Displaying items by tag: Italy

Italy: Geminor began exporting refuse-derived fuel (RDF) by freight train from its RDF-processing plant in Naples to Aalborg Portland Cement’s 2.1Mt/yr Rørdal integrated cement plant in October 2019. Geminor Germany and Italy Country Manager Andreas Hefler stated that the conveyance of 10,000t/yr of RDF in trainloads of 400t, though not significantly time-saving, represented an efficient and sustainable alternative to shipping and trailers. “We hope that others in the waste industry follow suit in transporting by electric train,” said Hefler.

Italy: Federbeton, the Italian cement and concrete producers’ association, has complained of ‘bureaucratic and regulatory’ obstacles causing Italy to lag behind other European countries in its use of refuse-derived fuel (RDF) in cement production. Statistics from the Italian Technical and Economic Cement Association (AITEC) show a net AFD substitution of 0.39Mt in 2018, corresponding to 20% of cement fuels burned in Italy. This represents a year-on-year increase of 2.4% from 0.38Mt (17%) in 2017, but lags behind the European annual average of 46%. Peak substitution was in neighbouring Austria, where 79% of cement fuel was refuse-derived. “Our investments in environmental technologies are bearing fruit,” said Antonio Buzzi, coordinator of Federbeton’s Environment and Circular Economy Committee. “We are ready to use larger quantities of alternative raw materials, but continue to pay for these obstacles.”

ANSA has reported that in 2018, Italian cement producers achieved a year-on-year decrease in net CO₂ emissions of 8.9%. Dust levels also decreased by 15.4% compared to 2017.

Denmark: Norway’s Geminor has signed a deal with Danish energy producer AffaldPlus to deliver 150,000t of refuse-derived fuel (RDF) for three years from January 2020. Geminor will deliver 50,000t/yr of RDF sourced from countries such as the UK, Italy and Germany. The logistics will mainly consist of bulk shipments but also train and road transport. No value for the order has been disclosed.

AffaldPlus is owned by six municipalities on the island of Sjælland. In addition to receiving and handling waste from the municipalities, AffaldPlus produces electricity and district heating at its plant in Næstved. Geminor will deliver about a third of the total annual secondary fuels burned in the incinerator at AffaldPlus.

Belarus/Hungary/US: Italy’s Entsorga is working on alternative fuel projects for cement plants in the US, Belarus and Hungary. In the US it has signed a contract to supply a Pelican feed line at Argos Cement’s Martinsburg plant in West Virginia. It follows a long-term off take agreement in place with the cement producer to supply alternative fuels. The 60,000t/yr feed station is similar to a feed station already delivered in 2016 in Nazareth, Pennsylvania.

In Belarus the waste engineering company plans to install an alternative fuel feed line at the Krasno cement plant. Local subsidiary EntsorgaFin will define the material acceptance standards and provide the design for the fuel feed station and feed line.

In Hungary Entsorga was awarded a contract for the supply of an alternative fuels automated handling and feeding system in January 2019 with an unnamed global cement producer. It will provide its Spider and Pelican products to the end user. Commissioning of the plant is scheduled for early 2020.

US: BioHiTech Global started operations at a waste treatment plant in Martinsburg, West Virginia in March 2019. It has completed the first phase of plant commissioning including the facility's reception area, overhead bridge cranes, and its primary mechanical sorting equipment. It has begun the next phase of plant commissioning and progressing operations, which includes receiving limited amounts of waste and beginning runs of its mechanical and biological treatment process for producing solid recovered fuel (SRF). The limited processing runs are expected to result in the production of SRF in the coming weeks with the facility reaching full operations in the second quarter of 2019. The unit uses Entsorga Italia’s proprietary high efficiency mechanical and biological treatment process (HEBIOT)

The majority of the waste, to be delivered as feedstock to the facility, is covered under a ten year agreement with a local waste hauler owned by Gold Medal Group, a regional waste management services company. The SRF will be supplied to cement producer Argos USA under a similar ten-year deal.

"The initiation of revenue generating operations at this first facility of its kind in the US is a pivotal moment for our company and an important step forward in the movement to lessen the environmental impact of waste management,” said Frank E Celli, the chief executive officer (CEO) of BioHiTech Global.

BioHiTech is the largest owner of the Martinsburg SRF plant through a majority owned subsidiary company with a 78% controlling interest in its operations. Gold Medal Group owns the remaining minority stake in the subsidiary.

Italy: Shredder manufacturer Untha says that it has overseen ‘significant’ growth following its collaboration with waste processing company Ecotec Solution. Since mid-2016 Ecotec Solution has secured six large projects for its Austrian partner.

These include three XR mobil-e sales for waste to energy facilities: one based in Trieste handling bulky input wastes for cement fuel preparation and two tackling pre-treated municipal solid waste (MSW) to create varied products including an infeed material for heat treatment. Other sales include a static XR3000C shredder for high performance <50mm solid recovered fuel (SRF) manufacturing, an XR2000R shredder for the <350mm processing of MSW and a TR2500 post shredder to produce a refined <30mm cement fuel from pre-treated light fraction.

“Landfill sites are closing and, due to a lack of more traditional waste disposal options, companies are looking for new channels for their residual materials,” said Ecotec Solution’s managing director Martin Mairhofer. “High value prices for SRF make this non-traditional treatment method an attractive alternative, but a significant degree of investment is required to design and build commercially robust plants.”

Italy: Zillo Group intends to start using solid recovered fuel (SFR) at its cement plant in Monselice. The cement producer intends to start with a substitution rate of around 5 – 10% with eventual plans to reach 50% in the medium term, according to a statement published by Padova Oggi.

Morocco: The Moroccan government has stopped importing waste from Italy following protests by environmentalists. The row followed reports in local media that Lafarge Maroc imported 2500t of solid recovered fuel from Campania, Italy.

The government first tried to calm tensions over the issue by pointing out that the waste is being used as a fuel, follows international standards and is not the first shipment of its kind. However, it then buckled to public pressure and stopped imports of waste pending an investigation. Morocco previously agreed a three-year deal with Italy to import 5Mt of waste to its El Jadida region, according to AfricaNews.