Ever wondered exactly what happens to your black bin rubbish after you have thrown it out?
You could be forgiven for thinking it all ends up in landfill, filling up sites for the rest of time.
But in Hull, a new 拢200m waste-to-energy plant is using ground-breaking technology to convert both domestic and commercial bin waste into electricity to power homes.
Energy Works, in Cleveland Street, didn鈥檛 get off to the smoothest start. The primary contractor building the plant was thrown off the project in March after 鈥渟ignificant delays.鈥
Global engineering firm Black & Veatch was brought in to finish off the project, and progress since has been good.
Energy Works is now well into the commissioning stage, and is hoping to be generating and exporting power to the grid this autumn.
Hull Live was recently given an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look around the plant.
鈥榃e are pushing the boundaries technology鈥
Richard Burgess, project consultant at Energy Works, said: 鈥淚t is a very well-known fact that this wave of waste-to-energy plants, which started back in 2014/15, have all to a degree met some challenges along the way.
鈥淭he reason we get subsidies for the work we do is because we are pushing the boundaries of technology.
鈥淭here are a couple of similar plants using similar technologies to Energy Works in the 海角视频. One is Ince Park in Chester and the other is Levenseat up in Scotland.鈥
The general process of converting black bin rubbish into electricity is simple enough to understand.
Before the waste arrives at Energy Works, it is prepared at a transfer station off-site, before being delivered to the facility by lorry.
Once on-site, the waste goes through another stage of preparation, before being fed into a gasifier which reaches temperatures of around 850 degrees Celsius. What it creates is then known as syngas.
The syngas is combusted to produce hot gas which then passes through a boiler and creates steam. That steam powers a turbine and generator which produces electricity to be fed into the grid.
From cocoa mill to energy plant
Chris Wilcock, project director at Energy Works, said: 鈥淲e are well into the hot commissioning stage.
鈥淲e are focused on integrating and optimising all the systems, and we are confident we will be generating and exporting power to the grid in the autumn.鈥
To go all the way back to the origins of Energy Works, you have to go to Hull engineering firm Spencer Group鈥檚 executive chairman Charlie Spencer.
It was his vision to create a waste-to-energy plant in Hull, on a brownfield site on the bank of the River Hull previously home to ADM Cocoa.
Spencer overcame numerous hurdles and risked a multi-million pounds investment before securing a 拢200m financial package from international investors to take one of the 海角视频鈥檚 most innovative green energy facilities into the delivery phase.
Energy Works is the largest privately-funded power station of its kind under construction in the 海角视频.
Once operational, it will generate 25MW of clean energy 鈥 enough to power 43,000 homes.
It was process 240,000 tonnes of general waste every year, and will support around 25 permanent jobs.
The site is also home to an Energy Academy, with a partnership with the University of Hull set to explore research into renewable technologies.
One of Hull鈥檚 most significant investments
Energy Works has understandably stolen a lot of headlines in recent months and years.
Not all have been positive, and as Mr Burgess alluded to, getting a plant such as Energy Works off the ground will rarely be without its challenges.
It is undeniable though that Energy Works is one of the most significant investments to be made in Hull in living memory.
Attention will now turn to the autumn, when electricity generated in Cleveland Street is expected to power homes across the region.
