Company wins deal for waste ‘pressure cooker’

ENGINEER Group Rhodes has won an order to install a giant ‘pressure cooker’ at a new waste plant in Wakefield.

The Wakefield-based firm won an order to install and commission an autoclave and loading gear at the £750m plant, being built for Wakefield Metropolitan District Council.

Shanks is building the plant after signing a 25-year contract with the city council.

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The private finance initiative (PFI) contract is part-funded by the UK Green Investment Bank, alongside other commercial banks.

The main site at South Kirkby, West Yorkshire, will provide facilities to recycle, treat waste and generate sustainable power in the Wakefield district. Overall the facilities will process on average approximately 200,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste annually.

It is hoped the new process will reduce Wakefield’s need to use landfill by 40 per cent by 2015.

Group Rhodes’ autoclave measures 15m by 3m and operates in a similar way to a pressure cooker. It can sterilise and break down 20 tonnes of waste per cycle.

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During the process, glass, plastics, ceramics, ferrous and non-ferrous metals are cleaned and emerge as clean, sterile recyclable materials ready for sorting.

The remaining waste such as paper, cardboard, and food is broken down and turned into an energy-rich cellulose fibre which is processed using anaerobic digestion to produce methane gas or ethanol.

This fuel has the potential to make the plant self-sufficient, and any excess power created can be sold back to the national grid as green energy.

Group Rhodes won the order to design and build the autoclave in 2009, and is now to install the equipment at the plant.

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Group Rhodes sales director Barry Richardson said: “Waste is a global problem that requires a global solution. By working in partnership with waste processors, we believe that this new innovation will open up additional opportunities worldwide for Group Rhodes.”

The company employs 245 people and also has sites in Sheffield and Manchester.

The plant will create approximately 250 construction jobs and a further 60 permanent positions.