GNC Energy, Bright Outlook for Eco-Friendly Energy Business... "Growth in Wastewater Treatment Business"

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] GNC Energy, a company specializing in eco-friendly and renewable energy, announced on the 22nd that the growth of eco-friendly energy businesses such as small-scale combined heat and power generation and biogas power generation is accelerating due to the expansion of the eco-friendly energy market.

The company operates biogas power plants in nine locations nationwide through private investment. The "sewage treatment project," which took its first step last year by being selected for the "sewage treatment plant sludge reduction project" in Gyeongju, Gyeongbuk Province, is also continuously growing.

To strengthen its capabilities in the "sewage treatment plant sludge reduction project," GNC Energy acquired shares of Cambi Korea, the Korean branch of Cambi, a global sewage sludge treatment company.

Cambi possesses technology that uses high-pressure steam to pretreat domestic and industrial sludge to facilitate anaerobic digestion. This can reduce the retention time in the sewage digestion tank by nearly half and increase biogas production. Additionally, it improves the dehydration rate of the cake (solid particles) discharged without pathogens, producing stable final sludge. GNC Energy plans to utilize this to manufacture fertilizer and secure additional overseas sales.

Furthermore, sewage treatment facilities applying Cambi technology can produce eco-friendly electricity by combining with combined heat and power generation and provide hot steam used in the thermal hydrolysis process. By refining biogas, it can also be used as automobile fuel or a substitute for natural gas, creating a synergy effect in GNC Energy’s biogas power generation business.

A GNC Energy official stated, “Recently, as the government’s renewable energy supply obligation ratio has been raised, interest in our ongoing biogas power generation business is increasing. Especially, Cambi’s technology uses high-pressure steam, which can drastically reduce carbon emissions compared to conventional sludge treatment methods using fossil fuels, so it is expected to grow alongside the government’s carbon neutrality policy.”