Air Products to Build Gasification Energy-from-Waste Facility in UK. Zero Waste Energy Introduces its Anaerobic Digestion Technology in California.
Air Products to Build Gasification Energy-from-Waste Facility in UK
Air Products, an Allentown, Pa.-based company involved in energy, environment and emerging markets, has announced plans to build and operate the what it says is the world’s largest renewable energy plant in the United Kingdom. The plant will utilize Air Products’ gasification energy-from-waste (EfW) technology. The Tees Valley plant, located near Billingham, Teesside, U.K., will be the first of its type in the U.K., says the company. When it is operational, Air Products says the plant will be the largest of its kind anywhere in the world with a capacity of about 50 megawatts (MW).
According to Air Products, the plant will divert as much as 350,000 metric tons of non-recyclable waste from the landfill per year.
Air Products’ plant will use Westinghouse’s advanced gasification technology provided by AlterNRG. When operational, Air Products says the plant will offer efficient, clean conversion of waste-to-power and has the potential to generate a wide range of products, including heat, hydrogen, chemicals and fuels. In the future, the potential generation of renewable hydrogen could be used for commercially.
“Our investment in advanced gasification EfW technology is a natural extension of our onsite business model,” says John McGlade, chairman, president and CEO of Air Products. “Offering an innovative growth opportunity, it allows us to further extend our leading position in the global energy market and continue to deliver on Air Products’ commitment to sustainability.
“The U.K. is committed to diversifying its sources of energy, strengthening its energy security and reducing carbon emissions,” McGlade adds. “This pioneering clean energy technology model is well-suited to these requirements, offering a sustainable solution to the UK’s waste management strategy. The facility will also create skilled jobs in the area and we are hopeful it will provide an indirect boost to the local economy through the use of local service companies, hotels and other businesses.”
Air Products expects the facility to be operational in 2014.
Zero Waste Energy Introduces its Anaerobic Digestion Technology in California
Zero Waste Energy (ZWE), Lafayette, Calif., has announced the development of two semi-mobile anaerobic digestion (AD) facilities in California that will use the company’s SmartFerm technology. The proposed installation of the SmartFerm facilities are in Napa and Monterey counties.
Through a partnership agreement, Environmental Solutions Group (ESG), a Dover Industries company, will be the U.S. manufacturer of the SmartFerm digester units designed and engineered as semi-mobile, modular plants. These modular plants use dry fermentation of organic waste streams traditionally consigned to landfill disposal.
Because of their compact physical footprint, ZWE says its SmartFerm modular plants can fit in many settings. The company adds SmartFerm’s semi-mobile plants may be installed on sites as compact as 3,000 square feet in as little as four weeks.
“After studying anaerobic digestion technologies for the last several years, Napa Recycling and Waste Services, along with the City of Napa, released an RFI (request for information) to seven different dry AD vendors,” says Greg Kelly, general manager of Napa Recycling and Waste Services. “Using SmartFerm will also allow our operations to increase volumes when we secure additional feedstock as well as provide CNG (compressed natural gas) for our fleet.”
William Merry, general manager of the Monterey Regional Waste Management District, says, “For nearly four years now, we have steadily honed the district's food-scrap organics composting program that utilizes an open windrow process. We intend to expand this highly successful composting program by installing SmartFerm technology on a pilot demonstration basis.”
He continues, “The recovered energy value is exponential: the power produced from the project will be sold to the neighboring regional wastewater treatment plant to help them achieve their strategic goal of getting off the utility grid.”
Dirk Dudgeon, senior vice president of Business Development at ZWE, says, “The SmartFerm technology, coupled with our team’s considerable expertise in project delivery, will ensure that we show the industry and our clients that there is a viable, economical solution to removing the organic fraction from the landfill.”