest for market penetration world wide with standardized products manufactured in centralized production units shipped around the world, all citrus producing regions could opt for the creation of local detergent industries based on waste from fruit processing. Whereas the fruits face a global competition, the use of high concentrations of limonene extracted locally not only generates local jobs, but also reduces the load on local water resources. Limonene-based cleaning products are slowly gaining on the market. Brazilian investors have already build a dozen limonene extraction plants around their juice making facilities. Whereas their facilities are sized to the processing facilities, small units can be established rather quickly. Even major juice producers, located near urban areas in Europe or USA could manufacture their own raw materials.
Extracts from citrus are not the only alternative, entrepreneurs should look for a portfolio of opportunities. Another option is to convert glucose from sugar, which is produced in excess around the world due to decades of over-subsidization, into another new generation of raw materials for soaps and detergents. Any country that is facing a downturn in sugar prices, there is the well known option to convert it to ethanol, other option is to manufacture APGs (Alkyl polyglucoses), a completely biodegradable chemical that is even used in medicine, and thus be safely recommended for use in and around your home. Whereas jobs are getting scarce, the opportunity to rethink the industry starting from readily available raw materials, should inspire entrepreneurs around the world.
For further background on the 100 cases: www.blueeconomy.de
The Blue Economy
All rights reserved. © 2010, Pauli
CASE 21: THE BIOREFINERY
This article introduces innovations to produce food, plastics and fuel as one of the 100 innovations that shape "The Blue Economy". This article is part of a broad effort to stimulate entrepreneurship, competitiveness and employment.
THE MARKET
The global demand for biodiesel is expected to top 10 billion gallons per year by 2015. Currently 30 countries have implemented biofuel targets and are blending biodiesel with regular fuel. Europe is moving towards 7 percent mix, while Brazil and Indonesia are targeting 10 percent. The developing countries supply 50 percent of the global demand for biofules, and their commitment to renewable fuel long term is demonstrated by the fact that already 17 percent of the world's biodiesel demand is concentrated in the South. The European Union is the largest consumer of biodiesel with 44 percent of demand, closely followed by Asia-Pacific Region with 39 percent, well ahead of the United States.
Europe's agricultural land comprises 164 million hectares of cultivated land and 76 million hectares of pasture for grazing. Agricultural residues of food and feed crops represent an important source for biofuel production. It has been estimated by the multi-lateral research institute IIASA in Vienna, Austria, that up to 246 Megatons of biomass for biofuel and bioplastics production could be manufactured from crop residues which represent 50 percent of the harvested biomass. This can be used without risk of losing fertilizers and soil amendments. This approach to agricultural waste reduces the need for 15 to 20 million hectares of farmland that otherwise would have been used for the planting of crops solely for the production of biofuels.
THE INNOVATION
The demand for fuel (or plastics) from biomass competes with food. Cornell University experts calculated that powering an average US car for one year with biodiesel or ethanol would require 11 acres of farmland, which would otherwise produce food for seven people. However, this is only part of the problem: it takes more energy to make ethanol from farm crops, than the combustion of ethanol produces. The main problem is that 8 percent ethanol with a purity level of 99.8 percent needs to be separated from 92 percent water. If one adds the hard reality that corn erodes the soil 12 times faster than soil can be regenerated, and irrigation of corn mines groundwater 25 times faster than the natural recharge rate, it cannot be considered sustainable. If all automobiles in the United States were fueled with 100 percent ethanol, a total of 97 percent of US land area would be needed to grow the corn feedstock. It is hard to explain how plastics or fuel from corn can be considered a sustainable substitute to fossil fuel.
The late Prof. Dr. Carl-Göran Hedén, a Member of the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences, and for years director of the Microbiology Department at the Karolinska Institute introduced the concept of the biorefinery in the early sixties in an effort to get out of the food versus fuel and plastics trap. He introduced the concept of processing the biomass along the same logic as crude oil is cracked and recombined into 100,000 different molecules, while generating energy. Whereas numerous research institutes like the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the University of Wageningen pursued the concept, it was Prof. Dr. Jorge Alberto Vieira Costa from the Federal University of Rio Grande (FURG), Brazil who put it into practice, not with plants but with algae.
