The Circular economy – is it a pipedream?

Modern life is so much better than 100 years ago for most people in the West. Until that time most people had hard and powerless lives in a rigid social structure. Today we can enjoy relative peace, bountiful plenty in nutrition, freedom of speech and travel, and health treatments undreamt of, enabling some to live very long lives. Naturally there are adverse side effects, one of which is global warming, and another is the disposal of our wastes.

Natural cycles and equilibrium

One feature of the natural world is the cyclical patterns which ensure sustainability, such as the carbon cycle and the nitrogen cycle. Relative balance is maintained, crops grow, and animal species thrive. When predators are temporarily successful, they over-populate and decimate the prey, at which point their numbers recede.

This mechanism was first modelled by Lotka in 1910. This debate developed over the following years and culminated in the Lotka-Volterra model, which is basically a pair of differential equations. The solution of this pair of equations is the trajectory of the two populations in time.

In stable systems, the two populations move to an equilibrium point, but this is not always the case. Under certain conditions the solution, or trajectory, never reaches an equilibrium point, but oscillates around it, depicting the endless predator-prey cycles. In other words, the steady state, or equilibrium point is unstable and can never be reached.

We could imagine that the whole of life on earth is part of a complex multi-dimensional predator-prey mechanism whereby global warming will almost wipe out animal life as we know it. Thereafter, increased plant growth caused by the high greenhouse gas concentrations will enable the surviving animals to thrive again.

Achieving steady state or environmental sustainability

Alternatively, we could imagine that humankind, with its supreme intelligence, sees sense and recognises what’s going on. This process appears to be starting to occur, and it is quite possible that man’s aggressive tribal survival instinct will be overcome by the survival instinct of cooperation. But we are not there yet.

Clearly it would be nice if things stood still for a while, the global population stabilised, and the wealth and living standards we enjoy in the West were spread to all. This is perfectly possible and in many ways it is already the trend. However, the acceptance of a need to reach a steady state soon has not quite been grasped. This steady state involves making things and then recycling them, recognising the need for a grand circular economy so that we can manufacture and consume useful things, do worthwhile and pleasant things, live enjoyable and fruitful lives without risking the otherwise unstable trajectories.

This idea is not a philosophy or a movement in conflict with any religions. It is not the eleventh commandment, “thou shall not waste….”. It is just a mind-set which could run alongside the current world economic order, recognising, and employing the considerable technological power we already have to make things happen. And here we must understand what recycling is.

The recycling pyramid

Recycling can be viewed in terms of a pyramid. At the top are items which can be sold in their existing state and require little energy, beyond transport and polish. At the second level down are materials which need sorting and separating in order to be reused. These use more energy.

Then there are materials which require physical transformation like separated plastics, old tyres used for equestrian arenas, steel parts and such-like. At the bottom are materials which need to be chemically transformed because they cant be reused in any other way. These use the most energy. It is the carbonaceous materials in this category we are interested in as inputs to the Avioxx process.

Breaking down waste and building fuel molecules

In short, we are breaking down waste materials into their atomic components and then rebuilding new products out of them, notably Aviation fuel. We do this in an efficient and sustainable way using our unique patented technology.

We are genuinely embracing the circular economy whilst maintaining our living standards. After all, the input materials are free.

To learn more about what we’re doing at Avioxx, our technology and process’s then please get in touch: info@avioxx.com.