Partner Article

Haden Freeman Embarks on New Partnership

Haden Freeman embarks on new partnership for innovative nappy recycling scheme

Engineering specialist to play key role in new £14m project

Manchester-based engineering design consultant, Haden Freeman Ltd has won a major contract to work on a £14m project which will help to reduce the massive 1.1m tonnes of UK waste resulting from adult hygiene products (AHPs) by turning them into pet litter and waste containers.

Haden Freeman has been commissioned to carry out an innovative Front End Engineering Design (FEED) study on behalf of Knowaste Ltd, the country’s first recycler of AHPs.

The subsidiary of Knowaste International, based in Bromsgrove, became the first UK company to recycle AHPs at its development plant in West Bromwich in 2011. Having fulfilled its purpose testing the technology and evaluating the market opportunities for recyclable/plastic and fibres created from the process, the plant closed in 2013.

The new FEED study will be for a proposed £14m recycling plant in Hayes, West London, which will have the capability to recycle almost 100 per cent of AHPs with the plastic destined to make waste containers and the fibre, a high quality pet litter. This new plant will utilise patented technology and know-how that Knowaste has developed over the last 10 years.

Roy Brown, Chief Executive of Knowaste, explains how the new study will introduce an innovative element which makes the process economically viable: “In essence, while we always had a market for the recycled plastic liners of nappies, incontinence pads and other AHPs, the absorbent fibres within these products were still unwanted either being incinerated or going into low value products such as construction fibre board. We now have the technology to convert these cleaned and sterilised fibres into valuable pet litter producing a complete process, including reusing the heat produced to dry materials.

“It’s a fantastic step forward which will hopefully drastically reduce the amount of AHPs going into landfill sites and, if our application is successful, we would start production at Hayes in early 2017, providing both environmental benefits and employment opportunities within the area.”

Stuart Dow, Technical Director of Haden Freeman Ltd said: “We carry out a great number of such front end studies to ascertain the feasibility and costs of projects. The Knowaste project is typical, involving the modelling of a process to see what it needs to take this up in scale to sustainable level and what costs are involved. The study involves many engineering disciplines from civil, structural, mechanical and electrical right down to instrumentation design to see what the optimum size plant will be for this site.”

Haden Freeman Ltd is a major process engineering consultancy and multi-disciplinary resource for the chemical industry. Established in Manchester since 1984, the company now has offices in Southampton, Qatar and Redcar, which enables them to provide a local service to clients in these areas with a number of their engineers based at client sites, supported from headquarters by a fully integrated digital infrastructure. For further details, please contact Stuart Dow, Technical Director by email, sdow@hadenfreeman.com

ENDS

For more information contact the Haden Freeman press team, phone: 0113 430 4160 or email Faye Mallinson faye@prohibitionpr.co.uk or Will Ockenden: will@prohibitionpr.co.uk

About Haden Freeman

Haden Freeman is one of the UK’s largest independent engineering companies, with a head office in Denton, Manchester, as well as the Wilton Centre, Redcar.

Having recently celebrated its 30th anniversary, Haden Freeman Ltd is a major process engineering consultancy and multi-disciplinary resource for the process industries. Established in Manchester since 1984, the company now has offices in Southampton, Qatar and Redcar, which enables them to provide a local service to clients in these areas with a number of their engineers based at client sites, supported from headquarters by a fully integrated digital infrastructure.

The consultancy established its presence at the Wilton Centre at the beginning of 2015 and has since enjoyed a successful first six months – having recently announced that it will be expanding its team at the centre, moving into much large premises as of September 2015.

For further details, please contact Adam Hart, BPL Alliance Manager, by email: ahart@hadenfreeman.com

www.hadenfreeman.com

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Michael Jones .