12/14/12 2:55 PMCompact Hazardous Waste Gasification & Pyrolysis System Launched - Waste Mangagement World

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Compact Hazardous Waste Gasification & Pyrolysis System Launched

12 December 2012

Bristol, UK based environmental technology specialists, DPS Global has launched a compact pyrolysis and gasificationsystem capable of recovering energy from up to 250kg of clinical or other hazardous waste per hour.

According to the company, its new ST Series technology offers a commercially viable and environmentally sustainablealternative to incineration and landfill.

The developer explained that the system involves staged and separated pyrolysis and gasification of industrial, clinical orhazardous wastes to produce small amounts of ash and heat.

DPS added that the development enables hospitals, commercial operations and industrial plants to utilise their waste as asubstitute for fossil fuels, thereby reducing CO2 emissions and heating bills by as much as £100,000 ($161,000) per annum,dependent on feed volumes.

By diverting such wastes from landfill or incineration, and by being located close to the source of waste production, thetechnology is also claimed to significantly reduce the cost of waste disposal.

According to DPS, destroying contaminated waste through incineration can cost between £300 and £400 per tonne and asmuch as £1000 per tonne for the collection of clinical waste.

Comparatively the company claimed that the ST Series technology treatment cost is much lower, around £150 to 250 pertonne for all wastes.

Technology

The company explained that pyrolysis involves the thermal decomposition of organic material by the action of heat alone andseparates the energy rich carbon and hydrogen from the waste.

For the ST Series this is achieved by feeding the waste through a tube which is externally heated using exhaust gases fromthe later stages of the process. The heat decomposes the waste to form a synthetic gas (syngas).

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12/14/12 2:55 PMCompact Hazardous Waste Gasification & Pyrolysis System Launched - Waste Mangagement World

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According to DPS gasification of carbon left in the waste after the pyrolysis stage (known as char) can generate additionalsyngas. In this stage a small amount of air and steam are added to release the carbon from the waste.

Finally, the syngas can be combusted with a controlled amount of air to reach a temperature of 1150 degrees C - as hot asflowing volcanic lava.

The company said that this ensures that any small pollutant particles, which make their way down the process, aredestroyed. Carbon monoxide emissions, which can lead to smoke and soot, are also said to be extremely low.

The compact model is claimed to be capable of processing up to 250 kg per hour and generating heat output of up to 700kWth.

The developer added that it accepts around 85% of the European waste catalogue of materials with no pre-treatmentrequired and can also be easily integrated into existing healthcare, commercial and industrial infrastructure to provide energyfor heating and hot water in these premises.

"Most wastes have a high carbon and hydrogen content, which is exactly what fossil fuels contain. It is the reaction of thecarbon and hydrogen with oxygen which releases the energy needed for our modern lifestyles," explained Neil Young,managing director at DPS Global.

Alternative to incineration

According to Young waste can contain other pollutants which can be releasedinto the atmosphere when processed in a traditional incinerator.

However, the MD went on to claim that the company's new technology is thefirst economically-viable small-scale unit to separate the carbon andhydrogen from the rest of the waste, extract the valuable fuel and leave thepollutants in the ash from the process.

Young added that the resulting ash is typically just 5 - 10% of the originalwaste.

"Incineration has always been the main alternative to landfill when dealing with hazardous and difficult to deal with wastes.However, we believe that there is now a real alternative through the wide scale deployment of compact pyrolysis wastetreatment systems, which will help the private and public sectors reduce and control their waste costs, as well as significantlycontributing to their Corporate Social Responsibility targets and obligations," he continued.

According to Young the ST series has been designed to offer a viable, low-emissions alternative, treating waste at sourceand recovering the energy for use onsite and provides significant payback in terms of savings on energy and waste disposal.

The company added that military have been early adopters of the technology, ordering five units and having one operationalfor over two years.

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