History of Hitachi Zosen Inova AG

For more than 70 years, Hitachi Zosen Inova has been forging the global development of thermal waste treatment and energy recovery from waste. With crucial innovations to its credit, it is among the pioneers that have defined the state of the art in waste management, furthering progress with advanced technologies.

 

Pioneer in thermal waste treatment
Hitachi Zosen Inova was founded in 1933 as “L. von Roll Aktiengesellschaft für kommunale Anlagen”. It was originally a department of “Gesellschaft der Ludwig von Roll’schen Eisenwerke”, a steel mill and foundry that dates back to 1823. The purpose of the new department was to focus on thermal waste treatment. Four years later, it built the first turnkey plant for the Dutch city of Dordrecht.

 

Emphasis on technology

In its first few years, the company relied on several licenses such as with Hitachi Zosen Corporation, to construct plants with technologies that were then state of the art. But from the very beginning, it also developed proprietary and improved technologies. Subsequently, it repeatedly established milestones with its own designs, in the domain of thermal waste treatment, including the reciprocating grate, advanced methods for flue gas purification, and processes for the treatment of residues.

 

Global expansion

In 1960 Von Roll opened its first offices in Germany and Japan, core markets at that time. In 1966, subsidiaries were founded in France and Sweden, and in 1975, the company established a presence in the USA where it built some of the world’s largest plants. This group, consisting of Von Roll Environmental Ltd in Zürich and its affiliated companies, was always at the forefront of the industry known as the “Von Roll Inova Group”. In 2003, the Von Roll Inova Group was acquired by the AE&E Group, a member of A-Tec Industries AG. AE&E was an industrial group with a global reach in thermal energy generation and environmental technologies. By the end of 2010, AE&E Inova AG together with its subsidiary AE&E KRB AG were sold to Hitachi Zosen Corporation, which brought the company a new name and new partnerships.

 

Tradition as a commitment

Hitachi Zosen Corporation has been a licensing associate of Hitachi Zosen Inova AG for more than 50 years and using the former Von Roll Technology. During this time, Hitachi Zosen Corp. has implemented its partner’s core technology in more than 200 Energy-from-Waste plants in Japan, China and other countries throughout East Asia. Hitachi Zosen Inova AG and Hitachi Zosen Corporation combine the competencies of two strong partners in the Energy-from-Waste sector. After all, tradition is a commitment. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow.