Displaying items by tag: US

US: The debate over proposed clean air regulations which may restrict or halt LafargeHolcim’s tyre-burning plans at its 2.0Mt/yr Ravena plant will take place on 23 December 2019. The Times Union newspaper has reported that councillors will debate whether to lower the maximum permitted pollutant emissions from incineration facilities to a level below that entailed by LafargeHolcim’s alternative fuel (AF) plans.

In mid-2018, LafargeHolcim’s licence from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation for the combustion of 4.8M tyres per year expired. It announced ‘preliminary discussions’ with tyre suppliers in January 2019.

US: NuCycle Energy, which processes post-industrial materials, primarily packaging, into refuse-derived fuel (RDF) for cement kilns has started work on an upgrade aimed at expanding its Plant City plant’s capacity to 90,000t/yr. WasteAge has reported that Cemex USA, whose South-Eastern operations are supplied with substitute fuel by NuCycle, is considering an expansion to its relationship with NuCycle Energy. “We are exploring replicating this successful experience at the rest of our cement kilns, nationwide,” said Cemex USA corporate fuels manager Eduardo Pons.

Germany: Bilfinger, the civil and industrial construction specialist, is working with the American-based PRTI, whose thermal decomposition technology processes tyres into fuel. The aim of the partnership is to align PRTI’s tyre processors with Dutch safety and environmental standards, making them useable for waste processors and cement companies anywhere in the European Union.

US: Geocycle North America has received a new Untha XR mobil-e waste shredder at its plant in Dorchester, South Carolina. The mobile unit with 2 x 177hp motors, will process non-hazardous post-industrial waste to produce refuse-derived fuel (RDF) for LafargeHolcim’s Holly Hill cement plant. The shredder is currently configured to manufacture 10t/hr of RDF and the plant aims to generate 35,000 – 40,000t/yr of the fuel. Untha says that the new product replaces a previous shredder from another manufacturer.

US: The Rhode Island Fiberglass Vessel Recycling pilot project (RIFVR) has completed its first major delivery of boat-hull materials to a cement producer in South Carolina. The project is a collaboration between the Rhode Island Sea Grant and the Rhode Island Marine Trades Association (RIMTA) to dispose of fibreglass recreational boats in a sustainable manner, according to the Providence Business News newspaper. The program will now look into how it could expand its network model.

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.

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.

US: LafargeHolcim’s Ravena cement plant in New York is considering burning tyres as an alternative fuel. Environmental Director Kevin G Bretz told Coeymans town officials that the cement producer has ‘developed relationships’ and held ‘preliminary discussions’ with potential tyre suppliers, according to the Times Union newspaper. The cement producer was hoping to use an approval by the state Department of Environmental Conservation granted in 2006 that gave permission for it to burn up to 4.8 million tyres annually at the plant. However, this Beneficial Use Determination (BUD) expired in mid-2018.

US: Lehigh Cement’s is preparing to co-process ‘raggertail’ at its Glens Falls plant in New York state. The state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has prepared a draft air pollution permit for the unit. It is accepting public comments until late December 2018.

Raggertail is derived from non-recyclable ‘raggertail’ residuals processed by Frontier Fiber from Norampac and Greenpac recycled paper mills in Niagara Falls. It consists of approximately 60% plastic and 40% fibre (biomass). Emissions testing performed at the plant while burning the alternative fuel on a trial basis demonstrated that its use will not cause ambient impacts above State guideline concentrations. At present the cement plant’s kiln is powered by natural gas and coal.