Pirelli Ambiente owns the expertise needed to build and run HQ-SRF production plants, designed on the basis of its international patents. The process, which can be adapted to meet local requirements, can be designed to treat the municipal solid waste (MSW) as it is or the dry fraction produced by a selection plant that is already in operation.

More specifically, the three patents cover: 

• the composition of the fuel, its chemical and physical characteristics and the production process.  
• the mixture of pulverised coal and fuel, and the method by which that mixture can be used in a plant for instantaneous production. 
• the process to handle and mix the MSW component with the other components in order to obtain uniform solid fuel with a controlled composition.   

Several pilot schemes for fuel co-firing in industrial boilers have been set up in collaboration with Enea, with the major boilermakers (ANSALDO and ABB) and with research labs (IFRF - International Flame Research Foundation and the Experimental Fuel Station in San Donato Milanese). These have enabled the company to endorse the validity and the robustness of the technical and scientific theory behind Pirelli Ambiente technology.