Grupo Philus expands operations in the Campos Gerais

With consolidated operations in Ponta Grossa, Campos Gerais and other Paraná regions, the Grupo Philus has been expanding an integrated waste management model that brings together companies, infrastructure and different environmental technologies. The proposal is to act from the collection and storage to the treatment, valorization, energy recovery and environmentally adequate final destination of the materials.

Among the main operating arms of the group are Zero Waste and Ponta Grossa Ambiental, which work in a complementary way to serve companies, industries, municipalities and large generators.

The structure accompanies a change in waste management. Before defining where a certain material will be used, the proposal is to analyze the possibilities of recycling, reuse, treatment, transformation into energy or reintegration into productive cycles.

This is because hospital waste, construction rubble, fluorescent lamps, organic matter and industrial waste, for example, have distinct characteristics and require specific procedures and technologies.

CTR Vila Velha brings together treatment and energy utilization

One of the examples of the structure maintained by the Grupo Philus is the CTR Vila Velha, Zero Waste enterprise located in Teixeira Soares, in the Campos Gerais.

In addition to the environmentally appropriate disposal of waste, the unit performs the treatment of 100% of the slurry generated in the operation. The project also provides for the use of biogas produced naturally by the decomposition of waste for the production of biomethane. Another technology used within environmental solutions is biodigesting, especially aimed at the use of organic matter.

In this process, waste is decomposed by microorganisms in an oxygen-free environment. The decomposition generates biogas, which can subsequently be used as an energy source.

Although both produce biogas, biodigestion and landfill have different processes. In the biodigester, decomposition occurs in a controlled manner. Already in landfill, gas is produced naturally during the decomposition of waste stored in cells.

Civil construction and health waste require specific routes

The same specific treatment logic is used in Civil Construction Waste (CCR).

Materials such as concrete, bricks, blocks, mortar and other waste from construction and demolition can go through separation and beneficiation processes. Depending on the characteristics, some of this material may return to the production chain in the form of recycled aggregate or other products.

In the case of Health Services Waste (HSW), the main challenge involves health risk.

Waste produced by hospitals, clinics, laboratories, offices and veterinary establishments must follow specific standards from separation and packaging to collection, treatment and destination.

The Grupo Philus maintains structures and solutions for the management of these materials according to the characteristics and requirements of each operation.

Lamps go through decontamination

Even seemingly simple materials, such as fluorescent and metal vapor lamps, require a route of their own.

Because they have components that require environmental care, these products need to undergo decontamination before their materials are forwarded to recycling or another destination.

The Grupo Philus has licensed equipment to carry out this process, allowing decontamination and controlled separation of the components of the lamps.

After this stage, the materials that present the possibility of reuse can go to the recycling chain.

Energy recovery takes advantage of waste without recycling alternative

Another front developed by the group is the Integrated Waste Energy Recovery Process, aimed primarily at materials that no longer present technically viable alternatives for reuse or recycling.

Among the technologies used are processes such as pyrolysis and gasification.

In pyrolysis, the materials are subjected to high temperatures in conditions of absence or low presence of oxygen, causing thermal decomposition. In gasification, thermochemical processes enable the transformation of part of the material into gases with energy potential.

Energy recovery does not replace recycling. The technology works as an alternative to waste that has already had other possibilities of use exhausted, allowing to use their energy potential before the final disposal.

The group’s portfolio also includes solutions such as co-processing, effluent treatment, hazardous waste management and waste management carried out within the customers’ own facilities.

Integration seeks to reduce volume destined for landfills

The strategy of the Grupo Philus is based on the integration between different technologies.

Instead of considering landfill as the first alternative, each material is analyzed to identify possibilities for recycling, composting, biodigesting, decontamination, treatment, energy recovery or other forms of valorization.

The disposal in landfill remains necessary for waste that does not present another technically or environmentally viable alternative. Within the integrated model, however, it represents the final stage of the process.

With complementary companies, its own infrastructure and technologies for different types of waste, the Grupo Philus seeks to strengthen its performance in the environmental sector and expand the capacity to meet different profiles of generators.

Zero Residues and Ponta Grossa Ambiental are among the main arms of this structure, which has a presence in Ponta Grossa, in Campos Gerais and in different regions of Paraná.