Kent-based Reclaim Resources has developed the Vantage Waste Processor technology which it says is similar to autoclaving but allows waste to be constantly fed into the plant.
It is recycling in its truest sense. The idea is that a truck could drop off mixed municipal waste at one end and literally turn around and fuel up with diesel at the other end
Philip Hall, Reclaim Resources
The firm has said that by letting more waste in, it makes the process smoother and more cost effective.
The remaining biomass and plastic can also be turned into bioethanol and biodiesel, using additional technology.
The company is currently in the process of building a trial plant capable of handling 75,000 tonnes of municipal waste a year on the outskirts of Bournemouth. This will demonstrate the technology to businesses and local authorities and is expected to be operational by September.
Reclaim Resources founder and managing director Philip Hall told letsrecycle.com: “We are building a facility to prove the whole thing and at the moment we can produce 20 million UK gallons of biodiesel or bioethanol a year from this plant.”
“It is recycling in its truest sense. The idea is that a truck could drop off mixed municipal waste at one end and literally turn around and fuel up with diesel at the other end,” he added.
System
Under the Vantage Waste Processor system, mixed “black bag” rubbish from households is shredded before being fed into two chambers where it is exposed to high pressure steam jets.
The sanitised waste is then sorted into different fragments such as glass and metal. The plastic fraction is then used to create biodiesel while the biomass is made into biodiesel.
Mr Hall said: “We have done tests on the diesel and it is almost identical to that you buy on a petrol station forecourt. And the market for bioethanol is surprisingly large at the moment. It has been used in Brazil and it is a fuel of the future.”
He added: “At the moment we have got 15 councils interested in our progress. We have already sold four systems so far to Russia, India, the United States and a private business in the UK. We have sold them so far for from £2.5 to £6 million, depending on what parts of the technology they wanted.”
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