Powerhouse Energy Group PLC (AIM:PHE) said it has been told that its first European patent application will be fully granted by the European Patent Office next month.
Patent number 20751207.0, 'Method and Apparatus for the Treatment of Waste Material', covers the control of the heating of the waste within several zones of the thermal conversion chamber (TCC), or kiln, to enable users to adjust the temperature in order to allow the optimum synthesis gas (syngas) to be produced.
"This will be the first patent to be granted to the company," said chairman Antony Gardner-Hillman. "It provides significant protection for the DMG technology that differentiates PHE from others in the waste-to-energy sector."
With the AIM-listed company pioneering the development of technology and projects to convert non-recyclable waste, such as plastic, into low-carbon energy, including hydrogen, it said it expects the UK and Europe to become key markets. It has other patent applications in both these important regions and elsewhere, it added.
Discussions are continuing with a number of clients from a diverse range of industries and sectors, it said, with each requiring a solution for their waste and a reduced reliance on virgin fossil fuels.
The patent is expected to be fully granted on 11 October.
Gardner-Hillman added: "It is fitting that this patent has been granted while we fit out the Powerhouse Technology Centre in Bridgend."
The centre is built but awaiting the commissioning of its testing unit and is expected to open in the first quarter of next year.