Prof. Jorge Costa initiated in the nineties research on sweet water algae, native to the alkaline lake Lagoa Mangueira in the South of Brazil in an effort to respond to malnutrition in the region. His insights in scaling up production resulted in the extension of the program from food security to climate change mitigation. Whereas the production of algae was successful, a better understanding of the demand for CO2 as a nutrient for algae presented a new opportunity tapping the excess emissions from the local coal-fired power station and convert the retention basin into an algae production unit. A detailed study of the production capacity revealed that an over-production of algae for human consumption paves the way for the extraction of lipids from the algae to produce biofuels. Dr. Michele Greque, a colleague of Prof. Jorge Costa cascaded the biorefinery to the next level and identified the opportunity to produce esters (and polyesters) from the residues thus presenting a solid case for the biorefinery producing food, fuel and plastics from CO2.
THE FIRST CASH FLOW
The Brazilian team has successfully implemented its first unit in Porto Alegre, Brazil in 2008 and while the project is in its initial phase, the technical and financial capacity to convert greenhouse gases into the raw material for these three basic needs has generated the necessary research funds to perfect this pathway that would get the debate on biofuels from algae on a promising track.
In parallel, the Italian Novamont company, the biggest producer of bioplastics in Europe, has evolved from a company innovating in plastics to one that now focuses on the construction of biorefineries, and the first one is already operational in Terni, Italy. After an investment of approximately €100 million in innovative plastics and building up a portfolio of 100 patents, Dra. Catia Bastioli, the founder and CEO advanced in the implementation of this project by making a joint-venture with 600 local farmers who locally supply produce for local consumption. This strategy to put non cultivated land back into production, and to secure that all biomass is processed (and not only the starch and vegetable oil) improves the income of the land, the output of the factory and the cost of the products, generating multiple cash flows as proposed by the Blue Economy.
THE OPPORTUNITY
Petroleum, refineries and petrochemistry should inspire chemical engineers to pursue comparable production methods for derivatives from complex biomass. Just like petroleum gets cracked into 100,000 different molecules, biomass should not be produced in standalone silos, leaving multiples volumes as waste behind. Time has come to embrace the concept of the biorefineries. Now that initiatives in Brazil and Italy have proven the technical, economic and social viability, additional projects are likely to take off soon.
For further background on the 100 cases: www.blueeconomy.de
The Blue Economy
All rights reserved. © 2010, Pauli
Case 20: Plastics from Food Waste
The Market
The world market for biodegradable plastics is enjoying double digit growth expanding between now and 2015 to $6 billion, and doubling again to an estimated $12 billion by 2025. While at present 65 percent of all bioplastics are produced to serve the packaging of food and beverages, it is expected that by 2025 already a quarter of the market will focus on the higher margin application in the automotive and electronics segment. The bio-plastics industry has even targeted medicine as one of the core market niches with profit margins that are expected to be up to ten times the margin commanded today for plastic cups and utensils. The European Bioplastics trade group expects that their production capacity will more than triple between 2007 and 2011 to 1.5 million tons. It is expected that by 2025 some 15 to 20 percent of petroleum for plastics will be diverted to sources of plant, algae and bacteria-based origin.
An analysis of the world's production of bioplastics indicates that there are approximately 500 production and processing companies. Since the business is characterized by high growth and multiple innovations, it is a major magnet for entrepreneurs and investors. This is the underpinning logic behind the fact that the number of bioplastics-based companies is expected to increase tenfold to 5,000 over the next decade. The Helmut Kaiser Consultancy points out that less than 3 percent of all plastic waste gets recycled worldwide, compared to 30 percent for paper and 35 percent for metals. Numerous attempts to convert waste plastics into bags and clothing have received wide media attention, but failed to make a dent in the mountains of plastics or reduce the accumulation of plastics into artificial islands of garbage that disgrace the oceans.
Biodegradable plastics gain in popularity with a growing number of consumers eager to shift purchasing power towards green solutions. However, bioplastics are increasingly competing for agricultural land that otherwise would be reserved for generating food. Corn, the main produce from which bioplastics are made, competes with tortillas in Mexico and corn flakes in the Japan. The increase in demand and the subsequent increase in prices makes this basic food dearer. The complexity of the situation compelled the United Nations to warn policy makers and industry leaders that the drive towards green plastics could affect food security. In a world where over one billion people go to bed hungry each night, the choice between saving petroleum and providing a meal a day requires a rethinking of our business models. In addition, a cup made from bioplastics behaves no different than one made from fossil fuel. Once trapped in a landfill deprived of air and heat, it simply will not degrade.
