The new G W Butler facility in Essex is now open and running

It was a privilege to visit G W Butler's new facility at Rainham, Essex on Friday. Having seen it in its early stages 6 month ago it was fantastic to see the progress that has been made on the site and to see the Rotoclaves fully operational. The site is now processing 10 tonnes of clinical waste a day from hospitals in and around the London area. 

The Rotoclave (rotating autoclave) system utilizes a pressure vessel, fitted with a unique rotating internal drum,  that accepts waste materials in unopened containers and subjects them to agitation. The waste is automatically loaded into the internal drum, which has angular surfaces and helixes, designed to load and unload the waste, as well as to thoroughly agitate it throughout the processing cycle.

Once the vessel has been fully loaded, controlled via the Touch-Screen Operator Panel, the Rotoclave door is closed, and the automated processing cycle is started.  The system will create an initial vacuum to extract any air present in the internal chamber, that would otherwise prevent the effective and immediate heat-up of the waste to be processed.

After the initial vacuum is completed, heat and moisture are introduced in the form of steam generated by the facility's boiler. The heat initially causes the containers to soften and, during agitation, to rupture and spill their contents within the rotating drum.  The moisture absorbable materials become saturated and transfer heat through themselves. The combination of high temperature, pressure and moisture, in conjunction with the unique method of agitation, ensures that all materials will contact the necessary sterilizing steam.

The Rotoclave operations are governed by a Process Logic Controller (PLC), to ensure that the parameters of time, temperature and pressure required to sterilize the waste, are met and continually maintained. The result is a complete sterilization of all processed materials.

The presence of moisture, high heat and pressure during the continued processing by the Rotoclave  causes pulpable materials such as paper to become repulped and for  plastics to deform and shrink. This action decreases the volume of material being processed in the reactive environment of the Rotoclave, by 50% or more of its original volume.

After the Rotoclave processing is complete, the fully sterilized materials are automatically discharged.  The results of the operation of each processing cycle are automatically recorded for a permanent record. 

707 will be managing the removal of this residual waste and our aim is to ensure this material is diverted from landfill  through conversion to refuse derived fuel.