Creating Value In Complex Waste & Energy Projects

Core Competencies

Zebec has a track record of successfully delivering large complex waste management projects over the last 20 years.

PROJECT CONSULTING
  • due diligence
  • management systems
  • auditing
  • technology reviews
  • operational guidance
  • project risk assessment
  • investment case appraisal
PROJECT DEVELOPMENT
  • site and technology selection
  • planning and permitting
  • grid connections
  • regulatory checks
  • tendering
  • quality management
  • recruitment training
PROJECT FUNDING
  • Existing capital funding channels
  • planning and permitting
  • Small to large-scale projects
  • Owner’s engineer for Funder

Project Delivery Options

Our strong partnership with leading technology providers and financing institutions allows us to provide a tailored solution to your waste management challenges.

BUILD ONLY
  • ZBL consortium design & build
  • customer finances plant
  • customer operates plant
BUILD, FINANCE & LEASE
  • ZBL Consortium Design & Build
  • ZBL Consortium finances
  • customer leases plant
  • customer operates plant
BUILD, OWN & OPERATE
  • ZBL Consortium Design & Build
  • ZBL Consortium finances
  • ZBL Consortium operates plant
  • effluent services, waste handling, heat & power provided to customer

BUILD, OWN, OPERATE & TRANSFER
  • ZBL Consortium Design & Build
  • ZBL Consortium finances
  • ZBL Consortium operates plant
  • effluent services, waste handling, heat & power provided to customer
  • asset transfers to customer after agreed period

CURRENT FOCUS

The management and disposal of high-water content biowaste such as sewage sludge is an increasingly difficult problem. Anaerobic digestion provides only a very partial solution.

Concerns about the presence of highly persistent chemicals, pharmaceuticals and micro-plastics in biosolids has meant that spreading on land is now subject to increasing restrictions.

We are therefore very pleased to announce that we are working on a major industrial scale initiative to demonstrate that Hydrothermal Carbonisation (HTC) offers the most cost-effective solution to the problem of high-water content sludges.

HYDROTHERMAL CARBONISATON (WET PYROLYSIS)


Using Hydrothermal Carbonisation, wet biomass feedstocks such as sewage sludge at 3-5% dry solids is dewatered to 15% dry matter with no further drying required.
 
In the HTC reactor the dewatered biomass is carbonized into hydrochar (biocoal) within 4 hours at a temperature of about 180-200°C and a pressure of 20 to 25 bar. The hydrochar / biocoal can then be easily dewatered to 75% dry matter.
 
Hydrochar has an energy content similar to anthracite and can be used as a substitute for fossil fuels in many industrial applications.
 
Watch this space for future updates!