The Innovation
The sourcing of the raw material for plastics has forced scientists and business developers to rethink the strategy forward. NatureWorks, the American-Japanese joint venture between Cargill and Teijin continues to work with corn as the main source of starch. This not only generated the debate about the use of genetically modified corn, which now dominates the US-market, and penetrates the European consumers with the recent announcement that NatureWorks is doubling its output on the Old Continent to 140.000 tons per year. The debate goes beyond genetics, it also centers on the need for fertilizers and herbicides which is a multiple for corn compared to soy.
Professor Yoshihiro Shirai from the Institute of Life Sciences at the Kyushu Institute of Technology (KIT) in Japan opted for a simple but rather innovative solution. He observed how restaurants in Japan discard vast amounts of food. As the stress on the local landfill increases, and the desire to reduce carbon emissions turned more articulate, Prof. Shirai combined all the available know-how and designed with his colleagues and students a production unit for poly-lactic acid (PLA) where the raw material is starch rich food waste. While the content is lower in starch than corn, its financial model is convincing, and the benefits for the environment outperform any other bioplastic, especially PLA produced from corn.
The First Cash Flow
The City of Fukuoka embarked early on on a composting program to reduce the stress on the landfill. Japan, an island with little livable space charges one of the highest tipping fees in the world. Diverting restaurant waste food from the landfill generates a first cash flow: restaurants continue to pay for waste collection, however the cash is now collected by the plastic producer who actually gets paid to take the waste. Thus instead of having to source a GMO corn, heavily irrigated depleting the aquifers, Prof. Shirai established the first factory in cooperation with the environmental company EBARA, which is committed to achieve the goal of zero waste and zero emissions. It is also the largest pump maker in Japan.
The volume of production is minor compared to the 100,000 ton production units the bioplastics industry operates. This implies that Prof. Shirai could not economically use the standard process technologies. Instead he opted for a simple fermentation process that generates the PLA overnight, through a batch process. While the conversion rates are much lower than corn, the energy cost in transport and transformation is a fraction of the standard on the market, while its size can be tailored to the local landfill.
The Opportunity
Prof. Shirai and KIT did not have the ambition to build a new industry, their main purpose was to demonstrate the technical and commercial viability of small scale processing of food waste into PLA-type plastics. Even at a rate of one ton per day, the process is commercially viable simply because the sales price for plastic bags, used for garbage collection is ten times the cost of their raw material - petroleum. This type of a profit margin is always bound to attract new players on the market. In this case, fossil fuel-based bags are substituted with polymers manufactured from food waste, that never competes with food for people, while eliminating methane emissions from decomposing food lengthening the economic life of the landfill. It certainly is a business model that can be implemented by entrepreneurs around the world.
GUNTER PAULI
For further background on the 100 cases: www.blueeconomy.de
The Blue Economy
All rights reserved. © 2010, Pauli
This article introduces innovations to produce bioplastics as one of the 100 innovations that shape "The Blue Economy". This article is part of a broad effort to stimulate entrepreneurship, competitiveness and employment.
Case 19: Dry and Separation Toilets
The Market
Today's world market for water-based sanitation products and services is estimated at $124
billion. Whereas an additional 1.6 billion people have gained access to water and sanitation
since 1990, a total of 2.5 billion have no access at all today. This number has remained
unchanged over the past three decades due to population growth. The United Nations
Millennium Development Goals (UNMDG) propose to double aid and investments to combat
the fact that one person in four in developing nations uses no form of sanitation at all. In
South Asia, some 65 percent of the population practice open defecation. The city of Mumbai
counts 82 persons for one toilet. Actually, there are more cellphones in India than toilets. The
market potential responding to the "toilet needs" is estimated at more than $400 billion,
based on the existing costs, business models compounded by the number of unreached
people.
While the first patented self-cleansing vortex flushing toilet bowl dates back to 1907, it is only
since the 1950s that the present concept of the water closet (WC) has become a standard.
