Waste-to-energy system to be installed at pigments plant

A system that generates electricity from waste heat is to be installed at the facility of a producer of pigments in North East England.

The system, developed by Wilton, Redcar-based DRD Power, will be demonstrated at the Huntsman Pigments site at Greatham in Hartlepool, where it will generate up to 200kW of electricity − saving between 600 and 750 tonnes of CO2 emissions a year.

The system itself, which is based on the Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC), can produce electricity from waste heat streams in the 90-130°C temperature range.

The £1m project is due to be operational by March 2011 and has received a £248,000 investment from One North East through the Tees Valley Industrial Programme. The investment follows a grant of £250,000 from the Carbon Trust to DRD Power towards the development and demonstration of the technology.

As well as being used for waste-heat recovery at process plants, the ORC technology could be used at a range of industrial sites, including refineries, petrochemical complexes, steel works, cement works, paper mills and also at biomass, CHP and waste-to-energy plants.