Ecorkwaste preliminary results show the potential of used technologies
The 4th followup meeting of Ecorkwaste project was held at the headquarters of the Catalan Wine Cluster INNOVI. The meeting was attended by all partners of the project: CTM Foundation, Institut Català del Suro, TYPSA Group, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya and INNOVI.
The meeting focus was to assess the first preliminary results of the starting operations both int the gasification plant and the wetland built at Codorníu facilities in Sant Sadurní d'Anoia.
The gasification plant is operating as planned and efficiency tests are now being carried out with granulated cork of two types: 3-7 mm cork mm and 3-7 mm coarse cork (high density cork). The operation is done with low bed and temperatures between 800ºC to 900ºC. Under these conditions, the plant reaches its optimum performance, producing syngas with a calorific value of up to 5,000 kJ/Nm3.
On the other hand, the built wetland also operates correctly with a daily flow of 4500 l/d. On September several samples and technical visits have been made to obtain data during the harvest period, a key time of the year in wine sector and its production centers. The quality of the water being treated is good although project partners note that one of the objectives of the wetland built should be to refine it further to increase its quality.
Once the operation of the two pilot plants has been consolidated, the environmental gain of the two recovery strategies, both material and energetical, has been determined through the life cycle analysis (LCA) methodology.
The results obtained so far, despite their preliminary nature, demonstrate the potential of the technologies developed.
The results show that the potential of generating energy through a renewable source surpasses the environmental cost of the gasification process. And in the case of wastewater treatment with built wetlands, the use of photovoltaic panels helps to contain the impact of the process.
In both systems, efforts over the next few months will focus on assessing toxicity-related benefits and impacts, critical to establishing environmental benefits.
