The quango as heroic green knight?
Private equity hesitancy contrasted with prompt public funding of green innovation
Listen to a tale that seems to turn current criticism of government intervention on its head. Investing “where (business) angels fear to tread” nimbly accomplished by that much-maligned bastion of supposed public sector quango unnecessariness, a Regional Development Agency.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQjYHhbRDMM
Enval has found a way to recycle that which was previously un-recyclable.
Co-founder Dr. Carlos Ludlow-Palafox:
“We wanted to develop the technology further without having to have further dilution in the company.
The procedure for applying for a grant from EEDA [the East of England Development Agency] was in many ways much simpler than applying for money from private investors.
Even though EEDA put some effort into looking into the value of our project, the time that this took was definitely shorter than the time that it takes to complete a round of funding from venture capital or business angels.
Since then we have managed to secure another round of funding thanks mainly to the results that were achieved during the grant.”
Here is a news story about Enval’s new plant in the UK:
Enval opens new facility in Luton
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The item to the left of this box is a press release
It is issued on behalf of the main organisation that it mentions
It is announcing matters and events which they wish to bring to your attention
We are including it in full because we are interested in what it covers and because we think you might also be interested
Remember to take the interests of the source of this information into account when considering its content
Value from Waste
Enval cuts the ribbon on a new engineering facility dedicated to showcasing its revolutionary technology
Enval, a leading provider of recycling and environmental technology solutions, today announced it has opened a new engineering site in Luton.
The new site will allow Enval to expand operations from its Headquarters in Cambridge and continue development of its patented material recovery process.
Enval is a modern environmental services company, focused on providing specialist solutions across industrial, commercial and municipal sectors to deliver value from waste to its customers.
Natural resources are becoming scarcer and existing sources of fuels and minerals will not be sufficient to satisfy global needs for much longer.
With manufacturers concentrating on reducing waste volumes, bulky rigid packaging is being replaced by lighter and in some cases more complex flexible packaging.
Flexible laminate packaging has excellent material performance and environmental qualities, but represents a new challenge for the recycling industry, requiring new technologies and processes to be able to deal with it.
Enval’s patented technology will make a significant contribution by offering a genuine recycling route for flexible laminate packaging materials thereby reducing the quantity of waste, which is currently being sent to landfill or incinerated.
“Enval is looking forward to showcasing its process to potential customers,” said David Boorman, Business Development Manager at Enval.
“Enval’s new technology separates the aluminium from laminates, which means that this valuable commodity can be recycled using a process that can scale to suit the need, generate profit and make a true environmental difference.
Customers will be able to visit our new engineering facility and see the fully operational Pilot-Plant.
Enval will be able to test their customer’s own waste to demonstrate the process’s commercial viability.”
Tests with the Pilot-Plant that Enval has carried out in Cambridge over the last 12 months have shown that the process can be used to address the challenges presented by laminate materials.
The Enval Process now allows packaging systems based on these materials, such as aseptic drink cartons, food pouches and toothpaste tubes, to be completely recycled in a sustainable and economically viable way.
“Flexible packaging systems based on plastic/aluminium laminates are widely used because of their many positive attributes but the absence of a viable recycling process for them is a major drawback and is creating an increasing landfill problem.
Now though, thanks to Enval, a solution is at hand and the opening of Enval’s engineering site in Luton is a clear demonstration of the commercial appetite that exists for the enabling technologies and services that we can offer” said Martin Lamb, Enval’s Chairman.
“This additional facility will allow Enval to rapidly scale its operations and will be used to demonstrate the ability of the Enval Pilot-Plant to operate continuously on significant volumes of waste.”
About Enval
Enval, originally formed as a spin-out from the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Cambridge, is a privately funded company.
In parallel to the technical development and commercialisation of its proprietary processes, Enval provides environmental technology consultancy, with particular emphasis on the pyrolytic recycling of complex flexible packaging materials.
More information on Enval is available at www.enval.com
Jan. 25, 2010
For a company that started with only one employee, Enval sure is making strides with regard to pursuing a new approach in environmental recycling and technology. And to think that they were able to secure a new grant with only 3 added employees! Can’t help but be amazed with what they were able to do in such a short time frame and minimal human resource.
And the work they are doing is also commendable.
Recycling of laminated packaging waste will surely ease some burden from the mother earth.
It sure will, Malini. And to think that ENVA opted to ask for funding from a non-departmental public body, or NDPB. For me, this move is akin to their process and/or approach and recycling, unconventional yet bold and daring. I’m pretty sure innovation investors are as surprised, maybe not as pleasantly, as I am with this move by ENVA.
As the article mentions the private investors are hesitant in funding green innovation, is it really so?
