HC Deb 22 November 1991 vol 199 cc343-6W
Mrs. Ann Taylor

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the research of the Warren Spring laboratory into chemical separation procedures in the treatment of solid and liquid hazardous wastes.

Mr. Leigh

Warren Spring laboratory is investigating the extent to which a range of chemical separation procedures can be applied to the treatment of solid and liquid hazardous wastes. The procedures are being applied to detoxify dangerous mixtures, and to remove materials (especially metals) from wastes where it is economically feasible or environmentally desirable to do so.

Chemical separation procedures form part of Warren Spring's contaminated land research programme. The procedures can also have "cleaner" technology applications. Warren Spring has recently devised a new process for a private sector client for removing hazardous cadmium from phosphoric acid and the manufacture of fertilisers.

Mrs. Ann Taylor

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the research of the Warren Spring laboratory into the use of X-ray fluorescence for monitoring pyrometallurgical processes.

Mr. Leigh

The X-ray fluorescence (XRF) project was funded jointly by the Minerals Industry Research Organisation and the Department of Trade and Industry. The equipment research and development phase was successfully completed at Warren Spring laboratory in 1989, and the instrument has subsequently been patented.

The XRF instrument enables "real time" monitoring of high temperature and corrosive gas streams for elements above sulphur in atomic weight (ie most acid gas elements and all base and heavy metals). It has potential applications for controlling a wide range of thermal processes both inside and outside the metals industry, and for monitoring emissions for compliance with regulatory standards.

The XRF instrument is currently being applied at Warren Spring to research projects into the thermal treatment of a variety of wastes and to "demonstration" test work in the metals industry in the United Kingdom and overseas.

Mrs. Ann Taylor

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the progress of the research by the Warren Spring laboratory into the physical and bacterial techniques for separating pyritic coal, prior to combustion.

Mr. Leigh

Initial investigations at Warren Spring Laboratory into the removal of pyritic sulphur from coal prior to combustion were carried out in the mid-1980s under funding from the Department of Trade and Industry, the Department of Energy, and Industry. Earlier this year funding was obtained from the European Coal and Steel Commission (ECSC) and the Department of Energy's energy technology support unit (ETSU) for further research into physical separation.

Bacterial removal of pyritic sulphur has been investigated at Warren Spring as part of a recently-completed European Community collaborative project, with additional funding from the Department of Trade and Industry. Promising initial results have resulted in a further EC project designed to test the process at pilot scale. ETSU is providing the additional funding to meet Warren Spring's costs. ETSU is also supporting parallel work at the Laboratory to assess the bacterial process for a range of different United Kingdom coals.

Mrs. Ann Taylor

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the major public sector projects in the Warren Spring laboratory's programme.

Mr. Leigh

Major public sector projects at Warren Spring laboratory for 1991–92 are as follows:

Department of the Environment

  • air pollution programme (principally monitoring, measurement and abatement);
  • waste management (principally technologies for waste recycling, waste treatment and contaminated land treatment);
  • technical and administrative support for the DOE part of the environment technology innovation support (ETIS) scheme.

Department of Trade and Industry

  • environmental programme (principally DTI Environment inquiry point and recycling advisory unit, airborne pollution measurement protocols for the national measurement system, safety and environmental aspects of bioprocessing and studies of waste segregation systems, volatile organic compound emissions and aircraft emissions);
  • non-environmental process technology programme (projects jointly funded by DTI and industry);

Department of Transport

  • The marine pollution programme covers monitoring and modelling oil and chemical spills at sea, techniques for handling spills at sea and on beaches, and incident response support.
  • A separate programme is looking at exhaust emissions from light duty vehicles.

Department of Energy

  • The programme includes projects on coal desulphurisation and refuse derived fuel.

Scottish Environment Department

  • The programme covers sampling of industrial emissions and other services to Her Majesty's industrial pollution inspectorate.

Health and Safety Executive

  • The programme comprises projects on work place emissions of hazardous substances and heavy gas dispersion.

Mrs. Ann Taylor

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the work of the Warren Spring laboratory on the thermal processing of waste.

Mr. Leigh

Following research at Warren Spring laboratory into characterising waste fuels, supported mainly by the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Energy's energy technology support unit (ETSU), projects are currently underway for ETSU and the private sector.

The focus of current research at Warren Spring is on the "cleaner" technology approach (controlling waste input characteristics and the thermal process to prevent pollutants from entering the waste stream) to complement the "end of pipe" approach (cleaning the flue gases). This work includes gasification methods to produce more flexible and higher value fuel from solid wastes (e.g. for use in gas turbines), with a view to increasing the conversion efficiency of waste fuels for power generation.

Warren Spring's work in this area includes separate contracts for ETSU, the Department of the Environment, Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution, local authorities and the private sector for monitoring the performance and emissions from both waste fuel and non-waste fuel combustion plants.

Mrs. Ann Taylor

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) if he will make a statement on the progress of research by the Warren Spring laboratory into mineral processing techniques which may be applicable to the treatment of contaminated land;

(2) if he will make a statement on the outcome of the research by the Warren Spring laboratory on the development of soil cleaning techniques and its application to contaminated land.

Mr. Leigh

Warren Spring laboratory currently has three main research programmes for investigating soil cleaning techniques and their applicability to contaminated land.

The largest programme is for the Department of the Environment. The emphasis of the experimental programme is to develop the concept of process integration, based on soil fractionation and using one waste to treat another in biological systems. The fractionation work focuses on the application of a range of mineral and waste processing technologies to produce contaminant concentrates for further treatment.

Under the United States Environmental Protection Agency's emerging technologies program, Warren Spring is investigating the application of several mineral processing techniques for removing contaminants from soil, with particular emphasis on flotation, flocculation and magnetic separation techniques.

Under the European Community's science and technology for environmental protection (STEP) programme, Warren Spring is investigating with partners from Germany, the Netherlands and Norway the biological removal of metals from solid wastes and contaminated soils.

All three programmes are scheduled to run from 1991 to 1993. A technical appraisal report under the DoE programme reviewing contaminated soil clean-up processes is due to be published early in 1992. The other two programmes have been agreed only recently but it is intended that the results should be published for take-up by industry.

In order to carry out these programmes it has been necessary for Warren Spring to adapt and upgrade a range of facilities at the laboratory, including the mineral processing pilot plant. As a result, Warren Spring is now able to offer an extensive range of experimental and treatment facilities for use by both the public and private sectors in the cleaning of contaminated land and the treatment of bulky hazardous wastes.