Energy and materials recovery from paunch waste using novel hydrothermal and supercritical water gas

This project evaluated the feasibility of hydrothermal treatment of paunch waste. It included: 

-    An experimental investigation of hydrothermal treatment of paunch waste and product characterisation in a laboratory system 
-    Pots trials on hyrochar (residual solid material after hydrothermal treatment) 
-    The development of a process model in Aspen plus, and 
-    A techno-economic assessment. 

Laboratory experiments characterised different products generated from hydrothermal processing of paunch waste under different operating conditions and different solid content. This demonstrated that hydrothermal processing can successfully convert paunch waste into high-value products like bio-oil and hydrochar. 

The process modelling and techno-economic assessment of hydrothermal processing of paunch waste was performed for a multispecies red meat processing plant, producing 27 dry tonnes of paunch waster per day. It was concluded that installing a hydrothermal processing plant would require significant capital investment. Net present value is not attractive due to smaller scale operation.