FROM WASTE TO CLEAN ENERGY. Efficient energy recovery with low environmental impact at the waste to energy plant in Gothenburg

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1 FROM WASTE TO CLEAN ENERGY Efficient energy recovery with low environmental impact at the waste to energy plant in Gothenburg

2 CONTENTS 5 Recovering the maximum energy from waste 6 Everything depends on what we recycle 8 Sort more because it matters 9 What happens to the waste? 10 We burn waste while steadily reducing emissions 17 Where your waste is turned into power and heating 18 Growing the economy without costing the earth 22 Welcome to Sävenäs

3 The world s most advanced and efficient facility for flue gas cleaning is an important part of the Sävenäs waste-to-energy plant.

4 RECOVERING THE MAXIMUM ENERGY FROM WASTE Our waste is not wasted. Renova collects and processes waste in the best and most environmentally friendly way possible. What cannot be recycled directly is transformed into clean energy by combustion at our waste-to-energy plant. Burning waste reduces carbon dioxide emissions, thus reducing the greenhouse effect. The energy recovered from waste is used to generate electricity and for district heating, replacing the use of fossil fuels such as oil and natural gas. For example, you can recover as much energy from 3 tonnes of waste as from burning one tonne of oil! The plant in Sävenäs is licensed to receive 550,000 tonnes of waste per year from households and industry. The energy recovered replaces the equivalent of 175,000 m 3 of oil or 160 million m 3 of natural gas. WE PRODUCE ELECTRICITY AND HEATING FROM WASTE almost 110,000 apartments and heating and hot water for approximately 150,000 apartments. This corresponds to: 5 percent of Gothenburg s electricity needs 30 percent of Gothenburg s district heating LANDFILL THE LAST RESORT When biological waste is deposited in landfills and breaks down, methane which is a particularly damaging greenhouse gas is formed. At the waste-to-energy plant in Sävenäs, instead we transform that waste into energy. This helps to reduce pollution in our communities as well. By burning the waste and cleaning the emissions to the air and water effectively, we are taking environmentally damaging substances out of circulation in the natural environment. EFFICIENT ENERGY Waste is seen as a biofuel. By weight, 85% of waste consists of non-fossil, renewable materials. 5

5 EVERYTHING DEPENDS ON WHAT WE RECYCLE Every Swede produces just over half a tonne of household waste per year. As we consume more with each year that passes, we are also generating more waste. Renova wants to contribute to halting this trend. We take a community responsibility by ensuring that the waste we collect from households and businesses is processed in a sustainable, environment-friendly way. The way we process waste is based on the EU Directive s waste hierarchy, which deals with how to treat waste in the best way for the environment. Our aim is to push the waste as far up this hierarchy as possible. Renova recycles around 90% of all the waste that we receive. WASTE HANDLING HIERARCHY LANDFILL The last resort: terminal storage in landfills of waste that cannot be recycled. Renova s two landfills were constructed to very strict environmental requirements to be safe for a long time into the future. These are modern landfills, where waste is deposited pending new recycling methods. ENERGY RECOVERY By burning waste that cannot be recycled, we also produce district i t heating and electricity. From the region s waste, we make green and clean district heating and electricity for a large part of the Gothenburg region. We also recover and recycle metals from the slag. Even the bottom ash is used as construction material. WHAT YOU CAN DO Question your own purchases MATERIALS RECOVERY Many materials can be used to make new items. Containers, packagings and newspapers left for recycling can become raw material for new products made of plastic, metal, glass, cardboard and paper. We collect all sorts of recyclable materials and have our own facilities as well as partners for sorting and processing what we collect. RE-USE Some things such as clothing and building materials can be reused just as they are by secondhand dealers. REDUCE WASTE For companies reducing waste might involve reviewing their production processes to avoid unnecessary wastage, but for the private individual it s more about not buying something unless you really need it. We educate our customers and schoolchildren, lobby for change, gather information, support research and we are the driving force behind the region s waste management. 163 KG OF WASTE PER PERSON IS RECYCLED EACH YEAR When you buy, buy quality Source separation Don t put hazardous waste in your waste bin Recycle correctly at municipal recycling stations. 6

6 Burning waste takes its toll on the plant and requires continuous maintenance. Those who work here are experts in waste combustion. We know when it s time to replace a part before its failure causes significant damage. It s our collective experience that makes it possible for us to offer such a high level of accessibility 24 7, 365 days per year.

