SynTech Bioenergy Waste to Energy & Research Plant : ETI Backed 1.5 MW Waste Gasification Plant Underway in West Midlands

Construction is underway on a waste to energy gasification plant in the West Midlands known as the SynTech Energy Centre and backed by the UK’s Energy Technology Institute (ETI).

The ETI is investing £5 million in the facility which is being built on the site of a former steel fabrication and waste recycling facility in Portway Road, Wednesbury matching a £5 million investment from Denver-based SynTech Bioenergy LLC.

The Project is being led by SynTech Bioenergy UK based in Aldridge in the West Midlands, Mace are the project managers and engineering, procurement and construction is being led by Otto Simon Ltd from Cheadle in Cheshire.

The gasification technology is being provided by US company Frontline Bioenergy, in whom SynTech US is a major stakeholder and will be built in the UK.

“This project is about more than just generating clean electricity, although that is an important first step,” said Paul Winstanley, project manager. “Producing a clean high quality syngas opens up a huge variety of new opportunities in addition to making clean electricity including the generation of hydrogen, jet fuel and even plastics from wastes.”

Winstanley also highlighted the 3 million tonnes of RDF which the UK paid to export to European waste to energy plants in 2016 and the nearly 16 million tonnes of waste is landfilled of which half could be used as fuel.

“This technology could be used to convert waste into clean, reliable and economic heat, power, chemicals and fuels on a smaller scale where it could be used by factories, car plants, hospitals and data centres economically,” he added.

Construction of the 1.5 MW facility, which is expected to create around 100 construction jobs and 25 new permanent jobs once operational.

Once operational the plant will convert around 40 tonnes per day of locally produced, post recycled refuse derived fuel.

The ETI said that the syngas will then be converted into power using a modified high-efficiency gas engine, and waste heat generated from the engine will be made available to heat a local swimming pool.

Small scale

The plant is more compact than many other energy from waste designs and according to the developer could be suitable for providing heat and power to factories, hospitals as well as being suitable to integrate with heat networks in towns and cities.

It will also incorporate a test facility which will allow the testing of new engines, turbines and upgrading processes which produce products from waste derived clean syngas including a proprietary methanol production process which boost product yield significantly.

“The work in Phase 1 of the project has permitted us to carry out a significant level of risk assessment and mitigation work to ensure that we can deliver not only a technology that works reliably on a wide range of waste sources but does so in a cost-effective manner,” commented Kamal Kalsi, SynTech Bioenergy UK’s chief technology officer.

“Our process differs in many key aspects to all others in the marketplace and we believe that this provides us with key advantages that allow us to meet our technical and commercial objectives,” concluded Kalsi.

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