SUEZ invests in waste-to-chemical technology
SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT and subsidiary company SITA UK have announced they are investing in the waste-to-chemical industry, with a new contract to fund the research and development programme of technology company Solvert Ltd, based in North East England.
Using organic waste from the household and construction and industry sectors, Solvert will utilise ‘thermochemical pretreatment’ (akin to a pressure cooker), ‘enzymatic hydrolysis’ and fermentation processes to produce renewable chemicals, such as acetone, hydrogen, and N-Butanolm for use in the UK manufacturing sector. As a by-product of the treatment process, biogas and biomass will also be created, which can be used for renewable energy.
The SITA UK/SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT investment will focus on optimising the pretreatment of the waste and ‘maximising value creation from it’.
Speaking of the undisclosed investment, Kris Wadrop, Solvert’s Founder and CEO, said: “Securing finance for the business has been incredibly tough in the current economic climate, however, with this investment from SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT, I am delighted that the team’s hard work is now paying dividends.
“The value of the investment from SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT is more than financial. SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT is committing resources from its resource and development centre in Paris and its subsidiary, SITA UK… will provide technical support and also help with commercialisation work.”
Wadrop told Resource that over the next year Solvert will be treating organic waste from SITA UK facilities to see how geographical feedstock differs, providing a "good robust map of how the technology works with the materials they manage and proving commercial validation."
"We've shown that this process works in a small-scale, now we have the investment to show that it does on a commercial scale too", says Wadrop. He added that the investment was also important, as the “novel technology” (patent pending) does not “appear to qualify” for any government-funded schemes.
Stuart Hayward-Higham, Technical Development Director at SITA UK, said the company was “pleased” to help facilitate the project and will be “investing [its] skills and resources into making better use of waste”.
Paul Joel Derian, Senior Vice President of Research, Innovation & Performance at SUEZ ENVIRONNMENT, added: “Being able to support this important research with significant funding, technical specialists from our research and development centre in Paris and close collaboration with the technical and commercial resources of SITA UK demonstrates our commitment to recovering value from organic waste and sustainable development.”
Read more about Solvert Ltd.
SITA UK clinical waste joint venture
SITA UK has also recently announced that it is in ‘advanced negotiations’ with Tradebe Environmental Services Limited to form a joint venture clinical waste business.
The new company will combine the two clinical waste management divisions of SITA UK and Tradebe to form ‘a business that will provide a focused national offering to both England and Wales’.
Read more about SITA UK.