7 SORT MORE BECAUSE IT MATTERS Many myths surround source separation. Such as that everything gets mixed together anyway and ends up in a landfill. That s not how it goes in fact. On the other hand, it is important that each item ends up in the right bin for recycling to function well in all its stages. And so that hazardous substances don t end up in the ground and waterways. The Sävenäs plant receives waste from households, businesses and industry. The better the waste we get is sorted, the better we can process it. It will mean that the fuel we burn is cleaner, making the combustion more efficient with less emissions. So please don t throw everything into your rubbish bin because we don t want to burn the wrong things. Instead of burning a plastic bottle, we save energy and raw materials by recycling it. For example, it takes 20 times less energy to produce an aluminium can from recycled material than to produce the same can from new material. WE FOCUS ON GREEN TRANSPORT WHAT IS HAZARDOUS WASTE? SEVERAL THOUSAND WASTE INSPECTIONS EACH YEAR Good interaction with our customers is essential for maintaining high availability. For the economy and for the environment, it s important that customers report and pay for what they actually throw away. For this reason, over 10 random inspections of incoming waste are carried out each day to ensure that the waste is correctly classified by the customer and that it does not contain any hazardous waste that should be managed in a different way. Every disruption to the operation of the plant means a direct reduction in energy production. And that s energy that might instead be generated by natural gas with significantly higher carbon dioxide emissions. Metals create problems in waste combustion, resulting in excessive wear and tear and unnecessary stoppages. Separate your waste at the source and we will recycle it! 8

8 WHAT HAPPENS TO THE WASTE? Combustion with energy recovery providing electricity and district heating. Recycling makes new products including metals, glass, wood, paper. Compost provides the foundation for nutrient-rich soil mixes. Sludge going to a sludge digestion gas plant or via sewage treatment generates biogas. Non-combustible waste and contaminated soils go to landfill. Stone and earth materials are used in road construction works. Hazardous waste is treated in various ways. Some specific substances can be recovered and recycled. These figures are based on how the waste Renova collected during 2009 was utilised. ALWAYS SORT AT THE SOURCE: Hazardous waste Waste paper Metal containers Paper packaging/corrugated cardboard Glass containers, coloured and clear Hard and soft plastic packaging Gypsum Scrap metal THE COLLECTOR FOR HAZARDOUS WASTE DID YOU KNOW THAT Steel, aluminium and glass can be recycled endlessly without any loss of quality. If all bottle tops were recycled, the steel would be enough for 2,200 new passenger cars. Every year! If all steel containers were sorted at the source, the amount of energy saved could heat 5,400 detached houses per year. If all aluminium containers were sorted at the source, the amount of energy saved would heat up to 10,000 detached houses per year. Source: The Swedish Recycling Industries Association

