Exporting UK Environmental Technology

Source: Technology Digital

Date :01/06/2007 13:53:00

We are still a long way behind northern Europe, but innovative British firms have huge potential for transferring their knowledge abroad. John O’Hanlon reports

With both NPower and Centrica looking to build new coal fired plants – the first for 30 years – in the UK attention is once again being focused on both pre- and post-combustion carbon capture, from power stations and industrial plants such as steel mills. A power station with effective scrubbing technology linked to underground carbon storage would consume between 10 and 40 per cent more energy than one without, but such a power station could reduce its carbon emissions by up to 90 per cent.

Speaking on March 13, THE Managing Director of Centrica Energy, Jake Ulrich, said that the technology form the proposed new power station on Teeside had not yet been decided on, but that it could involve either supercritical technology, which burns the fuel at higher temperatures cutting the conventional emissions by around five-sixths, or a combination of Gas and coal. NPower at the same time said it was ready to spend £1billion on a new plant at Tilbury that would emit more than 20 percent less carbon than the one it would replace and would use both carbon capture and a mixture of fuels, including biomass. But the technology is likely to be German, with E.on a leading contender for the contract.

When it comes to environmental technology the UK has lagged, and of course Germany recycles far more of its waste than the UK. Nevertheless, Colin Drummond, the chairman of ESAG, the UK government’s Environmental Sector Advisory Group said that that the UK was a world leader in landfill technology in particular. ESAG has just launched a report entitled The UK: a world leader in environmental solutions*.

Drummond, who is also the CEO of Viridor Waste Management, says the UK's equipment for monitoring landfill methane and leachate, capturing landfill gas and generating electricity was world class – and attributed this partly to the Renewables Obligation. Since 2002, the obligation has seen UK companies rewarded for producing renewable energy – and therefore has encouraged investment.

Drummond – who works with ESAG as part of the government's UK Trade and Investment organisation -gave landfill remediation specialist Churngold and landfill gas power generation firm Biogas Technology as examples of cutting-edge technology producers, as well as the pyrolysis and gasification company Compact Power in Avonmouth, which has also seen huge interest overseas.

Drummond’s conclusion: "There are lots of opportunities for waste technology suppliers to companies such as Biffa and Viridor to help meet world demand for £400 billion of environmental services year, compared to just £25 billion in the UK." Furthermore, he stressed that the UK was making great strides ahead in areas such as composting.

His firm has recently been named as a preferred bidder together with Laing, for Manchester’s £2 billion contract, UK’s biggest ever. The contract should be finalized by July, says Michael Fishwick, CEO of TEG Environmental, whose entrepreneurial business is now listed on AIM and will be the exclusive supplier of in-vessel composting technology to the contract. “Ours is a continuous system that produces a product that is ready to be spread on the land in six weeks – as opposed to the three months’ lead time for conventional batch composting systems.” He told me. “It is also a better than carbon-neutral process too, because the CO2 generated is more than compensated for by the additional growth it creates in agriculture.”

TEG is expected to build four plants as part of the consortium, over the period from 2007 to 2010. The combined capacity of the plants will be 180,000 tonnes per annum, producing 125,000 tonnes of compost product per annum. All four plants will process green waste and kitchen waste collected from households in the Greater Manchester region. Depending upon the final scope of supply, the total value of the construction projects to TEG will be up to £35 million over the period 2007 to 2010.

Can this technology be exported? Fishwick is frank: “In Northern Europe they have generally opted for other technologies to deal with animal and other organic waste, such as anaerobic digestion. But we will certainly be looking to license it to the countries of southern Europe.” If the Manchester model of 100 per cent recycling is followed in other large UK cities, companies like his that atre at the leading edge of innovation will grow a lot faster than they had dared hope, he admits.

Meanwhile Viriidor’s director external affairs Dan Cooke told em that while a large proportion of the UK’s leading technology like composting plantsor energy from waste is currently employed in the municipal, industry services are growing fast as well, driven by regulatory changes.

From 31st October 2007 there will be a requirement under the Landfill (England and Wales) Regulations 2002 for all waste destined for disposal in non-hazardous landfills to be pre-treated. This change is being introduced by the Government and will be enforced by the Environment Agency. It is the producer’s responsibility to ensure that the waste is treated before being sent to a non-hazardous landfill. He will have to show that he has reduced its volume, made it less hazardous, easier to handle or ‘enhanced its recovery’.

The new requirements will drive technology and service alike, says Cooke. No doubt ti will result in the rapic development of one-stop-shop services like those already offered by Viridor in some areas, by which the responsibility can be outsourced, the waste collected, and treated at a licensed materials recycling facility.

For a waste to be defined as “treated” it must change the characteristics of the waste in order to do one of the following:

- Reduce its volume

- Reduce its hazardous nature

- Facilitate its handling, or

- Enhance its recovery

The treatment process must be a physical, thermal, chemical or biological process (this includes sorting the waste). This could be as simple as the separation of recyclable materials from the waste stream to reduce the volume. However, treatment does not include compacting, wetting or bagging the waste. Detailed guidance may be found on the Environment Agency website (www.environment-agency.gov.uk).

Treatment can be carried out on your site, but if your waste is destined for disposal at a landfill we will need to know what treatment has been applied to your waste prior to collection. This information should be provided on your waste transfer note or as part of your contract documents. Alternatively, in many areas Viridor can provide you with a ‘one-stop-shop’ service as we can collect and treat your waste at a licensed materials recycling facility.'

* https://www.uktradeinvest.gov.uk/ukti/fileDownload/5843_UKTI_Advantage_Web.pdf?cid=400342

BOX (optional if you haven’t the space)

The new pre-treatment regulations

For a waste to be defined as “treated” it must change the characteristics of the waste in order to do one of the following:

- Reduce its volume

- Reduce its hazardous nature

- Facilitate its handling, or

- Enhance its recovery

The treatment process must be a physical, thermal, chemical or biological process (this includes sorting the waste). This could be as simple as the separation of recyclable materials from the waste stream to reduce the volume. However, treatment does not include compacting, wetting or bagging the waste. Detailed guidance may be found on the Environment Agency website (www.environment-agency.gov.uk