Egypt: The New Urban Communities Authority (NUCA) of the Egyptian Ministry of Housing (MoH) has engaged BESIX and Oracom Construction for the establishment of a refuse-derived fuel (RDF) processing plant in Cairo. Mubasher has reported that Minister of Housing Assem El-Gazzar has stated that when operational the facility will provide 0.7Mt/yr fuel for cement plants.
Siam Cement investigates waste-derived plastic fuels to tackle marine pollution
Thailand: Siam Cement has engaged the US-based Dow to conduct a study of types of waste plastic suitable for sorting. Dow’s chief executive officer (CEO) Jim Fitterling has estimated that locally sourced pre-used plastics can supply a commercial renewable feedstock operation at a rate of 0.2 – 0.3Mt/yr. The Bangkok Post has reported that the scale on which the two companies would seek to expand any operations depend on volumes of available waste. Nikkei has reported that Thailand generates 1.03Mt/yr of plastic, over 3% of which passes into the World’s oceans.
Geminor approved for rail transport in Sweden
Sweden: Geminor has been granted permission to operate freight by rail to and from its unit at Landskrona following a three-year application period. The plant processes more than 40,000t/yr of solid-recovered fuel (SRF), refuse-derived fuel (RDF) and waste wood
“We still have a long way to go in relation to transporting waste on rails in Europe,” said Country Manager Sweden at Geminor, Per Mernelius. He added that rail transport is still a ‘novelty’ in the waste processing industry with potential in the future.
LafargeHolcim’s Brookfield plant to run on tyres
Canada: Reports from Lafarge Canada’s Brookfield cement plant in Nova Scotia have indicated the effectiveness of burning tyres as fuel there. CBC has reported that, as part of a 12-month investigation, scrap tyres were burned ‘off and on’ for a month at the 0.6Mt/yr integrated cement plant. Following further staff training, tyres will replace coal in the kilns on a full-time basis. Environment and Public Affairs Director Robert Cummings has said that there has been no notable change in emissions. Lafarge Canada will release the results of an emissions check including testing for low-concentration materials not covered by emissions monitoring in early January 2020.