As water-based sanitation turned mainstream, the use of drinking water to flush down the
toilet turned into one of the most inefficient uses of this precious liquid. Today 25 to 40
percent of domestic drinking water is used for something that does not require potable water
at all. The magnitude of consumption is exemplified by the 45 million toilets in UK homes that
use an estimated two billion liters of fresh water every day. City water authorities are
scrambling during the FIFA World Cup Football to keep water flowing for millions of people
who flush the toilet during the 15 minutes half time break.
We overlook the fact that each infected individual could release up to 10 billion viruses a day.
If the viruses are water-borne, then there is an acute need to use chemicals to control the
spread of diseases. Even if chemicals were to kill 99.99 percent of all bacteria and viruses,
there remain some one million viruses that continue to spread.
One is enough to get anyone infected. Since domestic water scarcity is the driving force
behind the installation of 12,500 water purification systems worldwide, converting salt water
to potable water at very high energy cost, the use of water-based sanitation and the
increasing demand for sweet water therefore are in need of a fundamental rethinking. This is
an opportunity to bring innovations to the market.
The Innovation
The redesign of sanitation systems has motivated few top engineers. Toilets have undergone
multiple redesigns, with prices dropping to as low as $30 a unit – cheaper than a cell phoneand
water consumption limited to only 3 liters and even 1.5 liters per use. Excreta disposal
facilities such as a septic tank, a pour-flush latrine, a pit latrine are known as improved
sanitation systems that basically displace the problem and continue dependence on drinking
water to flush.
When Dr. Mats Wolgast, professor of sanitation who is also a trained medical doctor studied
water born illnesses, he realized himself as being stuck between the desire to pursue a "no
toilet - no wife" campaign, that urges women in the third world to turn down suitors if they
cannot provide a house with a lavatory, and the cultural anachronism to use drinking water to
flush. He studied the physiology of the human body and designed a simple system that
separates liquids from solids, avoiding the blending with water. The liquids are collected in a
separate urine tank, the solids are dropped into a container and are left to dry.
As a medical doctor he focuses on the control of bacteria and viruses, still wishes to respect
the desire to stick to the flush. He designed a separation system based on the Aquatron
vortex right underneath the water closet that secures a rapid and complete separation of
solids and water. The solid matter dries out in a matter of hours, eliminating the risk of
spreading diseases. Dr. Wolgast pursued his original idea of a dry toilet, and added a black
chimney to the inner-chamber by applying the laws of physics. As the chimney heats up the
air, which expands and rises, an under-pressure is created inside the toilet thus sucking air
from the room into the inside of the toilet. This simple and ingenious system that requires no
ventilator or electricity has never failed: the air is fresh and clean without need for air artificial
refreshers.
The First Cash Flow
Whereas there are many designs of toilets, the key professionals to be convinced are first
and foremost the building architects. Dr. Wolgast worked closely with Anders Nyquist who
then needed to convince his clients. The early adopters of the new system was the Rumpan
village outside Sundsvall, Sweden where the toilets were tested. This collaborative effort lead
to the further simplification of the designs. After several years, Anders concluded that time
was ripe for a full-scale project. The Laggarberg School in Timrå, North of Sundsvall adopted
the system for the school in 1995. The annual solid waste generated for a college with 150
children is less than 300 kilograms of dry mass, and never a complaint of smell. Perhaps
more important, the solid waste is a quality compost that is sold to local farmers, generating
a (minor) additional income. The urine is collected in an underground tank. One unit is
blended with 10 parts of water and used as a fertilizer at the nearby golf course.
The Opportunity
Mats Wolgast and his colleagues decided that the best of his designs are to be
commercialized. A series of companies have acquired the rights, multiple number of
architects have become acquainted with the water free system. The least expensive of the
designs on the other hand was turned into "an open source toilet", that is to say, anyone
interested can download the drawings from the internet free of charge and "make it yourself".
Anders Nyquist, who is not only an architect but also a fine carpenter, added his art of "keep
it simple". The ultimate success of the designs are confirmed by the desire of people in Latin
America, Africa and Asia to produce their own dry and separating toilets, converting one the
greatest challenges of mankind - drinking water and sanitation - into an opportunity for local
entrepreneurs to use local materials and simple tools for fabrication, while securing sanitation
at a fraction of the cost today. This is what innovation is all about.
