Technologies
Overview of some of the available technologies within the group.
Each individual technology offers a specific process to deal with a particular waste or a specific fraction of waste.
The primary sources of wastes are -
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MSW (or Household Waste)
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Agricultural Wastes - Farm to Fork
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Waste Water
By combining a number of these technologies, the ‘group’ can offer -
'closed loop solutions'
or
‘end to end’ process
as a ONE STOP SHOP for a number of market sectors.
Waste Separation Plant
This technology can extract optimum value from MSW by a number of processes which starts with
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Many current waste separation processes do not provide a clean organic (wet) fraction ready for energy recovery. Our technology does provide a clean organic fraction which is immediately available to be processed for energy recovery in an Anaerobic Digestor.
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This also means it is easier to recover any recyclables from the remaining (dry) waste.
We now have separately wet and dry fractions, and we can optimise energy recovery from them by using our two energy converters being -
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AD for the (wet) organic fraction
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And Pyrolysis for the remaining (dry) fraction
The efficiency of this plant means MSW, or household waste no longer needs to be segregated at household level.
This is particularly attractive to many countries where segregation is not feasible, and now simply not necessary.
Anaerobic Digestion (AD)
NB. Organic Power Ireland Ltd. has recently been awarded a contract from the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS), to build and demonstrate its modular containerised small scale AD system - see illustration below.
Anaerobic means; in the absence of air (oxygen).
AD is natural stabilisation process achieving odour, pathogen, and (bio) mass reduction.
An AD plant simply allows the natural process of anaerobic digestion to take place in the absence of oxygen and in optimised conditions to releases the embedded energy in organic waste into a useable fuel called biogas. This is a mixture of 50-60% methane (the fuel), and the remainder Carbon dioxide. No chemicals are involved.
NB. This is a similar process to the conversion of grass in a cows’ (four) stomachs into milk, with a gas by-product of methane gas.
The biogas can fuel Combined Heat & Power (CHP) engines to provide both electrical power and useable heat and/or cooling.
The quantity/tonnage of waste and its energy density, called Bio Methane Potential (BMP), will dictate the quantity of biogas available. This then determines the subsequent KW of energy that can be produced from any given waste biomass, commonly referred to as the feedstock.
Organic waste is made up of natural compounds, principally carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. These natural compounds are essentially organic batteries storing energy which all comes from the sun, and is converted into animal or plant matter. This embedded and renewable energy can be recovered in the most efficient method using the natural process of Anaerobic Digestion (AD). This is illustrated under using a glucose molecule which ‘digests’ as follows;
C6H12O6 digests to 3CH4 + 3CO2
The methane (CH4) gas is similar to ‘natural gas’ from the North Sea which comes from (old) biomass that was buried and broken down under AD conditions over thousands of years.
Pyrolysis
Pyro = heat, lysis = breakdown into parts.
Pyrolysis is a thermochemical decomposition of organic material at elevated temperatures (around 700 degrees Celsius) in the absence of oxygen.
It involves the simultaneous change of chemical composition and physical phase, and is irreversible. Because no oxygen is present the material does not combust but the chemical compounds (i.e. cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin) that make up that material thermally decompose into combustible gases (syngas) and charcoal (or Biochar).
Syngas, or synthesis gas, is a fuel gas mixture consisting primarily of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and very often some carbon dioxide.
The syngas can fuel Combined Heat & Power (CHP) engines to provide both electrical power and useable heat and/or cooling. The quantity/tonnage of waste and its calorific value will determine the quantity of syngas available. This then determines the subsequent KW of energy that can be produced from any given waste biomass, commonly referred to as the feedstock.
NB. In both AD and pyrolysis technologies there is no oxygen, so no flame i.e. no incineration.
Nutrient Recovery Technology
Organic wastes contain small quantities of valuable nutrients being Nitrates, Phosphates and Potash (N, P and K). Often these wastes are disposed of by land spreading which actually recycles the nutrients back to the land where they came from. Incineration is also used simply to get rid of the waste.
This technology can recover as usable fertilisers the Nitrates and separately the Phosphates and potash from organic wastes.
The remaining liquid can be cleaned up to potable water standards.
By concentrating these nutrients (slurry is 93- 97% water) we add value and dramatically reduce both emissions and costs of land spreading disposal.
Biological Catalyst
A natural biological Catalyst which accelerates biology and can improve growth rate in crops and livestock, and speed up the biological activity in wastewater treatments and in AD.