The fuel is being used to power a steam plant at its solvent recovery facility in Garston, Liverpool.
The replacement fuel was developed and tested in-house by the waste management company and displaces the equivalent of 1.1 million m3 of natural gas – equating to 12GWh of gas use per year. This is the same amount of heat that would be used by over 1,000 houses for a year.
The Garston site processes solvents from industries including pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, paint and agrochemicals.
Explaining the decision to explore alternative fuels, Veolia said that growing demand for solvent recovery meant it needed to install a new steam plant to support production and wanted to look for decarbonised options.
Its team began a pilot project to develop and test alternatives before designing a burner and burner management system that could handle both liquid and gaseous fuels.
The new steam plant was installed and began operations in October 2024 and is capable of running on multiple fuel types, including a range of solvent-based fuels made on site. It has the potential to be run on “green hydrogen” in the future.
Nicola Henshaw, managing director of hazardous at Veolia UK, said: “Our strategic GreenUp programme to decarbonise, de-pollute and regenerate natural resources, drives us to look for ways of reducing carbon emissions and this latest innovation does just that.
“By putting theory into practice, our teams have proved that industrial steam plants can move away from fossil fuel use with no loss of production output or product quality. This milestone marks a significant way forward, dramatically cutting gas use and advancing towards net zero targets.”
Subscribe for free