Displaying items by tag: Refuse Derived Fuel

Israel: The Environmental Protection Ministry (EPM) has granted Nesher-Israel Cement Enterprises a licence to substitute more refuse-derived fuels (RDF) for petcoke than was previously permitted at its 5Mt/yr integrated Ramle, Central District cement plant. The Times of Israel newspaper has reported that the licence also allows for greater metal emissions. The company said, “As is customary in the global cement industry, the Nesher plant in Ramle uses raw materials and alternative fuels, thus achieving a number of environmental goals, including reducing landfill, minimising the use of natural resources and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”

Israel: Nesher-Israel Cement Enterprises has applied to the Environmental Protection Ministry for permission to replace petcoke in the kiln lines of its 5.0Mt/yr integrated Ramla cement plant in Central District with increased refuse-derived fuels (RDF) volumes. The Times of Israel has reported that the company has also applied for a relaxed emissions licence permitting higher metal levels than it may currently emit. Environmental advocacy organisation Adam Teva V’Din said that the Ramla plant’s emissions exceeded permitted mercury levels on 19 occasions in the first half of 2019. The organisation said that a permit of the kind applied for by Nesher-Israel Cement Enterprises would violate the Clean Air Act. The company said, “The intake of alternative raw materials and alternative fuels takes place only after rigorous laboratory tests to ensure conformity of the material to both the production process and regulatory requirements.”

Austria: Andritz has announced its upcoming line of ADuro primary and secondary shredders. The shredders, which it says are ‘for shredding refuse-derived fuels and municipal solid waste, as well as commercial or industrial waste,’ become available in July 2020. Andritz said, “The Andritz automation tools can be tailored to individual customer needs and provide powerful capabilities to monitor machine behaviour and improve plant reliability.”

Belarus: Krasnoselskstroymaterialy has announced that its US$7.8m refuse-derived fuel (RDF) plant at its 1.6Mt/yr Krasnoselskstroymaterialy plant will be completed in September 2020. The plant is installed with equipment worth US$4.5m from Czech suppliers. The Ministry of Construction and Architecture has said that waste from the Grodno Recycling and Mechanical Sorting Plant will replace Belarusian peat and Russian coal as the cement fuel in the plant’s kilns, fulfilling Krasnoselskstroymaterialy’s goals of renewability and national self-reliance.

Ministry of Construction and Architecture energy conservation head Sergey Nikitin said, “The transition to RDF will create an opportunity to reduce the cost of cement production in the future, strengthen the financial and economic situation of the Krasnoselskstroymaterialy enterprise and create additional competitive advantages over producers operating on traditional fossil fuels.”

Spain: Switzerland-based LafargeHolcim subsidiary Geocycle has commissioned an UNTHA XR3000C shredder at its Albox waste processing plant in Almeria. The 15,000t/yr shredder will process domestically-produced commercial and industrial waste, including oil- and solvent-contaminated textiles, plastics, paper and cardboard, into fuel suitable for co-processing at any of LafargeHolcim’s five Spanish cement plants. Geocycle Operations Manager Raúl Lannegrand said, “Co-processing is recognised by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) Basel Convention and the European Commission as a practical, cost-efficient, safe and environmentally-preferred waste treatment method, so it was important for us to make the most of the landfill diversion opportunity we had identified in Spain.”

Sweden: Norway-based Geminor received a batch of refuse-derived fuel (RDF) produced at its Braunsbedra plant in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany for use at Scandinavian cement plants on 23 April 2020. The shipment was Europe’s first international shipment of RDF by rail, without the use of trucks. Geminor plans for the 110t delivery to be the first of many on the 50,000t-capacity line. Geminor CEO Kjetil Vikingstad said, “Since transport by ship is only effective within a radius of 200km from a port, central Germany becomes a natural starting point for
transport by train. This is the beginning of extensive waste transport by train in
Europe.”

UK: RDF Industry Group has convened a refuse-derived fuel (RDF) industry working group to meet on a fortnightly basis to discuss the sectoral impacts of coronavirus. The Group said that it ‘is working with competent authorities to ensure the free flow of RDF is maintained.’ It acknowledged that RDF supply is essential to European cement production, adding, “The flow of RDF from the UK to off-take facilities in Europe is continuing, with the industry overall functioning well.”

Ireland: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has postponed a four-day hearing over Irish Cement’s alternative fuel (AF) licence application, scheduled for May 2020, to an as yet unspecified date due to the coronavirus. Under the terms of the proposed licence, Irish Cement will be able co-process a maximum of 90,000t/yr of refuse-derived fuel (RDF), including tyres, in the single dry line of its 1.0Mt/yr Mungret plant in County Limerick. The EPA said that emissions from operations under the terms of the licence ‘will meet all required environmental protection standards.’

Irish Cement received its preliminary licence to burn refuse-derived fuel (RDF) in September 2019. The move attracted local resistance, with 4500 people participating in a protest on 5 October 2019.

The EPA has said that it will give all relevant parties notice ‘well in advance’ of the date of the rescheduled hearing, which will take place after the government lifts the country’s coronavirus lockdown. On 14 April 2020 County Limerick had 234 coronavirus cases out of an Irish total of 10,647.

Ghana: The Accra Compost and Recycling Plant (ACARP) is due to begin commercial production of refuse-derived fuel (RDF), a form of fuel obtained from recycled waste that can be used by the cement industry. The venture, according to ACARP, will considerably augment the coal needs of local cement producers when commercialised, at a much lower price than coal. The RDF will comprise a combination of highly-combustible waste and textile waste, with this type of waste constituting about 30% of the material handled by ACARP.

Michael Padi Tuwor, ACARP’s General Manager, said that the recycling plant currently handles 600t/day of waste, recycling around 80% of it. He said that RDF would represent a major new opportunity for ACARP, but was unable to put a figure on exactly how much would be produced going forward.

UK: Alternative fuels producer Andusia has said that the coronavirus has yet to impact upon the trade of refuse-derived fuel (RDF) in and out of Europe. It says it is monitoring the situation and will keep customers updated. “No change to service is anticipated,” said Andusia. “There are no border restrictions to trade and it is business as usual.”