Recovery of energy from waste and biomass has a number of environmental benefits including the retrieval of energy from a low carbon source.

Recovery of energy from waste and biomass has a number of environmental benefits including the retrieval of energy from a low carbon source. In the case of waste-derived fuels, this also helps reduce the amount of waste that will eventually need to be disposed of. Once waste has been recycled, the residual waste that remains can be a source of this low carbon energy. In the future, the integration of these energy technologies with CO2 capture and storage will provide heat and electricity with ‘negative’ CO2 emissions, depending on the biogenic content of the feedstock.

We have undertaken extensive work into high efficiency energy from waste solutions, using both thermal technologies or bio-chemical processes:

  • Landfill – for example, optimising landfill gas energy production and reduction of carbon dioxide to boost methane levels using hollow fibre membranes.
  • Combustion/Incineration – either the co-firing of biomass or waste with coal to reduce its carbon footprint or for reducing the volume of combustible wastes for disposal while recovering energy
  • Gasification and Pyrolysis – using thermal conversion processes to convert biomass and waste into an energy-rich gas, comprising hydrogen, carbon monoxide and methane and leaving safely disposable residues
  • Anaerobic Digestion – production of biogas, methane and digestate from biodegradable organic wastes, food and agricultural resides, sewage sludge, etc.
  • Biofuels – such as the development of an integrated process for biogas production from algal biomass.

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