Displaying items by tag: Refuse Derived Fuel

Netherlands/UK: The RDF Industry Group has criticised a new tax proposal by the Dutch government on waste imports as part of its National Climate Agreement. The government wants to impose a tariff of Euro32/t on imported refuse-derived fuel (RDF) from the start of January 2020. It also wants to add a CO₂ tax of Euro30/t on industrial emitters from the start of 2021. The group says that, whilst it welcomes moves towards reducing CO₂ emissions, it believes the proposed Dutch taxes, in their current form, will be counterproductive in achieving this goal.

“RDF export forms a vital and flexible part of the UK’s waste management system, supporting over 6800 additional jobs in the UK, and saving over 700,000 tonnes CO₂ emissions annually. The Netherlands is the largest importer of UK waste, receiving 1.3Mt of RDF from the UK in 2018, powering good quality, efficient treatment facilities, many of which utilise heat offtake as well as electricity. The introduction of an import tax risks more waste going to landfill in the UK each year, disregarding the waste hierarchy, worsening the environmental impact, increasing costs and putting jobs at risk. Furthermore, given the large proportion of waste to Dutch incinerators that comes from the UK, there is also a risk of plant closures, and job losses in the Netherlands,” said Robert Corijn, chair of the RDF Industry Group.

The RDF Industry Group says it has raised its concerns with Dutch Parliamentary representatives.

Poland: Norway’s Geminor has opened a new national office in Sopot and appointed Andrzej Zientarski as Country Manager. Kjetil Vikingstad, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Geminor, says that the resource management company’s presence in Poland comes as a response to the ‘booming waste market.’ Although company is focusing on recycled waste wood the territory is also seeing a growing energy recovery sector in Poland, and it has numerous refuse-derived fuel (RDF) and solid recovered fuel (SRF) projects underway.

UK/Ireland: Geminor says it has been engaged in a partnership with MSC transporting refuse-derived fuel (RDF) and solid-recovered fuel (SRF) from the UK and Ireland since February 2019. The first shipments were transported from Barking and Nottingham, UK to Aalborg, Denmark. This will be followed up by container shipments from Birmingham, UK to Habberstad, Sweden and Dublin, Ireland to Greece. The shipments are based on so-called ‘backload,’ where empty containers are used to reduce the price.

“Moving waste from the UK to Scandinavia can also be completed with trailers, but we will continue to use containers where this is the best option. Currently we are moving containers with RDF and SRF from Dublin to Greece and Spain, where container shipment is a more efficient way of transport,” said Oliver Caunce, Senior Account Manager at Geminor UK.

Ukraine: MS Social Project (Kyiv), part of ICU Group, plans to build a 82,000t/yr municipal waste processing facility at Zhytomyr. The unit will produce variety of products including refuse-derived fuel (RDF), for cement production, according to Interfax. The project is expected to cost up to Euro10m.

US: RePower South has starting processing materials at its new 0.2Mt/yr waste processing plant at Moncks Corner in South Carolina. The unit uses equipment supplied by Bulk Handling Systems (BHS) as part of its BHS FIberPure process that utilises screen, air, optical and artificial intelligence (AI)-powered robotic sorters. It also uses seven NRT optical sorters and nine Max-AI Autonomous Quality Controls (AQC). The plant can process up to 50t/hr of mixed waste to produce a fuel feedstock.

The plant also produces ReEngineered Feedstock (REEF) from non-recyclable papers and plastics. This fuel product is sold to industry, cement, and utility customers to replace coal in production processes. The fuel system uses a Loesche Energy Systems RocketMill to dry, purify and size the REEF.

Egypt: Suez Cement’s Kattameya plant has started using a 10% waste-derived alternative fuels substitution rate in its main kiln burner. It brings the plant’s total thermal substitution rate up to 25%, in combination with the 15% rate of alternative fuels it already uses in the calciner. The plant’s volume of waste and biomass will double to 75,000t/yr. The subsidiary of HeidelbergCement’s plans to increase its substitution rate to 30% in the future.

UAE: Cement plants in Ras Al Khaimah are using camel dung as alternative fuel. Saif Al Ghais, director of the Environment Protection and Development Authority in Ras Al Khaimah, said that cement plants in the emirate are co-processing a mixture of camel waste, wood waste and refuse-derived fuel, according to the Khaleej Times newspaper. The emirate is also considering using cooking oil in its cement plants. The initiative is part of the country’s national recycling and sustainability strategy.

Poland: Germany’s Vecoplan has opened an office in Warsaw to support the local market. Vecoplan Polska opened its branch office in November 2018. Ireneusz Suszyna will be the local lead for domestic and commercial waste and refuse-derived fuel (RDF). Machine and service sales will be handled by the new office and technical and project support will be provided from the head office in Bad Marienberg in Germany.

Iraq: Germany’s Eggersmann Group has sold a drying system for municipal solid waste (MSW) to Faruk Group for use in a mechanical-biological waste treatment plant (MBT) being built at Suleymaniyah. 1040t/day of refuse-derived fuel (RDF) will be produced at the plant from MSW and commercial waste. Faruk Group intends to use the RDF at its cement plant.

The MBT plant includes 22 drying lanes with aeration and membrane cover. It is being built on a 40,000m² plot of land. Each lane has a capacity of 2600m³ MSW and will be fitted with aeration and process control. The project also includes a sanitary landfill with leachate collection for the processing residues.

Faruk Group assigned Eggersmann Group with the planning, supply and commissioning of the biological drying process phase. Eggersmann will use its Backhus Con system using a combination of the membrane-covered Convaero process and the self-propelled Backhus turner.

Eggersmann says that the Backhus Con 100 is the world's largest turner with an effective operation width of 10m and a total width of 14.5m. It is fitted with tracks to run along the outside of the lane walls, while the waste will be turned within the lanes. In addition, the Backhus Con is equipped with two membrane cover winders to simultaneously wind and unwind membrane covers during turning. Since the system is effectively closed during turning, this method is suitable for sites where emissions are a critical issue. A further advantage of the system is the short processing time. Even materials with a high moisture level and high density can be efficiently composted or dried.

At the front end of the treatment process at the Suleymaniyah MBT, an Eggersmann single-shaft Teuton ZS 55 shredder will allow continuous shredding and a uniform discharge of shredded waste to the conveyor systems towards the drying area. One Teuton ZS 55 in two-shift operation is sufficient to cover the site’s daily throughput.

The plant is designed for a throughput capacity of 380,000tyr. The plant will be in operation seven days a week with two operation shifts and one cleaning and maintenance shift per day.

The ground works at Suleymaniyah are being built and installation of aeration system for the drying lanes is scheduled to begin in May 2019. The delivery of the other components and machines is planned to start in June 2019 and the warm commissioning is expected to start at the end of 2019.

India: Local government bodies in Chennai in Tamil Nadu have complained of the cost of sending plastics waste to cement plants. Five municipalities are spending of US$40,000/month on transport costs, according to the New Indian Express. Since 2017, 54 local government bodies have sent waste to cement plants for co-processing. Of these, 49 local bodies send it to UltraTech Cement’s plant at Ariyalur. However, the plant only pays transport costs for the waste sourced within a 100km radius. The state is looking into supplying plastics waste to nearer buyers.