AVK knife gate valves installed at Gemidan Ecogi, Denmark

Case

From organic waste to green energy

At Gemidan's pre-treatment plants, packaged organic waste is turned into biopulp for later degassing at biogas plants. Their technology ensures a sustainable use of the waste, and AVK knife gate valves control the flow.

Waste is an important resource

Waste is not just waste. If handled properly it can be an important resource. At Gemidan, they are specialists in processing technologies for treating and recycling of food waste. They have developed the Ecogi technology for the pre-treatment of packaged organic waste such as source-separated household waste and discarded packed food from business customers into a pure biopulp that can be used for biogas production.

Gemidan operates several Ecogi plants. The Ecogi Egedal plant, which is one of the most recently established Ecogi plants, has two Ecogi lines and capacity to treat 120,000 tons of organic waste annually.

Turning food waste into energy

At the Ecogi plants, food waste is converted into biopulp with very high purity using environmentally friendly technologies. The plants can treat virtually all types of organic waste. 

When the organic waste arrives at the plant, it is loaded to the feed hopper. It is then automatically transported to the pulper, where it is mixed with process water, and stirred so that all packaging is opened by friction without being dissolved along with the organic waste. The pulp is then sent to the separator, where additional process water is added. When the pulper is empty, the valve between the pulper and the separator closes, and the pulper can be filled with a new batch of organic waste. From the separator, the biopulp is pumped to a tank for storage before it is transported to a biogas plant. The reject that remains in the separator is washed in two steps. First with process water and then with clean water to achieve the highest possible organic utilization of the waste. The reject is then dewatered in the separator before being transported to a container for storage, and later on it is transported to a waste incineration plant or to recycling. The drained water is led back into the process tank.

All processes at the plant are automated, and the operator can monitor the plant and control the processes electronically.

AVK knife gate valve with pneumatic actuator installed
AVK knife gate valve with handwheel installed at Gemidan Ecogi, Denmark

Flow control with knife gate valves

VATECH 2000 has supplied AVK butterfly valves and AVK knife gate valves with pneumatic actuators, electric actuators and handwheels for all Gemidan Ecogi plants, all with a stainless steel body.

At Gemidan Egedal, knife gate valves with pneumatic actuators are installed:

  • on clean water and process water flows - process water for the pulper, process water and clean water for the separator and water led back to the process tank
  • from pulper to separator
  • from separator to biopulp tank
  • between the two Ecogi lines at the plant

In addition, knife gate valves with electric actuators are installed for draining-off biopulp from the storage tank and knife gate valves with handwheels are installed on the main line to the biopulp tank and on the pipe supplying water to the plant. Butterfly valves are installed where it is important to have the possibility of a quick shutdown. 

AVK knife gate valves installed to process water

AVK valves delivered to Gemidan Egedal

AVK knife gate valves with stainless steel body:

  • 18 pcs. DN100 + 6 pcs. DN125 with pneumatic actuators
  • 3 pcs. DN125 with electric linear actuators
  • 2 pcs. DN250 with handwheel

AVK Desponia butterfly valves in stainless steel:

  • 2 pcs. DN50 + 2 pcs. DN150

Gemidan, Denmark

Gemidan Ecogi

Gemidan Ecogi develops, supplies and operates processing technologies for treatment of organic waste. The Ecogi plants can turn virtually all types of organic waste into biopulp for further treatment at biogas plants.

Ecogi technology converts food waste into green energy and ensures optimal utilization of the organic resources.

Read more about Gemidan Ecogi
AVK knife gate valves

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Knife gate valves

The design of our knife gate valves is simple and allows easy maintenance and cost effective installation. The valves are bi-directional and allow installation without any restrictions as to the direction of the flow.