Rhodes order signifies new jobs and a cleaner environment!
Award winning engineering firm, Group Rhodes has won a significant order to install and commission a First of Class (FOC) Autoclave and loading equipment at a new purpose built waste management facility that is being constructed for Wakefield Metropolitan District Council (WMDC).
Group Rhodes was chosen as an engineering partner due to its ability to demonstrate success in new product development and technology. The Company was originally awarded an order in 2009 to design and build the First of Class (FOC) autoclave for processing waste, and is now to manage the installation of the equipment at the WMDC site in South Kirby.
The new £750m waste management facility will create 70 new jobs in the area and 200 jobs during the construction period, helping to rejuvenate the local economy. While the site has already benefitted form a new purpose built fishing lake, the scheme also includes a Visitor/Education Centre to promote recycling and environmental awareness in the community.
The complex, when fully operational, will provide treatment facilities in excess of 145,000 tonnes a year of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) over the next 25 years. It is intended that the new process will reduce Wakefield’s need to landfill by 40% by 2015.
Beaumont Legal advised Group Rhodes throughout the project and negotiated the contracts for the firm’s unique and important part of the £750m project.
Senior partner and head of commercial at Beaumont Legal, Roy Cusworth, said:“This is a major strategic project for Wakefield involving leading waste management technology. Group Rhodes is one of the country’s few specialist contractors capable of delivering the precision engineering required for this landmark project. We are proud of our association with them and were pleased to assist in concluding these vital contracts.”
To aid in the development of the new autoclave, a knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) scheme between Group Rhodes and Sheffield Hallam University was established, culminating in the two organisations being voted ‘Best Company/ University Partnership in North East England (2011)’ by the Technology Strategy Board.
The autoclave, which measures an impressive 15m by 3m, operates similar to a pressure cooker that can sterilise and breakdown 20 tonnes of waste per cycle. During the process, glass, plastics, ceramics, ferrous and non-ferrous metals are cleaned and emerge as clean, sterile recyclates ready for sorting. The remaining waste such as paper, cardboard, and food is broken down and delivered up as an energy rich cellulose fibre that can be further processed using Anaerobic Digestion to produce Refuse Derived Fuel (RFD) in the form of methane gas or ethanol. This has the potential to be used to create energy to run the plant, making it self-sufficient, and any excess power created can be sold back to the national grid as green energy.
Group Rhodes, Sales Director, Barry Richardson, commented, “Waste is a global problem that requires a global solution. By working in Partnership with waste processors, we believe that this new innovation will open up additional opportunities worldwide for Group Rhodes.”
Since delivering the FOC Autoclave in 2011, Group Rhodes has undertaken an extensive research and development programme, and now offers a complete range of Storage, Conveyors, Crushing, Shredding and Feeding equipment geared towards handling and processing waste for recycling. As a result the Company, (that has already won numerous awards for International Trade, including the Queens Awards for Enterprise), is responding to enquiries for similar solutions generated from organisations in Brazil, South Africa, Singapore and India.”
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