UK waste treatment company blazes trail in China

Eco-Solids International’s inaugural unit in Shenyang could be the first of 20 more over the next three years as economic growth and wastewater infrastructure in the north-eastern province of Liaoning grows at one of fastest rates in China.

Clive Rigden, the company’s managing director, said: “As the Chinese look to improve sludge management, recycling and greenhouse gas emissions, we have proved that with the right technology and a patient but determined approach, it is possible to get to the heart of a major market.

“Watching the finishing touches being made to our first Eco Solids Process system in China is an exciting and very rewarding moment for us.”

Completion of the project follows the signing of a major licensing agreement with leading water and environmental equipment company Shenyang Yinuo Science and Technology Company in north east China.

Eco-Solids, which is based in Hampshire, uses lime stabilisation treatment technologies pioneered in North America.

It has what it says are exclusive worldwide rights outside the US to the sludge treatment process and plans to establish the Eco-Solids Process in the Middle East and India.

The process is a continuous stabilisation method for treating all types of sewage sludge.

It is understood to produce a better treated biosolid and income-generating product, exceeding European and US regulatory requirements.

The process also cuts sludge volume, volatile solids and odours while keeping non-leachable nitrogen and phosphates, the company claims, and results in “complete inactivation of microbiological activity”.

David Gibbs