The Valencian company Ingelia SL continues with its expansion and business plan in Europe. Specifically in Immingham (United Kingdom), the first hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) facility on a commercial scale is underway. The facility, which began production in 2018 with a first reactor to carbonize “food waste”, will be expanded with three additional reactors in a second phase.
It is the first example of HTC technology in the UK on an industrial scale and has been built at the facilities of CPL Industries, a partner of the Valencian company Ingelia SL. Ingelia has built the plant under a turnkey contract. The investment of two million pounds sterling for the plant has been made by the British Government in collaboration with the University of Nottingham through the Energy Research Accelerator (ERA) programme. An initiative funded by Innovate UK that works with universities and industry to promote innovation and research in energy. The contract was awarded to Ingelia SL in January 2017 after three months of European competition for its award.
This new project in the United Kingdom will undoubtedly be a model to follow in a sector where waste management is carried out selectively, with penalties in cases where the user does not separate the rubbish correctly.
CPL Industries
CPL is Europe’s leading manufacturer and supplier of smokeless solid fuels, with a capacity of 500,000 tonnes per annum. It manufactures in both the UK and Ireland and invests significantly each year in research and development to ensure its products remain cutting edge. In particular, CPL is making significant efforts to develop biofuels using technologies such as thermo-thermal carbonisation and torrefaction. Its active research and development programme is looking at the next generation of innovative and environmentally friendly UK heating products at its main production site in Immingham.
This will enable CPL to offer products to the market that maximise the use of waste products. Indeed, it already has a number of products in its range that include a proportion of biomass, including Homefire Ecoal 50, olive briquettes and supercharged heat logs.
The HTC process converts ‘green’ biomass waste, with a high moisture content, into a 100% renewable ‘biocoal’, which can be incorporated into the smokeless fuels produced at Immingham. Suitable feedstocks include both agricultural and garden waste and food waste. The HTC process uses moderate temperatures and high pressures to convert green waste into a biochar, effectively mimicking the natural formation of coal over the long term, but in a process that takes hours.
The HTC facility has recently started producing biocoal, and the CPL team is promoting this alternative route to biomass recycling through a number of waste industry conferences and exhibitions, including the Food Waste Conference in London and the RWM (Resource & Waste Management) Exhibition at the NEC in Birmingham.
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