Displaying items by tag: Solid Recovered Fuel

UK: Andusia Recovered Fuels says it is moving into the solid recovered fuel (SRF) market following its experience of the refuse derived fuel (RDF) business over the last five years. In this time the waste management company has exported over 0.9Mt of RDF.

“Despite recent claims that the RDF market is beginning to plateau, here at Andusia we are yet to notice that,” said General Manager, Mark Terrell. “The RDF export market will always be a key area for us, however we are now turning our attentions to not only the emerging UK Energy from Waste market but also to SRF exports across Europe.”

Cyprus: N+P International has extended its solid recovered fuel (SRF) supply agreement with Vassiliko Cement to the end of 2020. The deal also includes an option to further extend the agreement to the end of 2022. N+P has been supplying Vassiliko Cement with SRF from the UK and Italy by sea since 2015.

“This contract is the foundation of a long-term cooperation between Vassiliko Cement, Enerco Energy Recovery and N+P. The parties intend to maximise alternative fuel consumption in the Vassiliko Cement plant, to do so parties recently carried out a trial to co-grind N+P’s Subcoal pellets in the plants coal mills. The first results of this trial are looking very promising and further trials will be done the near future. We agreed not to disclose precise contract volumes, but at present >2500t/week of SRF is shipped into Vassiliko Cement,” said a representative of N+P.

Vassiliko Cement plans to reach a 55% substitution rate of alternative fuels by 2020.

Nigeria: Lafarge Africa has raised its capacity to use alternative fuels at its Ewekoro 1 cement plant to a substitution rate of 50%. Its Sagamu plant has the capacity to operate a substitution rate of up to 25%. Its alternative fuels sources include locally sourced palm kernel shells, woodchips, tyres and refuse. It is unclear whether or not the plants will be able to make use of this capacity in the near term.

“Our energy optimisation plan has proved successful with increased use of alternative fuel to offset gas shortages. Ewekoro 1 plant migrated from 100% reliance on gas and low pour fuel oil (LPFO) to about 40% use of alternative fuels at the plant,” said Michel Puchercos, the chief executive officer of Lafarge Africa in the group’s results for the fourth quarter of 2016.

The subsidiary of LafargeHolcim plans to use alternative fuels at all of its Nigerian cement plants by 2018. Ewekoro 2 will be utilising alternative fuels, Ashaka will be using alternative fuels and coal and Mfamosing is expected to be using petcoke and alternative fuels.

Namibia: Environment minister Pohamba Shifeta has inaugurated Namibia’s first solid recovered waste plant in Windhoek. The US$15.7m unit is a joint-venture between local company Rent-A-Drum and Ohorongo Cement, a subsidiary of Germany’s Schwenk Zement, according to the Xinhua News Agency. Rent-A-Drum will collect more than 12,000t of non-recyclable waste material that will be converted into alternative fuel for use by Ohorongo Cement. The waste plant has created 60 jobs.

Ireland: Limerick City and County Council has given permission for Irish Cement to co-process alternative fuels at its local cement plant. Permission has been granted subject to 16 conditions, according to the Limerick Leader newspaper. The cement producer has been seeking a licence to use solid recovered waste and tyres at its plant but it has faced local opposition.

Ireland: Irish Cement has until the end of March 2017 to submit further information to the local government about its plans to upgrade its cement plant in Limerick to allow it to co-process alternative fuels. The company is waiting for planning permission for a 10-year licence to use solid recovered waste and tyres in cement production, according to the Limerick Leader newspaper. However, the application has been delayed twice following opposition by local residents.

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.

US: A waste-to-solid-fuel plant has broken ground in West Virginia. Its developers say it is the US' first resource recovery facility that employs mechanical biological treatment (MBT).

The waste-to-solid-fuel plant in Martinsburg, West Virginia, called Entsorga WV, is expected to be operational in early 2017. Entsorga WV is a joint venture between Apple Valley Waste Technologies, Entsorga USA and Chemtex International.

By utilising the HEBioT MBT system, Entsorga WV will recover biomass, plastics and other carbon based materials from the mixed municipal solid waste (MSW) stream and convert them into an alternative fuel. When processing the MSW, Entsorga WV will remove other recyclable commodities such as ferrous and non-ferrous metals. The MSW received will be converted to solid recovered (SRF), which will be used as an alternative or supplement to fossil fuels.

The plant will be able to produce about 50,000t/yr of SRF, which will be delivered to the Essroc Cement Plant and used in conjunction with coal. The companies have entered into a long-term contract for the provision and acceptance of the SRF.

The reduction of waste that will be disposed of in landfills as a result of the Entsorga facility will result in a greenhouse gas emission reduction of 28,000t/yr of carbon dioxide equivalent. There are currently more than 330 MBT plants in operation throughout Europe, processing more than 30Mt/yr of municipal solid waste.

South Korea: A new solid recovered fuel (SRF) production facility is now fully operational in Wonju City, South Korea, thanks to global shredding company UNTHA and local partner PERITUS.

Korean waste management specialist Zion has built the SRF manufacturing plant to make smarter use of its residual materials. Now, with the new system in place, pre-sorted construction and demolition waste and commercial and industrial waste, is being shredded to produce a homogenous 50mm fuel for the cement industry.

The UNTHA XR3000C shredder with cutting concept was chosen following a series of trials at UNTHA's Austrian headquarters. Demonstrations showed that the technology could comfortably achieve throughputs of 60-70t/day, with scope to almost double that moving forward. The XR3000C's flexibility also means Zion can achieve a 40-50mm particle size from the single step shredding of plastic bales, which has further boosted the company's SRF production capabilities.

"South Korea may only be in the infancy of its waste-to-energy journey, yet the nation has formed a very sophisticated and disciplined approach to its waste roadmap relatively quickly. Legislation is in place to drive the production of <50mm SRF and the necessary infrastructure is fast evolving to accommodate this," said UNTHA's Head of Business Unit Waste Peter Streinik. "What we see here with Zion, however, is not just a company striving for compliance. They're prioritising energy efficiency, profitability and innovation too, to realise the wider benefits that come with smarter waste management."

Committed to principles akin to Europe's waste hierarchy, Zion extracts as many materials as possible, including bricks, metal, sands, glass and batteries, for re-use or recycling, prior to them entering the SRF manufacturing stream.

"Our family-run business is incredibly passionate about renewable energy, from solar power to alternative fuel production," said Zion's President Geumju Kim. "Now that our new SRF plant is up and running, with state-of-the-art configurable technology in place, the next step is to investigate relationships with different customers. We can satisfy varied specifications, and look forward to improving South Korea's resource agenda."