GUNTER PAULI
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Further information on the 100 innovations at www.blueeconomy.de and www.zeri.org.
Order Gunter Paulis book at www.paradigm-pubs.com/catalog/detail/BluEco:
The Blue Economy: 100 Innovations – 10 Years – 100 Million Jobs.
Publication and dissemination of this article, including translations, require prior written consent.
Please contact info@zeri.org.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
This article introduces innovations to improve sanitation and reduce water
consumption as one of the 100 innovations that shape "The Blue Economy". This
article is part of a broad effort to stimulate entrepreneurship, competitiveness and
employment.
The Blue Economy | All rights reserved. © 2010, Pauli
Case 18: Clean Water without Sewers
The Market
It is estimated that around the globe only 14 percent of all waste water is treated. In Latin
America and Africa, less than 2 percent of waste water is purified. Based on the number that
world demand for water treatment products is projected to reach $59 billion in 2013, the
potential is an impressive $420 billion. In India, urbanization is fueling demand for new water
treatment systems and services with an annual 10-12 percent and in China growth reaches
17 percent.
The world population will grow from 7 billion today to approximately 10 billion by 2050. Three
quarters of the world's citizens will live in cities. Concretely, we are to build one new city for
+200,000 inhabitants daily for the next 40 years. This puts tremendous stress on the supply
of drinking water, and also imposes massive investments in water treatment. Governments
have a clear bias to invest in the supply of water, which receives five times more funds than
its treatment. This imbalance explains why two million people die annually of preventable
diseases spread through untreated water.
Studies of the World Bank demonstrated to many their surprise, that fecal pollution gets
worse as countries grow richer (and the sewage systems grow older). The sewer system of
most urban areas deteriorates and requires rehabilitation or renewal. Some 30 percent of all
sewage water in Sweden simply does not reach the treatment plants and contaminates
ground water with viruses and chemicals. About 17 percent of the German public sewer
system must be rebuilt, good for 76,000 kilometers.
Canada calculated its water sewage and treatment infrastructure requires +$80 billion in
additional investments over the next 15 years simply to keep up with its growing needs,
connecting an estimated 12 million citizens to the sewers, and replacing defunct installations.
Canada needs an additional 27,000 kilometers of piping at a cost of $300 per meter to
connect the unconnected. The cost for bringing sewers ánd water treatment to urban and
peri-urban areas costs as low as $ 1,000 per citizen in the Third World, and as much as
$8,000 in industrialized nations. At a time of excessive government deficits, it is hard to
believe that politicians have the funds available to invest in public health.
The Innovation
Tight health regulations and tight government budgets steer innovations towards investments
that guarantee lower operational expenses. Non-chemical solutions are therefore
increasingly favored. These already represent 60 percent of the cost of investing and
operating water treatment systems. This includes ultraviolet disinfection, membrane filtration
and ozonation. However the advent of increased recycling of water creates renewed
opportunities for chemicals, since recycled water is more prone to bacterial contamination
than fresh water. The cheapest chemical option is chlorine but facilities' operators are
seeking less toxic alternatives.
Bertil Eriksson from Örnsköldsvik, Sweden studied the flows of water and air through
buildings and designed a simple network of pipes, controlled by valves, that permits the
treatment of all water in each building without the need for septic tanks. His comprehensive
system treats all water born waste from kitchen, shower and toilet through a combination of
ventilation, heat recovery, water purification and drainage systems. The purpose is to
eliminate the risk of contamination, while reducing capital expenditure for municipalities and
preserving the environment, especially ground water. This integrated system is covered by a
series of patents which form the backbone for the "SplitBox" technology.
Whereas the simplified system costs an estimated $25,000 for a single family home, it offers
multiple benefits, just like natural systems provide. First of all, there is a lesser need for
pipes, pipe fitters and plumbers, saving on construction. Second, the SplitBox recovers
energy from drying, domestic warm waste water and house ventilation. Third, the water
drains in the floor also serve as ventilation ducs to channel an excess of humidity (bathroom)
to rooms with too low humidity (bedroom). Fourth, feces and paper is processed in a special
drying system, where it ends up mixed with organic waste from the kitchen. Finally, the
nutrients, especially potassium extracted from urine through a combined precipitation/
absorption process followed by an oxidation of wastewater leaves pure water behind. The
dry, bacteria- and virus free substance can be sold on the market as fertilizer. This is
managed through a 2x1x2 meter control unit for a family home.
