The increase in the world’s population as well as the development of technology and economics results among others in the increase in generation of waste. Large amounts of trash are the result of products that were consumed and discarded as Municipal Solid Waste (MSW). As biomass materials are rich in cellulose, they can be used as a resource for ethanol production. Usually, a pre-treatment stage is required for the reduction of the limiting lignin portion. Ozonation process is suggested as a strong oxidant for biomass treatment. In addition, ozonation is considered a green technology as the ozone transforms to oxygen, thus costly cleaning procedures are not required. A new process developed by EthanO3 team demonstrated the use of short ozonation process as a pretreatment for biomass. Economic estimations indicate of energy demand reduction by more than 90%. The solid residuals have high potential to be used as low-cost sorbents for contaminants in water. A third potential application is the production of nanocellulose (NC) materials, rod-like cellulose whiskers of various dimensions. Results suggest three different products/applications from un-wanted organic waste sources. This could be achieved by applying unique short ozonation treatment process, developed by the EthanO3 team. The use of the solid waste mass for the recovery of useful products is also important for reducing landfilling costs (about 100 shekels/ton in Israel). A provisional patent has been filed in the USA based on EthanO3  technology. In addition, a state-of-the-art demonstration facility is currently being built in Tel Aviv, for the demonstration of scaling up and increasing production capacities.
The market
Total produced MSW worldwide is estimated in 2.01 billion tons/year. Out of which 63% are organics (food residues, paper and cardboard, etc..), thus the total waste suitable for reuse is ~1.27 billion tons/year. In 2050 this is expected to rise to 2.14 billion tons/ year (World bank, 2019). Total worldwide ethanol production (as for 2014) is 85.6 billion liters a year. Ethanol prices vary from 0.57 USD/liter (USA) to 1.65 USD/liter (Spain). Considering the lowest price this is a 57.35 billion USD industry. Most of the ethanol produced is 1st generation ethanol- ethanol based on specifically grown crops for energy.
In our work, we utilize lignocellulosic wastes (2nd generation fuels). Besides enzyme costs (roughly 40% of total process costs), pretreatment costs are also a burden since they are evaluated as 20% of the total costs. The use of short ozonation as suggested by EthanO3 will ultimately reduce time and labor costs. Also, no cleaning steps are required. In addition, recent coronavirus pandemic has increased the use for ethanol-based sanitizers. This increase the need for developing local ethanol production process, which is not available in Israel, to-date. Remaining of the wastes that did not converted to ethanol can be used as an efficient low-cost sorbent for water treatment. This can be very suitable for low-income countries as an affordable solution for water issues. The third product, Nanocellulose (NC), can be applied for many industrial applications (electronics, food additives, biocomposites, etc.). Total world NC market is estimated by 1.08 billion USD by 2027.
Different potential consumers can be regulators, waste producers, the transportation sector, water treatment sector, agriculture sector and the chemical industry.