UK company reveals plans to build world’s largest steam autoclave recycling plant in North East

Waste management company, Graphite Resources Ltd, has announced a deal of around £50 million to build the world's largest steam autoclave recycling plant on the banks of the river Tyne in Gateshead, North East England.

The recycling plant will be one of the first of its type in the UK and should open in late 2009. It will recycle around 400,000 tonnes of municipal (black bag) solid waste (MSW) together with a range of commercial and industrial wastes and have a recycling rate of over 75 per cent.

Steam autoclaving uses steam to sterilize municipal and household waste in autoclaves - large, enclosed vessels about the size of a long fuel tanker. The technology has been used for a long time in hospitals and surgeries, to sterilise equipment.

Up to 30 tonnes of (black bag) waste, either sorted or unsorted, is loaded into each autoclave and rotated with steam introduced at pressure - raising the temperature up to 160 degrees centigrade. The treatment cycle lasts for one hour during which time the waste material is broken down.

All foodstuffs, paper and organic 'cellulose' material become fibrous. Plastic is softened and reduced in volume. Tin cans, glass, aerosols, steel and aluminium are de-lacquered and steam cleaned.

When the cycle is complete, the residual waste is less than 20 per cent of the original volume. This material then undergoes separation treatment to extract additional value.

Source:  Resource Recovery Forum Email News Service