Business areas

Renewable Molecules

Hydrothermal gasification technology platform for transforming wet biomass and residual organic streams into high-value renewable molecules, through the development and industrialisation of conversion and valorisation processes.

CADE develops CADE SCWG, a supercritical water gasification technology platform that turns wet and complex organic waste into a gas stream capable of connecting with different value chains: hydrogen, methane, syngas and sustainable fuels.

Wastewater treatment plants with sludge and biosolids, biogas plants that have to manage their digestates, the agri-food industry with wet waste, and energy companies looking to produce renewable hydrogen or methane from waste.

Clients

Municipal and industrial WWTPsBiogas plantsWaste managersEnergy and gas companiesAgri-food industry

Sectors

Water and sanitationWasteBiogas and biomethaneRenewable hydrogenSustainable fuels (SAF)

From characterisation to industrial plant

Every waste stream follows the same validation path, from the sample to the modular plant, with the same reactors and the same control at every scale.

Waste characterisation

Analysis of the biomass and of its behaviour in supercritical water.

Platform testing

Tests of the waste on the test platform.

DEMO plant operation

Up to 100 kg/h of wet biomass in continuous operation, with the same reactors and the same control as the industrial solution.

Modular industrial plant

Modular designs from 500 to 3,000 kg/h.

How it works

From wet waste to renewable gas

Above 374 °C and 221 bar, water enters the supercritical state: it is neither liquid nor gas, and it acts as the reaction medium. In that state, wet organic matter is converted directly into renewable gases, without drying or burning it.

INPUT

Wet organic waste

We treat everything from liquid streams to wet solids with 70% dry matter, with a proprietary system that feeds solids continuously, not just pumpable slurries.

Sewage sludge
Digestates
Agro-industrial waste
Algae
Biowaste

PROCESS

Supercritical water reactor

In the reactor, the organic matter turns into gas without burning. Salts and minerals are separated during the process, and the heat is recovered.

Hydrothermal gasification
Salt and mineral separation
Heat recovery

OUTPUT

Renewable gases and co-products

A gas rich in hydrogen and methane, whose composition is configured for each application, for use as fuel or for grid injection. The process also returns treated water and recoverable minerals.

Renewable hydrogen
Renewable methane
Recoverable CO₂
Treated water and minerals (P, K)

Own technology

Validated at plant scale, scalable in modules

The DEMO plant is a smaller-scale replica of the industrial solution and the basis for the modular designs.

Projects

CADE SCWG in projects and publications

Reference projects, news and publications on CADE’s technology.

ECLOSION project

A project of the Misiones Ciencia e Innovación programme to produce renewable hydrogen and biomethane from biowaste, in a consortium coordinated by Aqualia. Within it, CADE has commissioned its hydrothermal gasification technology in Salamanca.

CADE will take its SCWG technology to Japan

Hydrothermal gasification white paper

The first white paper on the gasification of wet biomass under supercritical conditions, published by GRTgaz. It analyses the maturity of the technology and its main developers in Europe and worldwide, CADE among them.