Wetox
Kevin McKay | CEO
A: P O Box 10-347, Wellington
E: kev.mckay@xtra.co.nz | W: www.wetox.co.nz
P:
About Wetox
The Wetox technology was developed from Victoria University’s Dr Michael Richardson’s PhD thesis and is used as a treatment for semi-solid liquid organic waste, otherwise known as “sludge”.
"sludge is deconstructed to its base components ... nutrients and minerals are released and can be recovered for reuse"Wetox is a continuous process based upon catalysed wet air oxidation. In a specially designed reactor, under high pressure and temperatures the sludge is deconstructed to its base components such as water, carbon dioxide and carboxylic acid.
With Wetox, valuable nutrients and minerals are released and can be recovered for reuse. Wetox also has the potential to capture heat from the reaction turning it into electricity.
Deconstructing the sludge means that the waste disposed of by industry to land fill (or even worse land-spreading) is almost eliminated. The material benefit to businesses is enormous savings in landfill charges and transportation costs as well as valuable resources. Wetox is also an important measure of environmental protection and sustainability.
"Wetox provides an increased level in environmental sustainability for manufacturing businesses that produce organic waste as part of their processes. We are excited to be involved in the development of Wetox with Viclink and forward to being able to gain benefit from a part of the waste stream that was previously a problem."
Simon Gatenby, chief executive, Taylor Preston
The process works for all manner of sludge, coming from municipal water treatment plants, dairy farms, meat works, factories, wineries and many other sources.
