The shift in perceptions that transforms “waste” into resources is accelerating, driven by the great rise in the value of “stuff” previously considered worthless.
For decades, the main process for waste treatment was landfill. Increased environmental awareness has forced a change in attitude to waste and domestic support for international agreements seeking to minimise emissions from landfill has led to increasing tax burden on this form of waste treatment. In addition the Government has shown clear support for energy from waste initiatives in the form of ROC’s, FIT and RHI, to name a few.
A holistic life systems perspective
With a shift in our view of consumption of materials to a more holistic, life systems perspective, the focus is now on waste management through the waste hierarchy i.e. reduction, reuse, recycling and recovery, with landfill only as the last resort. The UK energy market is worth in excess of £100bn so it makes good commercial sense to convert as much waste as cannot be reused or recycled into energy – electricity, methane, syngas, and heat and transport fuels.
Increasing the need for specialist engineering experience
Against this economic backdrop we are seeing an increasing technical and commercial interest in the more innovative technology solutions. Although recycling and composting currently account for over half of all UK waste management solutions, options involving more advanced thermo-chemical and bio-chemical processes are being seen as less risky. This is especially so when commercial examples come on stream and economies of scale kick in.
Allied to the environmental drivers, the increasing expense of energy derived from fossil fuels has also promoted a rapid growth of interest in harnessing energy from alternative sources such as waste, with in the case of waste, methods such as anaerobic digestion, pyrolysis and both low and high temperature gasification being utilised. However, these new technology solutions are rarely single ‘boxes’ but instead comprise discrete systems requiring careful integration if their full potential is to be realised.
A low risk management process
Design + Procurement + Construction + Commissioning = Operational Plant
Our staged project management process ensures that from the initial design through to the commissioning process, we work collaboratively with our clients, ensuring that a successful partnership flourishes.
We believe we are uniquely placed to assist you in delivering outstanding results at every stage of the project lifecycle. Our core team of industry trained practitioners will work together with you to design and construct a waste management or energy recovery operation which delivers:
- Integrated systems providing optimum output
- Minimum exposure to risk – operational and financial
- Ease of operation and maintenance
- Project delivery on time and in budget
Environmental
Haden Freeman environmental engineering consultants have extensive experience of providing the process industries with design and project management services. For example, we have operated pilot plant trials in order to carry out front-end design studies complete with a ± 10% capital cost estimate. We have undertaken studies to compare current legislation and comparative costs, produced ± 30% estimates of both the capital and running costs of the recommended plant and performed detailed HAZOPs with close HSE liaison as part of the production of the License to Operate document.
We have a detailed understanding of the ever increasing regulatory requirements and our expertise enables us to provide practical, cost effective engineering and business solutions to the challenges our clients face.
Technologies we have provided include activated carbon, thermal oxidation, catalytic oxidation, absorption systems, bio-stack trickling filters, biological oxidation systems using bio-towers, scrubbing systems for vent gases, sludge dewatering, aerobic biological treatment, clarification, odour oxidation, pH correction and flocculation.