9 WE BURN WASTE WHILE STEADILY REDUCING EMISSIONS Large amounts of substances hazardous to the environment and human health are found in waste. Is it a wise to burn them? Yes, in fact it is. The plant in Sävenäs burns up to 72 tonnes of waste per hour and breaks down or separates out pollutants in the waste very effectively. We are proud to be one of Europe s cleanest waste-to-energy plants. In addition, we operate well within the margins of all applicable environmental regulations. 10 Since the 1980s, emissions to waterways and the air from our waste combustion have been reduced by percent. This is thanks to stricter legislation, state-of-the-art technology for cleaning of emissions and the fact that we are all getting better at source separation. In conjunction with the construction works in 2009 to add a fourth line at Sävenäs, big investments were also made in advanced cleaning technologies. This has meant that the plant has been able to increase its energy production from waste combustion without proportionally increasing our emissions. The cleaning stages are all monitored by a number of measuring instruments. But measuring instruments are not sufficient on their own. To ensure that the cleaning is working correctly, the facility is monitored around the clock by technicians and engineers. They keep a close watch on deviations from the norm, which can be a sign that something is not as it should be. To be able to register and interpret facts and impressions requires many years of experience and a thorough knowledge of how the entire plant functions. STRINGENT ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATION FROM THE EU Since 2006 emissions from waste combustion are controlled by common EU legislation. The plant in Sävenäs complies with Sweden s and the EU s environmental legislation but we didn t stop there. By supporting and participating in R&D, we are striving to become even more efficient and even cleaner. Never throw plaster into your ordinary rubbish, which will be burned. Gypsum doesn t burn. But at high temperatures it is corrosive to the plant and requires cleaning. HOW WE CLEAN EMISSIONS TO THE AIR: When the cleaned flue gas finally leaves the chimney, it complies with EU environmental legislation with a broad margin. 1. Dust and other particles are captured in an electrostatic precipitator. 2. A wet cleaning stage handles acidic gases, heavy metals and sulphur. 3. The flue gases pass through wet electrostatic precipitator modules for additional particle capture. 4. Heat recovery is the final stage of the wet cleaning system. 5. Dioxins and nitric oxides are treated by a catalyzer in roughly the same way as the exhaust gases from a motor vehicle. HOWWECLEAN OUR EMISSIONS TO WATERWAYS: The water that remains is clean but slightly salty and is checked thoroughly before it is pumped out into the Göta River. 1. The pollutants from the flue gases are bound in water. 2. An advanced water treatment plant separates out pollutants very effectively. CLIMATE-IMPACTING EMISSIONS IN SWEDEN 75 percent come from energy use and traffic 13 percent come from agriculture 3 percent come from waste management Source: Sweden s National Environmental Protection Agency

10 Emissions (tonnes) Nitric oxides Sulphur dioxide Particles Burned Burned waste (kilo tonnes) We have dramatically reduced emissions of sulphur dioxide and nitric oxides. For sulphur dioxide from 431 tonnes per year in 1997 to 59 tonnes per year in Environmentally hazardous particles from the flue gases are captured by advanced cleaning technologies instead of being released into the air. We can show a reduction from 100 tonnes per yearin1987to2tonnesperyearin2009 tonnes

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15 MAXIMUM CAPACITY UTILISED At the Sävenäs plant, we burn waste in four waste-to-energy units, or lines, commissioned in 1994, 1995, 2001 and The most recent line is equipped with even more effective flue gas cleaning technology. It s a highly complex facility and all processes are controlled from a manned control room. Status reports are delivered and analysed continuously. It s vital to be able to respond rapidly and competently, based on many years of experience. We produce around 30 percent of district heating and around 5 percent of Gothenburg s electricity needs. We are licensed to burn 550,000 tonnes of waste per year. CLEAN POWER FROM WASTE We operate around the clock that s around 8,000 hours per year and furnace. We receive waste from 200 waste collection vehicles per day. We receive 60 percent of all household waste, and 40 percent of industrial waste from the region. MWh/tonne Electricity Heating MWh/tonne RENOVA Of the five countries in Europe with the highest energy recovery rates, including Sweden, on average 2.3 MWh of electricity and heating per tonne of household waste is recovered. In the remaining countries in Europe, the average is only 1 MWh per tonne of household waste. Source: Swedish Waste Management SWEDEN DENMARK NORWAY SWITZERLAND GERMANY AUSTRIA ITALY NETHERLANDS SPAIN HUNGARY PORTUGAL

