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: Geocycle Egypt has opened a plant to process alternative fuels in Ain Sokhna. The unit had an investment of around US$12m, according to the Egypt Independent newspaper. The waste management subsidiary of LafargeHolcim will process agricultural and industrial waste into alternative fuels. It plans to supply 0.4Mt/yr to Lafarge Cemet Egypt’s Ain Sokhna plant.

Sweden: HC Miljö has extended its contract to source Icopower pellets from Renewi. The contract will run for the next three years, with an extension possibility for a similar period. Renewi will supply the subsidiary of HeidelbergCement with up to 54,000t/yr of pellets.

“We are very proud that the contract with HeidelbergCement has been extended. We have been working together for many years, proving that an innovative product made from waste can have a significant contribution to a more sustainable world using it as fuel in an industrial process with a large energy demand. It perfectly fits our ‘waste no more’ vision,” said Michael van Hulst, Regional Director of Renewi’s Commercial Netherlands Division.

Renewi manufactures its Icopower pellet product in Amsterdam in the Netherlands and then ships them to Gotland in Sweden. The pellets are made by processing dry commercial waste.

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.