ENDEGS is a provider of innovative green tech solutions for the reduction of industrial emissions. Applying the effective technologies enables industrial facilities to significantly reduce their emissions.
ETS Group, Environmental Technology Services, is the European market and technology leader in the field of environmental technology for the reduction of emissions from volatile hydrocarbons.
Interview with David Wendel, Managing Director at ENDEGS GmbH & Managing Director & CCO at ETS Group GmbH.
Easy Engineering: What are the ranges of products and what types of services do you offer?
David Wendel: ETS Group offers innovative Greentech solutions that help industrial facilities to make their operations and maintenance more sustainable. With our mobile emissions reduction and degassing technologies, ENDEGS and SIS as brand companies of the ETS Group support customers to reduce the amount of hazardous emissions that get into the air untreated and that harm both the environment and human health. This way, industrial facilities can reduce their carbon footprint and contribute to improving the air quality and protecting the environment.
E.E: Which are the most innovative products / solutions and what special features do they have?
D.W: ENDEGS and SIS have been operating for more than 17 years and have long experience in environmental technologies, emissions reduction and mobile degassing. The inhouse designed, engineered and manufactured mobile vapor combustion units are innovative and offer the highest standards on the market with scalable combustion capacities (3, 4, 5, 10 and 20 MW) that make our units perfectly suited for different applications. As the major service provider in our field in Europe, the mobile vapor combustion units can be utilized to destroy all kinds of gases, gas mixtures and vapors of the explosion groups IIA, IIB and IIC with an efficiency rate of more than 99.99 % and without any open flame and odor left. Our mobile vapor combustion units are trailer-mounted or containerized and can therefore be deployed flexibly and rapidly directly on-site at our customer’s facilities. For a complete emission treatment package, our portfolio of technologies also includes a fleet of mobile nitrogen vaporizers with storage tanks, mobile blowers that are certified to transport ATEX Zone 0 vapors and remote-controlled ATEX Zone 0 robots for safe and semi-automated tank cleaning.
E.E: In what types of projects do clients use your products / solutions?
D.W: Our mobile vapor combustion units are applied for the degassing of all types of containments such as tank containers, storage tanks, pipelines and ships (from inland barge to sea vessel) – either for planned projects, for example for loading or unloading procedures or in preparation of maintenance or cleaning, or in emergency projects.
Furthermore, our mobile incinerators can be applied for back-up operations for stationary vapor treatment systems such as vapor recovery units (VRU) to keep operations going and to avoid downtimes. Our mobile nitrogen vaporizers enable safe working conditions when handling liquified products with high flammability and risks of explosion such as LNG, ammonia, hydrogen or LPG. The nitrogen vaporizer can be combined with a mobile vapor combustion unit to enable the purging and degassing of containments containing these products.
Our mobile ATEX Zone 0 blower skids can be used for the safe extraction of vapors from plants, tanks, vessels, jettys and many other applications. They are small, compact and easy to use and are available in different capacities, depending on the customer’s requirements. To connect the ATEX Zone 0 blower, accessories such as piping, valves, detonation arrestors, liquid separator and more are supplied as well from out our stock. The remote-controlled ATEX Zone 0 robot for rent makes tank cleaning a safe and easier task.
Previously, workers performing tank cleaning tasks were exposed to high health and safety risks in the hazardous ATEX Zone 0. The robot can now be controlled from a safe distance via two joysticks. A monitor in the operation cabin shows every movement of the robot in real time.
E.E: How important is innovation / R&D in your field?
D.W: Innovation is very important for us. As an important part of our daily work, product innovation ensures that the possibilities of our emissions reduction services are expanded. Many innovative ideas emerge in our everyday work at our customer’s sites as we listen closely to the needs, requirements and wishes of our customers. Thus, innovation and R&D are important for us. In 2021, 2022 and 2023, ENDEGS as an ETS brand company has been recognized for particular innovative strength and has been named one of the 100 most innovative medium-sized companies in Germany for three years in a row.
E.E: How do your products/solutions increase profitability for users?
D.W: Our solutions ensure a safe, sustainable and efficient emission treatment and degassing process. To reduce the number of hazardous emissions that are created in many industrial processes has many advantages for our customers – above all, more sustainable operations and maintenance and reducing the own carbon footprint. Applying our emission treatment and reduction services also helps our clients to fulfill ESG criteria and to ensure safe conditions for workers and surrounding neighborhoods.
When it comes to profitability, it is important to highlight that our services reduce downtimes to a minimum and don’t interfere with daily operations. The mobility and flexibility of our service and equipment is a key factor of profitability for our clients. Let’s take VRU replacement operations as an example: stationary emissions treatment systems such as VRUs are an important part of many industrial facilities, and without a functioning VRU, they are not allowed to operate. When a VRU breaks down in an emergency, the whole facility has there to be shut down until the VRU is repaired and working again.
However, when one of our mobile vapor combustion units takes over and treats the emissions in the VRU’s stead, operations can continue as usual. This saves our customers a lot of time and money compared to interrupting the operations and keeps their supply chains online.
E.E: How can clients sustainably use your products / solutions?
D.W: Our solutions and technologies are environmentally-friendly and ensure a sustainable emissions reduction and degassing process. The emission treatment and degassing services involving our mobile vapor combustion units, mobile nitrogen vaporizers and mobile ATEX Zone 0 blowers are performed by our highly experienced and trained technicians in an all-in-one and worry-free package for our customers. As we also rent out the remote-controlled ATEX Zone 0 robot, we offer training to the customer’s operators to prepare them in the best way possible for using the robot for the remote-controlled tank cleaning process from a safe distance.
E.E: How do you see the future in your field?
D.W: We notice a constantly growing awareness for more sustainable operations and maintenance in the industry and we expect that trend to be going to continue in the future. The energy footprint in the different industries is changing – away from fossil fuels and toward more sustainable fuels and energy sources such as LNG, green ammonia or hydrogen. As the energy footprint is changing, there will always be a need for storage facilities, tanks and refineries, degassing, emission treatment and environmental services of all kind. However, it is important to always further adapt the existing technologies and processes so they can be applied to the new products, fuels and energy sources that will be introduced in the future. That’s also the reason why innovation is such an important topic for us.
E.E: What are the business plans for 2024?
D.W: Following the merger of ENDEGS and SIS under the umbrella of the ETS Group in 2023, we want to continue our joint growth in continental Europe and UK as well as our expansion to new markets. Last year, we have taken steps to expanding our services to the Middle East by establishing offices in the Kingdoms of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain to deliver our services in the GCC Area.
