Waste to Energy Consulting - Antea Group

Waste to Energy

Everywhere in the world, new regulations or incentives progressively set objectives to prepare the post-fossil fuel era and define new sustainable energy models to address the challenges of energy supply, natural resource and environmental protection.

One of the solutions beyond renewable energy, is the recovery of heat from liquid, gas and solid waste in both municipal and industrial facilities. Some projects can even make the facilities so-called “positive energy”: they produce more energy than they consume.

Energy recovery from liquid, gas or solid waste

Energy recovery projects from liquid, gas or solid waste can be developed in both new plants and existing plants which need to be upgraded.

The Antea Group experts can study the potential heat which can be recovered from process water and wastewater in industries as well as in urban sewage treatment plants. In the latter, they also run studies for sludge digestion and methanization projects. Specific organic waste and by-products from industries, e.g. the food industry, can also be used to produce biomethane, which feeds cogeneration plants, urban gas networks, etc.

Our engineers carry out energy audits, assessments of the various energy uses, consumptions and associated costs, define actions to save energy with fast return on investment, and build action plans for comprehensive energy management.

Biogas recovery from sludge methanization in sewage treatment plants

In many existing wastewater treatment plants, biogas produced during the process of sludge digestion is either burned or even not recovered. These plants can be upgraded to recover the biogas and take advantage of it to produce electricity or heat. Our experts in energy, hydraulics and sewage treatment, manage the projects from the beginning, with studies of energy opportunities, technical and administrative studies, all the way up to support in writing the electricity resale contract, works monitoring, etc.

Many different configurations can be encountered. We provide you with customized solutions. For instance, in wastewater treatment plants, energy consumption can be optimized by using the heat of digested sludge to warm thickened sludge via heat exchangers.

Heat recovery in industrial processes

In industries, various processes produce heat as a by-product. Antea Group helps you characterize this lost heat and recover it for later use. Our teams carry out regulatory energy audits, identify heat recovery opportunities, calculate the required equipment and provide a comprehensive technical, economic and environmental assessment.

For example, in a plastic manufacturing plant, a detailed study made it possible to recover heat from the plastic manufacturing process which was previously lost, and to use it for the district heating system which distributes heat to other industries, a swimming pool, a school and a sports center.

In a plant with sludge incineration, the smoke generated during the incineration process had a heat potential that could be valorized. Our engineers characterized and quantified the heat available in the hot water system which was specific to smoke cooling. They identified the potential use of this recovered heat for the heating systems of buildings and other industrial sites close to the plant.