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- ERG completes solvent abatement system for Seagate Technologies in Northern Ireland
January 2016 – Horsham UK ERG (Air Pollution Control) Ltd has successfully designed, supplied and commissioned a solvent abatement system for Seagate Technologies. Seagate manufactures hard drives at their facility in Derry, Northern Ireland, and required a new scrubber package as part of their £35M factory expansion in 2015.
ERG supplied two packed tower scrubbers to give Seagate security of treatment through 100% equipment redundancy. The process air extraction system provided by Seagate's M&E contractor, Total Engineering and Design, links the new wafer manufacturing facility to the scrubbers where solvent fumes from the production process are removed from the air. The treated air is discharged to atmosphere, enabling Seagate to operate under their emission limit. The solvent used is NMP which has a discharge limit from December 2015 of 2 mg/m3.
Below: Detail of the completed solvent abatement system in situ
The scrubber vessels, recirculation pumps, pipework and valves, and internal random packing are all manufactured from stainless steel. The scrubbers were fully fitted out, and the pipework partially trial assembled prior to delivery to site. High specification instruments and a purpose-made control panel are also included in ERG's scope of supply.
Seagate's delivery and installation timescale was extremely demanding and ERG, Total and Seagate's teams co-ordinated closely to ensure the equipment was delivered to site as required. Seagate's Gerard Owens remarked, "we are impressed by the quality of the package provided by ERG, their responsiveness to our requests, and the service we have received during installation and commissioning."
The solvent is scrubbed from the air stream in the packed tower and the emission concentration is controlled by carefully regulating the addition of clean process water to the scrubber. The solvent solution discharged from the scrubber is directed to the site effluent treatment facility. To avoid the build-up of biological growth in the scrubber, it is also equipped with biocide dosing.
The abatement system was brought on-line in October 2015 and is exceeding the required scrubbing performance.
- ERG extends its range to include Thermal Oxidation and Thermal Fluid Systems
September 2015 – Horsham UK. UK based ERG (Air Pollution Control) Ltd is delighted to announce the addition of thermal oxidation and thermal fluid heater systems to its already extensive portfolio of air pollution control technologies. This has been made possible through recruiting the engineers and consultants from Beverley Environmental which was supplying industrial incineration, combustion, energy recovery and heat transfer systems for over 50 years.
ERG’s Group Managing Director, James Scott Bowden said "We are delighted to have this capability within the ERG team as it will expand our service offering and deliver additional value to our customers. Thermal systems are very complimentary to our existing gas cleaning technologies and creates very good synergy to the gas scrubbing technology that ERG has applied for many years to treat waste gas streams."
Below: Photo of a thermal fluid heater
Included in the new team are Alan Dawes (Process Engineer) and Donald Freeman (Project Engineer), who each come with over 50 years of experience in designing, commissioning and installation of thermal oxidation systems and fluid heaters across a wide range of industries including the chemical, petrochemical, refining, automobile, waste, food, wood products, and pulp and paper industries.
In addition, the team includes a dedicated thermal oxidisation service engineer, Kevin Smith, who has commissioned and serviced a variety of thermal oxidation plants across the world over many years.
This new team is backed up with the pre-existing ERG infrastructure including sales engineers, mechanical electrical and process designers, project managers and aftersales servicing and maintenance teams.
The benefit to ERG customers is that a complete range of solutions can be applied through one solution provider delivering design, construction, installation, commissioning and servicing of turnkey plants.
ERG has already been engaged by several former Beverley Environmental customers to fulfil their ongoing servicing needs, and is actively bidding for new equipment design and supply contracts with potential new customers.
Below: Detail of a waste incinerator.
- ERG (Air Pollution Control) Ltd supplies 85 modular odour control systems to Iraq in a $3m contract
September 2014 – Horsham UK. ERG (Air Pollution Control) Ltd, the UK-based leading supplier of odour control systems, has completed a $3m contract to supply 85 modular odour control units to Iraq.
The brief given to ERG by Veolia Water Systems under contract to the Basra Governorate, was to design and supply pre-packaged, modular odour control units that could easily be installed in remote sewage pumping stations across southern Iraq.
ERG’s solution was to supply a standardised hybrid bio-scrubber / carbon filter systems from GRP. Each system incorporates two chambers in a single unit, which are then pre-filled with pumice stone and carbon media respectively. The units are delivered pre-fitted with a fan, a control system, associated instrumentation, pipework, and a vent stack.
The units are also pre-commissioned before leaving the factory so that they were ready to go as soon as they were plugged in on site.
Pictured above: Modularised hybrid bio-scrubber / carbon filter unit destined for Iraq
To fulfil this contract, ERG provided four standard models, capable of treating air flow rates from 400m3/hr to 3,700m3/hr, and of removing H2S down to less than 0.5ppm concentration at the discharge stack. All systems are designed so that they can easily fit into standard shipping containers for ease of delivery to Iraq.
ERG was required to design and build these units within a very tight timetable. Manufacturing took place in the UK at ERG’s plastic fabrication division, and all units were shipped on schedule in late 2013/early 2014. Veolia installed all units over the winter and they have been operating successfully ever since.
