That conclusion would, at first sight, seem to be contradicted by the Papakube Corporation of San Diego, Calif., which manufactures "Energy Factories" to convert combustible wastes into stable, compact "energy cubes" of fuel. These Energy Factories, claims Papakube, will make a pre tax profit of $439,000 a year on a $350,000 investment by selling the Energy Cubes "below the energy cost of coal."
But that would appear to be so only under special circumstances. The cubes are made from shredded and compressed waste, and their sales value is figured in Papakube's promotional literature at $1.50/million BTU's; but the cost of coal, which they are supposed to replace, is as low as $1.00/million BTU's. However, the main snag is that the wastes are limited to those that already have a high heat content - office waste (paper) with about half the heat content of coal per ton, and store waste with waxed and polycoated materials, with up to 40% more heat content than coal. The cost of these raw materials is figured as "free" in the balance sheet.
For disposing of municipal wastes, the energy cubes would help only by bringing in some revenue by selling the cubes, made from a fraction of the waste, at a price below production cost, but possibly paying for the delay in the need for a more expensive landfill site.
On the other hand, the energy cube idea could be profitable for producers of large volumes of paper and other combustible wastes who could sell them as a compact and convenient fuel rather than pay a refuse hauler to have them removed. [More information from Papakube Corp., 931 E. Harbor Drive, San Diego, CA 92101.]
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Vol. 5, No. 6
Newsletter: Access to Energy Newsletter Archive Volume: Volume 5 Issue/No.: Vol. 5, No. 6 Date: February 01, 1978 02:56 PM Title: Back to the O'l Plantatlon
Copyright © 2004 - Access to Energy Newsletter Archive
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