SCFI’s €9m funding drive attracts investors

SEWAGE treatment firm SCFI’s AquaCritox technology turns sludge into electricity and has the potential to replace the world’s landfill and incineration markets.

No burning, no hazardous waste, no landfill, no trucks – Cork-based SCFI’s plants reduce sewage to clean water, resalable CO2, clean nitrogen and just 3% inert solids. And into the bargain, it recoups 1MW of electricity for every ton of waste it processes.

At present, SCFI has no waste management competitor for its supercritical water oxidation technology, which it calls AquaCritox. No wonder the company excited a lot of investor interest with its drive this week to raise €9 million in funding.

SCFI’s David Kerr said: “Our product gives 100% destruction of waste. Wet waste is about 80% water and 20% organic. Our competition is incineration and landfill, which is becoming more limited every day, or land spreading.

“Our plants are clean, odourless and produce electricity.

“The AquaCritox machine heats up the waste, puts it under pressure and then adds liquid oxygen which fully deconstructs the organic matter. For every ton of waste, we are left with less than 3kg of mass.

“There’s nothing left to dump. No burning, no hazardous emissions and no toxic waste. The heat goes into a steam generator to create electricity. The target market is the world’s waste water treatment companies, sewage plants, pharmaceuticals and oil and gas companies.”

SCFI’s chances of global success have been greatly enhanced by its choice of partners – the €3bn valued, 12,000-staff Parsons Engineering, and Proscon, which is part of the €9bn-valued Rockwell Automation group.

SCFI is trading 33% of the company for the €9m it raises, which will be used to build mobile plants to allow global clients to trial its new technology.