Company personnel have decades of experience in the testing and monitoring of processing facilities and systems for purposes of understanding and optimizing process dynamics as functions of feedstock properties and operating variables. As a consequence, the company specializes in developing acceptance test methods and performance criteria that protect the technical and financial interests of buyers and operators of equipment and systems.
CalRecovery developed and tested innovative processes that produce a densely compacted, encapsulated form of solid waste that is resistant to biological degradation. These processes would provide NASA and crewed space missions with an integrated, automated, mechanical processing system that will compact and dehumidify solid wastes for safe storage aboard short-duration missions, or long-duration missions, wherein processing of waste for resource recovery is not planned.
CalRecovery, Inc. served as a key member of a project development team that designed, constructed, and started up a 100 TPD recycling and composting facility for the Prairieland Solid Waste Authority in Truman, Minnesota. CalRecovery served as the technical consultant to the team during proposal preparation in the areas of process design, equipment specification, environmental control, and performance guarantees. Subsequent to the award of the project, CalRecovery reviewed the final equipment specification for adequacy, assisted in negotiating the terms and conditions of the contract with the Authority, and authored the Acceptance Test Plan included in the contract. After the construction of the facility, CalRecovery conducted the acceptance testing of the facility over a three-month period and prepared the Acceptance Test Report. The facility successfully passed all of the guarantees and continues to successfully recover ferrous metals, using front-end mechanical processing, and a high-quality compost, using agitated bed technology.
CalRecovery identified alternatives for improving the operation and performance of a large, publicly-owned and operated mixed waste processing facility in North America that recovers waste materials, organics for composting, and a fuel fraction. A number of parameters and operational variables were studied, including: bag breaking performance, clogging of the openings in the trommels, reduction of contamination in the form of plastics in the recovered compostable fraction, and production of a high-quality RDF (refuse-derived fuel) fraction. The process of improving the performance of the facility involved examination of waste characteristics, machine operating conditions, and equipment and system performance. A set of final recommendations was presented to the City, broken down into two categories: simple and cost effective, and complex and higher cost.