Hitachi Zosen Inova (HZI) is a Swiss company specialising in

energy from waste Waste-to-energy (WtE) or energy-from-waste (EfW) is the process of generating energy in the form of electricity and/or heat from the primary treatment of waste, or the processing of waste into a fuel source. WtE is a form of energy recovery. Mo ...

(EfW).

History

Inova formed, as L. von Roll Bamag AG, in 1933, as a spin-off of the company Gesellschaft der Ludwig von Roll'schen Eisenwerke, which dated from 1823, and specialised in waste treatment. By 1966 the company was operating in France, Germany, Japan and Sweden. In 1975 US operations began. The environmental arm of the company was called Von Roll Inova Group. In 2003 Austrian Energy & Environment Group (AE&E) bought Von Roll Inova on behalf of A-TEC Industries. Shares in

Costain Group Costain Group plc is a British construction and engineering company headquartered in Maidenhead, England. Founded in 1865, its history includes extensive housebuilding and mining activities, but it later focused on civil engineering and commerci ...

dropped when AE&E delayed £22 million in payments due for building the Riverside Resource Recovery ERF in London in November 2010. AE&E Inova changed its name to HZI in December 2010 when A-TEC went into

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative assistant, Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an admini ...

, and sold it to the

Hitachi Zosen Corporation is a major Japanese industrial and engineering corporation. It produces waste treatment plants, industrial plants, precision machinery, industrial machinery, steel mill process equipment, steel structures, construction machinery, tunnel boring ma ...

. In 2014 HZI acquired Axpo Kompogas, allowing it to sell anaerobic waste digestion technology in the UK. In 2021 HZI acquired from Viessmann Group the german company Schmack Biogas Service, a supplier in the biogas industry, founded in 1995, which was renamed Hitachi Zosen Inova Schmack.

Projects

The company built an EfW plant in

San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo (; Spanish for " St. Louis the Bishop", ; Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, in the U.S. state of California. Located on the Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly halfwa ...

, California, in 2018, and has pioneered the production of synthetic carbon-neutral

methane Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The relative abundance of methane on Eart ...

electrolysis In chemistry and manufacturing, electrolysis is a technique that uses direct electric current (DC) to drive an otherwise non-spontaneous chemical reaction. Electrolysis is commercially important as a stage in the separation of elements from n ...

of water to form hydrogen then reacting it with carbon dioxide, a process it calls EtoGas. The Millerhill Recycling and Energy Recovery Centre outside

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

opened in 2019, using combustion and XeroSorp flue gas treatment from HZI. This is a dry

adsorption Adsorption is the adhesion of atoms, ions or molecules from a gas, liquid or dissolved solid to a surface. This process creates a film of the ''adsorbate'' on the surface of the ''adsorbent''. This process differs from absorption, in which a f ...

system which uses

sodium bicarbonate Sodium bicarbonate (IUPAC name: sodium hydrogencarbonate), commonly known as baking soda or bicarbonate of soda, is a chemical compound with the formula NaHCO3. It is a salt composed of a sodium cation ( Na+) and a bicarbonate anion ( HCO3−) ...

to clean the exhaust. In 2019 the company was contracted to build what will be the largest EFW plant in England, at Rookery South, near

Stewartby Stewartby is a model village and civil parish in Bedfordshire, originally built for the workers of the London Brick Company. The village was designed and built to the plans of the company's architect Mr F W Walker, laid out on ‘Garden City� ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council wa ...

. The project should be completed in 2022, and is the firm's eleventh EfW project in the UK. Local residents mounted a nine-year protest against the plant, which is being built on an abandoned quarry. The Newhurst EfW plant, in

Shepshed Shepshed (often known until 1888 as ''Sheepshed'', also ''Sheepshead'' – a name derived from the village being heavily involved in the wool industry) is a town in Leicestershire, England with a population of 13,505 at the 2011 census. It is ...

in the East Midlands just off the M1, will open in 2023. Ingo Eifert is the project leader for HZI. It will use similar technology to that at Millerhill. HZI is building Western Australia's first EfW plant near

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

; it is expected to come online in late 2022.

References

External links

Official site
{{industry-company-stub Engineering companies of Switzerland Swiss companies established in 2010 Energy companies established in 2010