Combustion & ORC technologies for small-scale waste-to-energy uses

The Gen System mitigates river pollution by providing on-site waste recovery able to convert the totality of the collected waste from the river and surrounding river villages.

Bio-fences are efficient, low-tech solutions that prevent plastics from entering the ocean. Strategically place bio-fences along a stretch of a river can each collect several tonnes of waste per day, which if not processed on site almost immediately, run the risk of re-entering the water stream. Transporting this waste to a central processing facility would not be cost-effective or sustainable.

The Gen System provides a sustainable waste recovery solution for low density island nations and rural areas with a low volume of solid waste, generally insufficient to warrant investment in a waste recovery system.

The systems can either be the heart of a central small-scale waste recovery facility, with feeder transfer stations spread out to easily support waste collection, or be transported by boat or truck to these locations for short-term operating stays.

The Gen System is able to generate 0.3MW of clean electricity from the post-recycling waste generated by 20,000 people (producing the world's average of 1kg of waste /capita /day).

This power can provide full energy services to 130 homes, or basic energy services to 6,000.

Temporary, off-grid compounds, such as peace-keeping missions that are generally shut off from their surroundings, can use waste management infrastructure as a catalyst for local development and as a way to leave no trace behind.

Placed in a secured interface area, the Gen Systems allow the mission to recover its own waste and part of the local non-recyclable waste, and to set up a waste management system that can be handed over to local authorities when the mission is concluded. This way, the mission shares resources and knowledge with the local community and contributes to a cleaner local environment thus making a positive impact, irrespective of the mission's outcome.

The Gen-H helps industries to join the circular economy and become zero waste by providing a way to turn excess waste into an industrial process input (like heat or energy).

Where many industrial plants already recover, reuse or repurpose the residual outputs of their manufacturing process, a percentage of non-recoverable waste exists and is sent to landfill. Reducing the amount of waste going to landfill bolsters a company’s zero-waste percentages. Prime industries include textile, consumer packaging, carpet and paper.

The Gen-H can reach affected areas soon after the event and start immediate debris recovery.

On-site debris recovery speeds up the clearance process thus allowing earlier reconstruction and avoiding the spread of diseases. It also saves the multiple truck loads otherwise required to bring the debris to landfills, as well as saving valuable landfill space where debris would be disposed off, generally unsorted. Natural disasters debris is mainly made of combustible waste such as C&D materials, plastics and fabrics, and can easily be recovered into energy.

The Gen-H can easily reach hard-to-access and/or remote toxic waste generation sites and provide clean waste recovery on site, thus avoiding the high toxic wood disposal fees and transportation costs.

Rail ties, utility poles, marine pilings or grape stakes are generally treated wood that can neither be recycled nor ordinarily disposed. They require specially equipped landfills or pre-approved incineration sites. Meeting these requirements can sometimes raise the disposal costs to unaffordable levels, yet owners have, in many cases, no other sustainable recourse. Consequently, a significant portion of treated wood ends up undisposed in large stockpiles that litter the landscape and leach toxins into the water table.

The Gen-H recovers safely and instantly various types of hospital waste, like infectious and non-infectious toxic waste or non-recyclables.

It represents a major departure from traditional toxic waste treatments, since it produces minimal ash and has very low emissions to air thanks to its optimum conversion, the lowered temperature at exhaust and its in-built pollution abatement equipment, but also because of its self-fuelling capacity. The Gen-H can therefore be safely placed on the hospital grounds, given its small footprint.

The unit's ultra-high temperature is 2-3 times hotter than average and allows a faster and safer conversion of hazardous materials.