Acorn provides consultancy services to waste processors. These
include waste permitting, EPA waste licensing, Environmental Impact
Assessment for large scale bio treatment facilities. Acorn has the
experience in successfully developing organic waste treatment projects
to fruition.
Composting of organic solid waste in Ireland will mean a reduction of
this waste to landfill, an EU driven directive which effectively bans
the disposal of this type of untreated waste to landfill over this
decade.
Acorns network of dedicated composting facilities in the country from
Donegal to Cork operate indoor forced aeration systems which
successfully compost sludge, food waste and other organic solid
residuals from industry and local authorities. The capacity of these
plants and new ones are continuously expanding.
Anaerobic Digestion continues to be an enterprising solution for
liquid organic waste management. Acorns network of AD plants in the
South East have been operating successfully since 1996. Acorns AD
capacity is set to increase to over 10,000 tonnes per annum with the
commissioning of a new plant in Tipperary at the end of 2006.
Anaerobic Digestion is suitable for a wide range of liquid organic
wastes from the Dairy and food and beverage industries. Wastes such as
animal fats, grease wastes can be digested successfully along with
animal manures and sludge waste.
Acorn Recycling has two types of dewatering equipment which can carry
our in situ dewatering on urban waste water treatment plants, industrial
plants, septic tanks, aeration basins, lagoons and specialised works.
A static containerised MASKOZOLL unit can be used in a wide range of
industrial applications. Sludge dewatering is a way of reducing volumes
and costs associated with disposal/recycling. Many waste streams can be
dewatered. These include grease wastes, septic sludge wastes, meat
processing, water treatment sludge, food wastes streams and many more.
The optimal solids content for a waste suitable for dewatering is
between 1 and 4%.
Acorn Recycling operates a specialised waste extraction unit that
removes the packaging from waste and compacts it for recycling and
disposal. The liquid extract from the packaging can be treated according
to its requirements.
This process suits large distribution companies that seek to manage
their returns products and palletised product. The machine can work on
Tetra packs, aluminium cans, glass jars, plastic drums, high density
plastic packaging.
It is also capable of removing water content from primary screenings
from urban wastewater treatment plants and wet food products such as
fruit and vegetables.
Biomass production from Willow is becoming more popular due to the
increasing pressures from international oil and energy prices that are
out of Irelands control. More ways of harnessing energy from renewable
sources are being sought and one is willow tree production and
processing. Willow requires a large amount of water and nutrients to
grow at its very high rate and organic wastes are very suitable for this
purpose. Acorn Recycling has a network of permitted, established and
emerging willow plantations throughout Ireland.
Acorn has recently developed a service whereby it manages small to medium sized treatment plants for holders of local authority (water pollution) discharge licences.
Acorn Recycling has recently expanded its capabilities in solid-liquid separation, beyond sludge dewatering technologies, to include state of the art micro-filtration and ultra-filtration systems. These systems can be developed to treat a range of waters from high solids effluents to low solids potable water purification.
Acorn has two main options for the disposal/recovery of this material, both of which vary in terms of economics and environmental sustainability. We cater for long term disposal contracts as well as once off projects.