The First Cash Flow
Mr. Eriksson and his team went on to prove the economic viability of this integrated water,
humidity, energy and health unit in family homes in the North of Sweden. He created the
company SplitVision AB to commercialize his invention. Soon he received orders for
apartment blocks where he adapted the original designs to modular cabinets, with a
processing capacity tailored to the occupants' needs. The largest one deals with all water
born waste for 42 households.
The Opportunity
Whereas the savings in infrastructural cost are balanced by the investment in the treatment
box steered by valves through a simple network of sensors, the real savings are in the
elimination of the septic tank, the network of sewage pipelines and the water treatment
plants. This saves capital expenditures both at home and at the municipality, while it
eliminates the need for maintenance and chemicals. This potentially relieves municipal
governments of the need to borrow, raise taxes and manage something which is the least
pleasant job of all: treat other people's waste. A preliminary analysis indicated that Timphu,
the Capital of Bhutan, could save $140 million in investments if the homes, apartments and
offices were to adopt this technology.
Human settlements are not the only ones struggling with excesses of raw and untreated
waste. Cattle and pig farms face the same and often more acute problem. The team at
SplitVision AB has channelled their know-how to the treatment of animal manure through a
simple SplitBox-Agri that fits into a 40ft. container, replacing the outdoor large storage tanks,
a major source of air pollution. The system cuts transport by 90 percent, eliminates the risk of
contaminating ground water and provides both quality water for irrigation and a dry fertilizer
with a proven commercial value. The SplitBox provides an innovative business model,
eliminating massive investments and unpleasant jobs, thereby liberating funds which could
be redirected to more urgent needs, and more pleasant professions.
GUNTER PAULI
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Further information on this case:
www.splitvision.se/en
http://www.wipo.int/pctdb/en/wo.jsp?wo=1999045213
http://www.sumobrain.com/patents/wipo/Flow-regulator-in-surface-water/WO1998028499.html
http://www.cwwa.ca/pdf_files/Investment%20Needs%201997-2012.pdf
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Further information on the 100 innovations at www.blueeconomy.de and www.zeri.org.
Order Gunter Paulis book at www.paradigm-pubs.com/catalog/detail/BluEco:
The Blue Economy: 100 Innovations – 10 Years – 100 Million Jobs.
Publication and dissemination of this article, including translations, require prior written consent.
Please contact info@zeri.org.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
This article introduces innovations to manage the flow of air and water in buildings as
one of the 100 innovations that shape "The Blue Economy". This article is part of a
broad effort to stimulate entrepreneurship, competitiveness and employment.
The Blue Economy | All rights reserved. © 2010, Pauli
Case 17: Preservation without Refrigeration
The Market
Today, the world market for preserved food has reached in sales more than $500 billion. The
United States alone represents approximately half of that volume, with more than 17,000
food and drinks manufacturing and processing facilities in the country. The advent of new
and more sophisticated techniques to preserve food aimed at safety and quality on delivery,
has resulted in the estimated that 40 percent of all food consumed in the world to be
packaged, processed and/or preserved food. There is still a lot of room for growth.
Turnover of chemical food preservation agents in the United States has reached more than
$400 million in sales, and is expected to by-pass the one billion dollar mark worldwide as
packaged food in China, India and Brazil at unprecedented rates thus driving up demand for
preservation agents. The cost of cooling is approximately ten to twelve times higher than the
cost of chemical agents. It is estimated that in the United States alone the food processing
industry spent $6.9 billion on refrigeration in 2008. The highest expense in the drive to offer
safe food is plastics. Worldwide it is a $110 billion dollar business.
The need to preserve food is key, but a matter of survival for vaccines. The price for one
vaccine delivered can cost society between $180 and $340 anywhere in the world. The
delivery of this medicine relies on a cold chain. Since chemical agents cannot be used in
vaccines, temperature control remains the most common preservation technique. However, it
has been estimated that 50 percent of the vaccines lose part or all of their potency because
of lack of refrigeration. During the past few years a number of committed companies have
installed some 3,000 solar powered refrigerators in developing countries at the cost of
$5,000 per unit in order to ensure the availability of quality vaccines. However more
innovative approaches are required.
