EnbioCons at Forefront of Converting Waste Into Energy
By Cho Jae-hyon
Staff Reporter
After decades of a remarkable pace of growth, South Korea has reached a point where it can no longer afford to ignore environmental issues. It should aggressively make its industrial structure "greener," as it will otherwise continue to pay huge costs for foreign technologies and equipment to treat increasing amounts of house and industrial waste.
"It's a bit late but still fortunate that the social awareness of the importance of the environment is growing," said Sung Ii-jong, president of EnbioCons, in an interview with The Korea Times. "Heavy industries and the IT sector have led the growth so far. But the green industries should take the baton for sustainable growth."
Established in 1999, EnbioCons specializes in treating household waste, including human excrement and food scraps, and converting them into sources of energy.
The amount of human excrement produced daily across the nation is estimated at about 8,000 tons, including 3,300 in and around Seoul.
These feces have been treated using waste-eating microorganisms or microbes at sewage treatment facilities. The microorganisms die 45 days after eating the feces and become sludge. Tons of this sewage sludge has been buried in the sea off the coast of Gunsan on the western coast and Uljin on the eastern.
However, South Korea won't be able to dump there from 2012, in line with the mandate of the London Convention in 1972 and the 1996 Protocol on the prevention of marine pollution.
It means it has to be handled on land. EnbioCons is at the forefront in the race of companies venturing into the business of treating sewage sludge.
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Sung, 49, is obsessed with the job of transforming household waste into sources of energy.
"We produce an enormous amount of trash, food scraps and excrement every day. We have burnt, buried or dumped the waste in the sea, seriously contaminating the environment," Sung said. "Currently, 77 percent of sewage sludge is dumped into the sea. This practice will be banned from 2012. We should come forward with environment-friendly steps for waste treatment."
Sung sees all kinds of domestic waste as sources of energy. His company has developed technology and equipment to convert sewage sludge ― the remains of the microorganisms ― into animal feed and solid fuel for use at thermal power plants.
"Human waste is a great source for energy. We have developed state-of-the-art technologies to convert sewage sludge into green energy and animal feed. We are at the forefront of this project," Sung said.
The company has recently won a contract to build equipment in Incheon to convert hundreds of tons of sludge into fuel daily, beating other international bidders. The contract calls for the company to build more such equipment over the next two to three years.
"We have invested in research and development for years and the research is beginning to pay off," Sung said. He expects the company's sales are expected to jump to 100 billion won in the near future from about 10 billion won this year.
Sung said the company has the edge over international rivals as Korean food scraps contain more salt and need different treatment technology from those of international waste treatment firms. Salt accounts for 2 to 3 percent in Korean food scraps, compared to less than 1 percent in foreign food scraps.
"It's more difficult to turn Korean food scraps into animal feed because of the high proportion of salt," Sung said.
To convert food scraps, the company first drains 30 percent of the water, breaks them down into less than 0.5 centimeters in diameter and dries them under heat of 850 degrees Celsius.
"We dry them through a quick heating system. That's to keep the nutrition from being destroyed in the process of drying," Sung said.
If the animal feed undergoes drying and other processes, it turns into solid fuel or briquettes.
"This fuel is cheap to produce and its energy efficiency is relatively high," Sung said. "In the process of all these waste treatments, the system produces no offensive odors."
EnbioCons' technology has been acknowledged by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy. Sung received the "Silver Tower Award" for his contribution to the industrial technology development in mid-December.
Sung said his company will continue to make investments in the development of new technology to become an internationally-competitive company.
He said several Asian companies are showing interest in the company's equipment.
"From next year, we will seek to export our plants and technology, targeting Asian, Latin America and U.S. markets," Sung said. "We will invite officials from foreign companies to tour our facilities."
Sung is positive about the outlook for green industries, though there are high degrees of risk.
"It's a business not for conglomerates or big companies but for small- and mid-sized firms. It requires a lot of time and endurance," Sung said. "It's like the owner should bet everything on the business."
Despite the promising outlook, Sung said there is a long road ahead before growing into a world-class green firm.
In the domestic market, the big construction firms are still dominating the waste treatment businesses. They take orders and allocate or outsource them to companies specialized in waste treatment, leaving a far smaller margin for the environment-specialized firms.
These structural problems and regulations remain obstacles standing in the way of domestic green companies. That's why German and other international companies are still dominant in the domestic market.
"The government is turning its head toward green growth," Sung said. "That's a step in the right direction. I believe green industries will emerge as a main engine to power exports."