Thermal tech center opens in northeast England

The U.K.’s Centre for Process Innovation and steel manufacturer Tata Steel have opened a £5 million ($7.7 million) Thermal Technologies Centre in Middlesbrough in Teeside, northeast England.

The facility is located at Tata Steel’s Teesside Technology center, and will offer access to those developing new ways to transform biomass into high-grade fuels and energy.  It’s unique in the U.K. and one of only a few in the world, according to CPI.

The Thermal Technologies Centre currently offers two demonstration scale assets—a multi-mode, 2-meter diameter gasifier and a 350-kilogram batch pyrolysis oven, both of which enable the processing of biomass or other alternative feedstocks. The equipment is available to companies wanting to test or develop high-temperature processes, and will enable testing and demonstration of technologies developed in the laboratory to prove they can work on a commercial scale.

In addition, the center will provide services for customers investigating, developing and scaling up thermal products and processes.

Karl-Ulrich Köhler, CEO of Tata Steel’s European operations, said the facility will be open to companies and researchers from around the world.