Below: Completed small and medium sized units awaiting shipment.
- Sweet smell of success for West Sussex firm: Exports help firm triple in size
June 2013 – Horsham UK. A West Sussex business has revealed spectacular sales growth of over 75% last year, with help from a huge contract win in Russia, and support from UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) South East and HSBC.
ERG Air Pollution Control Ltd, based in West Sussex, design and supply odour control systems for sewage works and air pollution control systems for sectors like mining and bulk chemical production. Last year they clinched a multi-million pound deal in Russia to supply a chlorine gas treatment system to the specialty metal refining industry. They announced their results during UKTI’s Export Week – High Growth Markets – which encourages firms to explore selling to growth markets further afield to increase profits.
James Scott-Bowden, Managing Director, said: "We were initially nervous about taking on such a big project in a country we were unfamiliar with, but with the help of local UKTI staff, as well as UKTI staff at our Moscow embassy, we were able to ask all the questions we needed to put our minds at rest."
This is just the largest and latest in a string of recent global orders for the firm’s high tech gas removal systems, increasing their exports from just 9% to 35% of turnover, and raising staff numbers from 40 to 50 with a large number of orders in the pipeline.
The firm has also grown across the Middle East, where sales more than doubled last year, thereby underlining the company’s strategic decision to invest in the Middle East with a branch office in Jordan five years ago. This growth is set to continue this year they have just announced a £2m contract to supply odour control systems destined for Iraq.
James continued: "Exports have fuelled the company’s growth enabling us to triple sales over the last 5 years: a time when the UK economy has been stagnant. With help from UKTI we have developed a strong international strategy which has taken us from making the occasional export sale to the situation today where we are regularly taking multi-million pound orders and have a solid brand reputation in high growth markets.
"UKTI has helped us to capitalise on the export market and shown us what’s possible. They have enabled us to 'de-risk' the business, helping us to balance the two parts of our portfolio – the industrial gas–based applications and the odour control - which is susceptible to the vagaries of investment in the UK water industry."
"I'd advise anyone in two minds about exporting to just go for it. Use all the help and support you can get from the likes of UKTI and do it."
Steven Golding, International Trade Adviser for UK Trade & Investment said: "To have achieved this level of export success in these challenging markets, in projects that have relatively long lead times, is very impressive, and the pipeline of repeat business as well as new business means the company will continue to expand its export business.
"Export Week intends to encourage firms to export to high growth markets and I hope the example of companies like ERG provide inspiration."
HSBC provided the company with all the necessary loans to help them expand.
James added: "As our business grows and becomes more export-focused it consumes more up-front cash. So we were really pleased with the good relationship we have with HSBC. They have been incredibly supportive, and their loan facilities have enabled our expansion."
The firm is now developing large orders for markets in South Korea and Nigeria.
- ERG delivers FGD (flue gas desulphurisation) system for Ferrybridge Carbon Capture project
August 2011. Horsham UK based ERG (Air Pollution Control) Ltd has installed a £¾M flue gas desulphurisation unit to Ferrybridge power station as part of a carbon capture pilot project.
The ERG system acts as a final flue gas “polishing” stage to reduce SO2 and particulate concentrations to required levels before the flue gas is passed to a downstream “post combustion carbon capture” unit which will remove 100 tonnes of carbon per day from the flue gases emitted by the Ferrybridge coal fired power station.
The unit was supplied to Doosan Power Systems, appointed by Ferrybridge owner, SSE (Scottish and Southern Energy), for the engineering design and operation of the carbon capture plant at the Yorkshire power station.
Pictured right: the scrubber and cooling towers during construction
The main components of the ERG system are a two-stage “polishing” tray scrubber and a direct contact packed tower cooler. ERG has also supplied additional equipment such as recirculation pumps, a fan, scrubbing liquor storage tanks, and ancillary instrumentation and control equipment. The unit will treat about 30,000m3/hr of flue gas, and will remove 80% to 90% of the SO2 and particulates present in the flue gas to condition it for the downstream carbon capture process. The unit is scheduled to be operational in 2011.
The scrubber and the cooler are each 9m tall and 2m diameter and are constructed from GRP / Polypropylene to ERG's specification. The Ferrybridge carbon capture project is a pilot trial to prove the technology for post combustion carbon capture by treating a 1% side stream of the flue gases from the power plant, making it Europe's largest post carbon capture project of this type, and demonstrates the participants' commitment to clean coal technology.
The completion of this project further consolidates ERG's position as a leader in the design and supply of industrial air pollution control systems for the process industries. Other major industrial projects that ERG has completed in the last year include: a methane conditioning plant for the world largest fertiliser production site in Qatar, a hydrochloric acid fume scrubber for a petrochemicals refinery in Kazakhstan, a silicon tetra-fluoride scrubber for phosphate fertiliser production in Egypt, a solvent recovery scrubber for a synthetic textiles manufacture, and treatment plants for cleaning specialty gases used in optical fibres and electronics both in South Korea and the UK.
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