EarthPower
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EarthPower Technologies is Australia's first regional food waste–to–energy facility.
Located in Sydney's west, EarthPower accepts organic waste material from the industrial, commercial and residential sectors and converts it to green energy and nutrient-rich fertiliser.
EarthPower is a joint venture between Transpacific and Veolia Environmental Services.
The key benefits of the EarthPower Facility include:
- Lower gate fees than competitors within the putrescible waste industry, enabling a viable alternative to traditional landfills.
- Potential savings on other waste disposal costs by improved source segregation and recovery of recyclable organic material.
- Diversion of waste from landfill and subsequent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
- Production of green electricity relieves pressure from traditional coal fired electricity supply by producing an ongoing source of energy.
Food wastes accepted at the facility include source segregated foods and food based waste streams. Waste sources come from domestic, commercial and industrial food preparation, processing and consumer activities, including food manufacturers, retail food distributors, commercial kitchens and local government.
The resources arrive in various forms including raw, cooked or processed meats, fruit and vegetable wastes, dairy products, confectionary, bakery products, cereals and grain derived wastes.
The EarthPower facility uses anaerobic digestion technology to convert solid and liquid food waste into a combustible gas similar to natural gas. The digester gas is recovered and used to produce green electricity. This electricity is sold into the grid for distribution to domestic, commercial and industrial clients.
A by-product of the anaerobic digestion process is a nutrient rich sludge, which is dried and granulated for sale as a fertiliser into the agriculture and horticultural markets. Waste heat from the cogeneration engines is used in the fertiliser drying process and to heat the digesters.
For more information, visit the
EarthPower website.