Global CemFuels News

Poland: China Everbright International Limited has purchased waste management company Novago for Euro123m including a Euro118m equity purchase and a Euro5m land bank. Everbright lauded the buy as the largest Chinese acquisition in the environmental industry in Central and Eastern Europe and part of China’s One Belt One Road initiative.

“This acquisition serves as an important platform for Everbright International’s overseas development strategy and a solid foundation with strategic significance laid for future expansion in the Central and Eastern Europe market. The business can be further expanded by integrating the group’s advanced waste-to-energy technology and Novago‘s abundant local expertise,“ said Chen Xiaoping, chief executive officer of Everbright. He added that he hoped to bring Novago’s success back to China.

Established in 1992, Novago is the largest independent waste treatment company in Poland. Its business portfolio includes production of refuse-derived fuel (RDF), municipal waste treatment, waste recycling and landfill for biogas production and biogas cogeneration. It holds over a 30% market share in the Warsaw and Olsztyn provinces.

The transaction is conditional upon the issuance of merger clearance by the Poland’s Office of Competition and Consumer Protection.

UK: David Palmer-Jones, the chief executive officer for Suez recycling and recovery UK, has warned that there is a risk of a void in national policy as the UK negotiates its future relationship with the European Union (EU).

"Although we supported Britain remaining in the European Union, Suez recycling and recovery UK respects the democratic will of the population and our focus remains on our policy of deriving the maximum value from the waste produced by UK households and businesses every day,” said Palmer-Jones. He added that EU membership for Britain has been a ‘crucial and effective’ driver of environmental policy and legislation in the country.

Sweden: N+P has signed a five-year contract to supply HC Miljö, a subsidiary of Heidelberg Cement, with Subcoal pellets. HC Miljö will supply Subcoal pellets to a number of cement kilns in northern Europe. The Subcoal will be used as an alternative fuel.

Subcoal will initially be supplied from N+P’s production site Subcoal Production FRM in the Netherlands. The site uses the Subcoal process to convert various industrial wastes into an alternative fuel. The process is focussed on using non-recyclable paper-plastic waste fractions, mainly sourced from the Netherlands, the UK and Germany.

UK: Axion Polymers has added two new alternative fuels to its existing range of solid recovered fuel (SRF) products. Axfuel High CV Polychip Grades A and B are fully-processed and technically-separated fuels. Grade A has a net calorific value of 40kJ/g similar to powdered petcoke. Grade B has a net calorific value of 26kJ/g with a greater mix of other materials such as wood and rubber.

Both products are derived from end-of-life automotive and electrical waste resource streams. They have low moisture, chlorine and ash content. They are manufactured as part of Axion’s large-scale materials recycling system.

“In line with our principles of treating alternative fuels from waste as products, we ensure that they are of consistently high quality to meet the technically-demanding specifications of our end markets,” said Axion Polymers Director Keith Freegard.

South Korea: Researchers at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) have created a waterless toilet system that can convert human waste into biofuels. The system is part of a new outdoor creative laboratory, called Science Walden Pavillion, that opened to the public on 25 May 2016.

"Our ultimate goal is not only for the new toilet system to save water and operational costs for wastewater treatment plants, but for us to establish an ecosystem that supports technology innovation and drives economic diversification where human waste literally has a financial value," said Professor Jaeweon Cho, Director of Science Walden Pavillion.

The waterless toilet system uses a biological process to break down human waste into a dehydrated odourless compost-like material. It is then transferred to a digestion tank, containing thousands of different microbes. The microbes inside the tank biodegrade the powdered human manure to generate carbon dioxide and methane. Using high pressure and a membrane system, carbon dioxide is extracted to culture green algae for biofuel while methane is stored for later use as a heating fuel.

The project aims to reduce urbanisation's negative footprint on ecosystems by safely converting human waste into viable renewable energy, possibly with a monetary value.

If this experiment succeeds, the team plans to expand its use of the waterless toilet system and microbial energy production system in real life. This project has been carried out in collaboration with YATOO, Art Center Nabi, Paju Typography Institute and Hankuk Engineering Consultants in South Korea.