Sustainability Live has announced the industry-changing technologies that will be on show in the edie Innovation Zone at the event next month (April 21st – 23rd at the NEC, Birmingham).
The edie Innovation Zone, supported by the Knowledge Transfer Network, is an exciting new feature at this year’s Sustainability Live which will showcase the newest emerging technologies in the trial stages of development.
The selected technologies – which range from generating energy from ‘rubbish’ plastic bags to mass-market rainwater harvesters – were selected by an independent steering committee and will be presented in a dedicated area of the exhibition.
Amanda Barnes, chief executive at Sustainability Live organiser Faversham House, said: “We are delighted to recognise and showcase some of the truly cutting-edge technologies that are about to enter the sustainability market.
“These pre-commercialised products are the result of countless hours of research and development from teams across the country and we believe this shortlist has true potential to change the industry. The Innovation Zone is just one of a wide range of educational and free-to-attend show features that visitors can access at the event this April.”
The Innovation Zone short-list
Warwick FBR: Solving the waste plastic crisis
47 million tons of plastic waste is produced in the EU every year – of which only 14% is recovered and only 19% burned to recover its energy. An enormous plastic waste legacy now exists in our oceans and landfills.
Recycling Technologies has developed Warwick FBR, a solution for the mixed plastic waste crisis, which transforms plastic into an energy-rich hydrocarbon commodity called Plaxx. The process reduces it to the molecular level and removes additives and contaminants, to produce a clean pure hydrocarbon to replace virgin crude oil and gas supplies.
The system provides savings on waste disposal costs, plus revenues from the sale or use of the Plaxx. Potential markets for the technology include waste operators, paper and plastic recyclers, anaerobic digester operators and local authorities who deal with large quantities of non-recyclable plastic waste. Longer-term uses also include the recovery of plastics from the oceans and landfill.
The potential for this innovation is truly global and it offers an economically beneficial solution to the problem of waste plastic.
iViTi AdrON: Balancing stress to the grid during peak energy periods
Energy security and affordability are key challenges on the horizon. ViTi AdrON is a green, undisruptive solution to grid energy, smoothing and balancing issues during peak demand times.
The AdrON is an LED light that can detect excessive pressure on a grid in real time and then automatically and undetectably switch to its own internal batteries. The frequency monitoring technology allows the light to revert back to mains power when a grid gets back to ‘normal’. The batteries then also re-charge, mopping up excess energy during times of grid surplus.
This technology’s speed of response will reduce the need for a grid to call for back-up dirty power at peak demand, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and saving money.
Aimed at large businesses facing their ESOS audit, this technology can help reduce their carbon emissions and meet their needs to decarbonise, without any disruption to the working environment. They also save money by avoiding peak rates and make money by selling excess pre-purchased energy.
Hydromentum Systems: Cost-effective rainwater harvesting and flood prevention
All businesses are exposed to the impacts of extreme weather brought on by climate change. Yet the steps to mitigate the risks are often costly in terms of carbon, energy and time.
Hydromentum Systems offers a cost-effective, mass-market rainwater harvesting system ready for large-scale adoption by water utilities, housing developers and property owners. It allows the long distance transport of rainwater from large roofs to storage and features a zero energy water treatment system, so rainwater is automatically cleaned for reuse.
The new Hydromentum System takes flowing water down a commercial building’s guttering and pumps, with most of the water stored for reuse. The water that is not pumped by the system is instead held in existing drainage systems as an important local flood prevention measure.
The system incorporates the technology of the successful PAPA Pump, which uses just the pressure of the flowing water to operate. Hydromentum Systems are designed for retrofitting on almost any commercial building or large house and are even suitable for inner city areas in high use.
The system will also be instrumental in reducing the risk of property or sewer flooding, as less peak rainfall will hit the drains at the same time.
TurboClaw: Capturing the energy in steam
Steam is produced in a wide range of industrial processes, from potato-chip frying to paper manufacturing. Unless there is a ready requirement for the low-grade steam after it has been produced, it is usually discarded, despite still containing vast quantities of energy.
The TurboClaw steam compressor, produced by Dynamic Boosting Systems, allows low-grade waste steam to be recompressed up to a useful temperature and pressure. It uses up to 12 times less energy than the production of ‘fresh’ steam using a boiler.
The TurboClaw steam compressor enables the recycling of waste steam in industrial applications, resulting in large reductions in the use of boiler fuel and water, as well as the associated financial savings.
For a typical paper manufacturing line, use of this technology will save more than 600 tons of CO2 and 4,500 tons of water annually. This translates into an £80,000 financial saving every year and payback in less than six months.
P Sensor: Preventing phosphate pollution episodes and enabling phosphorus resource recovery
Demand for phosphorus has reached unsustainable levels and it’s predicted that world reserves could become exhausted in the next 150 years.
Very little is known about the phosphorous life cycle, with most discharged in the oceans at such a diluted level that is impractical to recover and re-use.
At the moment phosphorous detection is expensive and time consuming. This new technology will bring to market a phosphate sensor that can replace existing laborious and complex methodologies.
The device will help prevent phosphate-related pollution episodes by enabling more efficient treatment processes, as well as the identification of point sources so measures can be put in place to control them. It will also enable phosphorus resource recovery and a better understanding of the phosphorus life cycle.
Topolytics: Mapping the power of waste
Companies are increasingly being challenged and regulated to improve the way they measure waste, emissions and resource use and are having to become more accountable about their performance.
Topolytics is a software platform that brings together technologies used in the geo-spatial industry and data analytics, applying them to environmental monitoring, management and reporting.
Capturing this data enables companies to understand in real time how they manage waste, emissions and resources, and share the data with third parties.
The software works on the premise that all waste has a geo-spatial component, and the ability to monitor in real time can reap huge benefits, particularly in areas like the management and reporting of environmental performance in hazardous and sensitive manufacturing processes.
Novagg: Creating building supplies from landfill
Novagg is the world’s greenest lightweight aggregate. A versatile building material used in construction, particularly lightweight concrete, it is made from 98% waste diverted from landfill. The waste materials are mixed, pelletised and transformed into a new, safe to use and fully recyclable product.
Novagg straddles the supply chain offering solutions to waste producers, collectors and re-processors, as well as to construction material manufacturers and their customers.
The new invention meets the urgent need to be resource efficient in a circular economy and to convert waste into materials that can conform with BES 6001: Responsible Sourcing of Construction Products.
At a time of increasing demand and declining domestic supply, imports to the UK are increasing. Novagg, therefore, addresses issues of resource efficiency, cost, environmental contamination, carbon footprint, and corporate social responsibility.