I just came across this news about a private fund that will invest in Britain’s fast-growing environmental industry.
http://realbusiness.co.uk/carbon_footprint/andpound125m_green_innovation_fund_launched
“The Hermes Environmental Innovation Fund will provide “much needed venture capital” for small growing businesses and start-ups in the burgeoning green tech sector.”
and Rob, it’s Enval, not ENVA.
I think that even though private investors do fund “green” initiatives like this one from Enval, it’s not as often as you think. Remember, at the end of the day, a lot of these guys (innovation investors) are in it for the money, (except for a few, most likely) and if they feel that investing on a particular project won’t yield sufficient monetary benefits, they’ll of course pass on it. IT’s business, after all.
However, though ENVA is a new player in innovation and “green” politics, it might be noteworthy to mention criticisms thrown at NDPB, or quangos. Here’s the link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quango#Criticism
Though it’s too early to tell with ENVA, it never hurts to be vigilant with their activities in the future.
The criticism of Quangos may be right in some way. But then, it is also true that they really do some very good work. Mainly, because they are more or less self-determining and enjoy greater independence.
True Malini, and at times more freedom means a lot more progress. But it never hurts to have such entities watched, after all, we are only after the people’s interest, and in any green innovation initiatives, it’s their welfare that should come first, not profit.
It’s also good to know that their focus is on aluminum plastic laminates, since “absence of a viable recycling process for them is a major drawback and is creating an increasing landfill problem.”
I sure hope that their recycling process meets government safety standards with flying colors.
As mentioned on Enval’s website, the process avoids the production of green-house gases or toxic emissions.
http://www.enval.com/expertise.php
“The Enval process is based on a process called microwave induced pyrolysis which allows the waste to be treated in the absence of oxygen. As opposed to incineration, pyrolysis takes place without the combustion of the material (in this case the waste) avoiding the production of green-house gases or toxic emissions.”
I think that should meet government safety standards.
nice find Malini! Good to know that Enval is using a proces that’s devoid of such harmful emissions.
Hey, check this out.
The Enval process recovers “100% of the aluminium present in the laminate, clean and ready to reuse, whilst producing oils and gases suitable for fuel for heat/electricity production or to be used as chemical feedstock in other processes.”
http://www.enval.com/expertise.php
That’s wonderful. Isn’t it? That’s like killing two birds with one stone.
The interesting thing for me on this article Rob is that it mentions that “Enval provides environmental technology consultancy, with particular emphasis on the pyrolytic recycling of complex flexible packaging materials”.
Not having a clue what the term “pyrolytic recycling” means, I used Google to see what I could find out. The first thing I found is that the Google homepage today has a load of annoying coloured balls dancing all over the page! I let them settle to see if I could find out what today’s logo is actually celebrating, only to find that everytime I put the cursor anywhere near them, they started flying out all over the page again.
So, after the Google distraction, I came across a website that enlightened me about pyrolisis:
http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470021527.html
It says that “Pyrolysis is a recycling technique converting plastic waste into fuels, monomers, or other valuable materials by thermal and catalytic cracking processes. It allows the treatment of mixed, unwashed plastic wastes.”
I think this could make a really important contribution to the recycling process. For too many years, the recycling of plastics has been dependant upon the “right” sorts of plastics and I have heard all sorts of stories about whole loads of plastic having to be land-filled due to it containing a quantity of the wrong sorts.
I agree Debbie. Not only does this type of recycling provide a new approach, it also poses a challenge to other companies to emulate or maybe even discover more ways or approaches that can better serve the environment in recycling wastes.
Thanks Malini for correcting me on that! I actually mentioned Enval initially, didn’t know what hit me to write “ENVA” instead of Enval repeatedly! Oh well, like they say, “it’s the thought that counts.”
But thanks again Malini, and my apologies.
While Pyrolysis does sound good from a recycling perspective, it still has its share of disadvantages. Found this link to show just that:
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7241323.html
The primary disadvantages of pyrolysis processing are: 1) the product stream is more complex than for many of the alternative treatments; and 2) the product gases cannot be vented directly in the cabin without further treatment because of the high CO concentrations. The former issue is a feature of pyrolysis processing (and also a potential benefit, as discussed above). The latter issue can be addressed by utilization of a water gas shift reactor or by introducing the product gases into an incinerator or high temperature fuel cell.
Not exactly harmful disadvantages, but I reckon such remedies would cost more compared to other approaches in recycling.
The process used by Enval is microwave induced pyrolysis. It is different from conventional pyrolysis.
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ie010202j
“The results showed that the new process has the same general features as other, more traditional, pyrolytic processes but with the advantage that it is able to deal with problematic wastes such as laminates.”
I am sure this process used by Enval will encourage others to offer better alternatives to solve recycling problems.