The Innovation
There has been a steady stream of new preservation techniques for food and medicine. The
plastics and chemical industry has offered a broad portfolio of synthetic additives to replace
natural preservatives, antimicrobials, bacteriocins, edible coatings, antimicrobial enzymes.
Consumer concern about synthetic additives has pushed innovations towards the control of
pH, heat treatment and freezing, the use of biotechnology, membrane filtration, high intensity
light, ultrasound, modified atmosphere packaging, pulsed electric fields and high hydrostatic
pressure.
Bruce Roser, a biomedical researcher developed fridge-free vaccines based on sugars
(trehaloses). Its molecules are trapped in a soluble glass which come alive when it rains. It is
the substitution of a cold chain that was considered indispensable, with "no cold chain". His
vaccine is coated with these sugars to form inert spheres, creating tiny beads that can be
packaged in an injectable form, and can sit in a medical doctor's bag for years. Dr. Roser has
finetuned the process, heating and drying vaccines into a powder, which is actually tiny glass
micro-spheres with the vaccine trapped inside.
The slow vaccine release technique is an ingenious combination of a method used by plants
and some animals to stay alive in arid conditions, and the harnessing of the body's natural
mechanism for mending and reshaping broken bones. A plant called the resurrection fern
(Pleopeltis polypodioides) is able to remain alive in a desiccated state in the desert for years
by preserving moisture in a solidified sugar solution. Using calcium phosphate - the
compound from which bones are made - to make the particles allow the material to be
broken down naturally by the body. Amino acid speeds up the reaction, allowing it to control
the rate of release by varying the amount.
The First Cash Flow
An estimated $300 million of aid, bringing vaccines to the developing world is spoiled
because the medicine does not have the potency required to strengthen the immune system
once delivered. The design of a vaccine system based on sugars that reconstitute with water,
saves money and reduces the cost of energy. If and when the system is operational, it will
offer double the amount of vaccines at half of the cost.
Bruce Roser succeeded in designing a production model that uses a state of the art freezedry
system from Niro (Denmark) to prepare vaccines that did not rely anymore on the cold
chain from manufacturing to delivery. This Niro system is the high end standard equipment
for the food industry. He went on to create Cambridge Biostability Ltd. (CBL) and gained
several grants. He even mobilized Indian investors to test the performance of the model.
Unfortunately, the cash required to get approvals exceeded the money in the bank and the
full portfolio of patents was transferred to a new investor after the court declared CBL
insolvent. Nova Laboratories, the spin-out from the British National Health Service found the
patents interesting enough to outbid three foreign candidates and take control of this
innovation.
The Opportunity
Whereas the opportunity to deliver vaccines to the poor without the need of refrigeration
merits all support, the real contribution in the future is the opportunity to redesign
preservation of food without any cold chain, and without the need for any chemicals.
Packaging will still be required. The impact of the elimination of the cold chain on health in
the developing world represents millions of lives saved. However if one were to consider the
opportunity to use this proven technique and provide the taste and texture that is desired by
customers but not available from suppliers, then we realize that this innovation could quickly
spread around the world, driven by massive energy savings rendering much of the cold
chain's expensive capital equipment obsolete.
The entrepreneurial solution is the substitution of something with nothing, replacing the need
for cooling and chemicals through the creation of a preservation system that does not need
any cooling or chemicals at all. Next time you visit your preferred supermarket, imagine the
amount of money and carbon emissions saved if and when there were no more freezers.
This would safe energy, and permit the local delivery of quality products at lower cost using a
preservation technique that has been around for animals and plants for millions of years.
Perhaps it is about time we learn how to be as smart as some plants and animals are.
GUNTER PAULI
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Further information on the 100 innovations at www.blueeconomy.de and www.zeri.org.
Order Gunter Paulis book at www.paradigm-pubs.com/catalog/detail/BluEco:
The Blue Economy: 100 Innovations – 10 Years – 100 Million Jobs.
Publication and dissemination of this article, including translations, require prior written consent.
Please contact info@zeri.org.
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This article introduces innovations to preserve food and medicine as one of the 100
innovations that shape "The Blue Economy". This article is part of a broad effort to
stimulate entrepreneurship, competitiveness and employment.
The Blue Economy | All rights reserved. © 2010, Pauli
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