Falkirk, Scotland - A new MBT plant could be destined for Falkirk as Oaktech signs a contract for plant design with Avondale Environmental. The plant is to be developed at the Avondale Landfill Site and will be based on the ArrowBio Mechanical-Biological Waste Treatment (MBT) process.
The design development is for a 70,000 tonnes per annum capacity municipal solid waste (MSW) treatment facility. A contract for construction of the plant is expected to follow the design development phase in around 3 months time.
Oaktech describes the ArrowBio process as a unique, water-based mechanical-biological treatment for solid waste which reclaims materials for recycling and also produces renewable energy from biodegradable residues.
Avondale Environmental own and operate the Avondale landfill near the Falkirk area just off junction of the M9 motorway. The company has chosen ArrowBio as their preferred technology partner for the development. Oaktech is the UK and Eire patents holder for the technology the company states. The new MBT facility would be required to processing household and commercial wastes aiding their diversion from landfill, together with increasing recycling and generating green electricity for supply to the national grid.
Avondale Environmental Limited is a joint venture between Landmedia Limited and Shanks Waste Services Limited.
The construction of the Plant will take around 16 months once consents are in place. The plant will then be available to local authorities to divert biodegradable municipal wastes (BMW) away from landfill and help achieve statutory national targets laid down in the EU Landfill Directive.
Oaktech says that ArrowBio technology is rated as one of the most consistent and among the highest for landfill diversion rates as well as methane-yielding processes. The technology was featured in the 2005 Juniper MBT Report
The process was first developed by Arrow Ecology Ltd with a commercial-scale facility operating since January 2003 in Tel-Aviv. WSN Environmental Ltd has since commissioned a 90,000 tpa installation at Jacks Gully, Sydney, Australia to be completed by mid-2008.
The ArrowBio process
Oaktech says that the ArrowBio process accepts waste straight from a waste collection vehicle. The material is then processed initially by a hydromechanical sorting system which involves a series of water-based processes, including settling and washing; which takes advantage of the physical properties of the waste materials such as density to classify them. The sorting and segregation process enables the recovery of cleaned metals, plastics and glass.
Hydromechanical classification also prepares the biodegradable fraction of the waste for anaerobic digestion by shredding with high-pressure water jets before removing sand and grit through sedimentation. What Oaktech describes as the resulting ‘soup’, is pumped into the anaerobic digesters where high levels of methane-rich (~70-80% methane content) biogas is produced. The biogas is then passed to a gas engine to generate electricity. Oaktech says that other orders are in the pipeline.
Avondale landfill already has a successful landfill gas energy centre at the Avondale Landfill and the Avondale ArrowBio project is expected to generate 2MW of renewable electricity.
Further information
For further information on the ArrowBio process visit the Oaktech Limited website.
Information on the Avondale landfill can be found at the company's website.