Transforming Difficult Waste into Resources: IQ Energy

About

IQ Energy Australia is the Australian Branch of Canadian IQ Energy Inc. IQ Energy Inc. is an Indigenous (Métis) founded company specialising in cleantech. Our focus is supplying modular carbonisation (gasification & pyrolysis) and indirect dryer units. Our units are tailored for difficult feedstocks, such as human biosolids, animal wastes and various other waste types and our carbonisation units convert these feedstocks into a valuable biochar product and substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The founders of the technology built and commissioned over 35 carbonisation projects before establishing IQ Energy, ranging in size from smaller plants operating on biosolids, waste plastic and woody biomass to larger projects handling approximately 4 tonnes per hour of pig and poultry manure.

Decades of experience in drying and carbonisation technologies by our technology developers has led to units tailored for difficult to handle waste streams, like biosolids (sewage sludge) and animal manures. With this is the deep experience the local Australian team has built over the past years understanding the needs and challenges of various waste sources within this region and how our solution tailors to solve these. 

Why Melbourne 

Melbourne is our home, and it is a great base to explore the country and the region to scale our business. It has a fantastic cleantech community which provides support and there are many opportunities with the waste sources that we focus on.

Challenge

Biosolids, Abattoir Wastes, Animal Manures, Pulp Mill Sludge, plastic contaminated organics are just some example feedstocks we target and are significantly growing in volumes as our populations continue to grow. Without processes like ours these feedstocks are encountering challenges with finding valuable end uses. These feedstocks also produce significant amounts of emissions, both methane and nitrous oxide. Biosolids (sewage sludge) for example is facing challenges with land application due to contaminants present within the sludge, such as PFAS, microplastics and anti-microbial resistance. This is meaning further land application restrictions are being put in place by regulators which pushes biosolids to be landfilled or stockpiled. The US for example produces 5.8 million dry tonnes of biosolids each year. 

IQ Energy’s carbonisation units have been developed to eliminate these contaminants, like PFAS, through a two-step high temperature process which produces a useful biochar product. Animal Manures is another large opportunity that our technology developers have significant experience in. The US for example produces over a billion tons of animal manure per year. Sequestering the manure as a char can reduce the emissions from manure. 

Solution

IQ Energy supply a modular and continuous gasification unit which has been developed through decades of legacy experience building and commissioning thermal treatment projects. This extensive knowledge led to manufactured units tailored to address waste streams, such as biosolids, dealing with their inherent dust issues and eliminating contaminant challenges, e.g. PFAS.

Their gasification unit can additionally process a wide range of other underutilised waste streams, such as abattoir waste, animal manures, paper mill pulp sludge and various other waste feedstocks. The unit converts these wastes into a heat output which can then be used; within a dryer unit for wet sludges, to produce hot water/steam for industrial or community needs or as a direct high temperature heat input for industrial processes. The gasification unit helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, by sequestering carbon as a char and offsetting energy needs and produces resource outputs like biochar and mineral rich fertiliser.

IQ Energy also supply indirect dryer units to dry wet wastes for reuse or as an input for carbonisation equipment. Additionally, we supply a pyrolysis unit which produces a gas output for industrial use, for energy generation and we are in discussions about using the pyrolysis unit for cost-effective hydrogen production. In Canada, a low temperature (90o+C) heat to power unit and a let-down gas expander unit are being piloted as well.

Focusing on our gasification unit, one of the key problems we are solving is offsetting the rising cost of dealing with many waste sources. These rising costs are coming from increasing trucking and disposal/landfill costs. Other problems we are solving are social licence issues, such as odour, growing waste volumes & stockpiling issues, regulation issues around emerging contaminants and land application constraints, as well as difficulties in handling a wet waste and leachate issues. In addition our modular, manufactured approach speeds up the time to get a project deployed and allows a unit to be installed on a pre-existing site rather than a green field site project build.

Some revenue can also be generated through carbon credits and sales of biochar and recovered water which can help solve challenges in needing to find further revenue generation for a utility/business.

Result

With our latest model the smaller IQ Energy Gasifier (G300) has been piloted in Canada as an advanced prototype on various biomass wastes. The smaller IQ Energy Indirect Dryer (IDT100) has been demonstrated on piggery manure.

Our next step is to have the medium sized IQ Energy gasification unit operational in Canada alongside the IQ Energy Indirect Dryer on a commercial project. Both the gasification unit and the indirect dryer unit have been built and are currently being installed on a site in Alberta, Canada. This project will have a local paper mill providing a consistent supply of wet pulp sludge on a commercial basis which IQ Energy will transform into biochar. Further to this IQ Energy will manage and operate the plant to facilitate regular demonstration of various other feedstocks, including those from potential customers. The feedstocks to be showcased will encompass biosolids, anaerobic digestion (AD) digestate, animal waste, peat moss, and other biomass and mixed wastes. 

The significant step with this gasification unit is that it features an integrated extended retention chamber to achieve 980 degrees Celsius for a duration of 2 seconds in the gas phase, specifically targeting PFAS. PFAS is a contaminant of concern for many waste sources and solutions are urgently needed to solve it.

Achievements so far are:

• Awarded a multi-year Australian Government ARC grant for a joint project with Swinburne University.
• Selected for multiple accelerator programs, including a Singapore based Accelerator with the Incubation Network, a CSIRO Innovate to Grow Program and a youth-led start up accelerator with the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA)
• Selected for the HolonIQ AU + NZ Climate Tech 100 in 2021 & 2022
• Selected to take part in Trade Missions with Global Affairs Canada to Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia and India.

 

Our focus is manufactured and repeatable units that can be scaled to the source of the waste problem. Whether it is smaller decentralised needs or larger centralised plants our units are tailored to address different project types. Invested in the Canadian business we are also working with their business closely to help them grow their business development in North America and looking for further licencing opportunities. - Nick Foster, CEO IQ Energy Australia 

Contact

IQ Energy Website: https://iq-energy.com.au/

IQ Energy Australia LinkedIn: https://au.linkedin.com/company/iq-energy-au

Latest Gasification Unit Video: https://vimeo.com/1003929724/057839fa41