16 WHERE YOUR WASTE IS TURNED INTO POWER AND HEATING The Sävenäs plant produces heating and electricity by using waste as fuel. The flue gases formed during combustion heat the water in the boiler, which is transformed into steam and conducted to a turbine that spins and in turn drives a generator that produces electricity. The steam is then cooled back into water in a condenser. The heat is then taken up by the district heating system as hot water which is circulated to households and businesses for heating. 1 Combustible waste is emptied into a waste bunker of 22,000 m 3. Two enormous grabs feed the furnaces with waste as fuel. Based on his knowledge and experience, the crane operator mixes waste of different energy contents in order to achieve an even stream of material and to optimise the combustion as far as possible. One lift of the grab weighs around 5 tonnes of waste. This waste generates kwh the energy required to heat a detached house for one year. The temperature in the furnace The water in the boiler is distributed 2 3 remains at around 1,000 C. The through the steam drum via a system waste burns without the addition of pipes. The hot flue gases heat the of any other fuel. Air is blown in water until it turns into steam which to achieve efficient and controlled drives the turbine, which in turn combustion. drives a generator where electric power is produced. After combustion, around 20% by weight and 5 10% by volume of The plant in Sävenäs produces the fuel remains as slag. The slag electricity equivalent to the annual is sorted and around 10% is consumption of 110,000 apartments. recycled as iron and other metals and the remainder is used as construction material. 4 In the condenser, the steam is cooled Before the flue gases are released Pollutants that are now concentrated 5 6 by the water from the district heating into the atmosphere via the chimney, in the water are separated out in system and heats it. The heat pumps squeeze out an additional 20% of energy from the flue gases energy that is recovered and fed back into the district heating network. they are cleaned in several stages. First, particles are captured in an electrostatic precipitator. A wet cleaning stage that handles several steps and then processed. The water is now clean. Because the water is slightly salty, it is conducted out to the Göta River along a 5 km long pipe along the acidic gases, heavy metals, sulphur bottom of Säveån Stream. and additional particles follows. The plant in Sävenäs produces district heating and hot water equivalent to the annual consumption of 150,000 apartments. A catalyzer then removes dioxins and nitric oxides from the flue gases. There are strict emissions limits on nitric oxides from waste combustion. The plant is licensed to emit 80 mg/m 3 but in fact emits less than15 mg from line 7 thanks to our advanced catalytic cleaning system. Our facility for flue gas cleaning is one of the world s most advanced. 7 During the water cleaning process, sulphur is converted into gypsum in a separate process. What remains is a safe and manageable residual product that can be deposited in landfills. 17

17 GROWING THE ECONOMY WITHOUT COSTING THE EARTH Renova works to recover the energy from waste with the least possible environmental impact. And we are among the world s elite when it comes to getting the most energy out of each tonne of waste. Our plant is also one of Europe s cleanest waste-to-energy plants. Renova is owned by eleven municipalities in western Sweden. Our role is to be the hub for regional waste management and recycling, and to focus on development that s beneficial to the community as a whole not just the company itself. So we are not satisfied with just complying with Sweden s and the EU s environmental requirements: we are continuously attempting to shift the boundaries of what is possible tomorrow. We are committed to both our own research and development with other companies, universities and other academic and research institutions. This applies not least to our transportation, where we are developing new vehicles and also driving development in renewable fuels. This is so that we always use the alternative that s best for the environment. The Sävenäs plant can be seen as a living research project where we are continually testing new methods for making waste management smarter and cleaner. We run projects with the industry organisation Swedish Waste Management and collaborate with, for example: Chalmers University of Technology Swedish Waste Management Waste refinery University of Lund Luleå University of Technology Linköping University University of Borås Technical Research Institute of Sweden Profu Gryaab (Gothenburg regional sewage works) Göteborg energi Municipality of Oslo KNOWLEDGE CAN MOVE MOUNTAINS EVEN MOUNTAINS OF WASTE To stimulate research in waste and the environment in western Sweden, Renova annually awards an environmental scholarship to a young doctoral student or researcher investigating environmental issues and waste management. We conduct a regional Environmental Education programme where we discuss the environment and long-term sustainability with students from western Sweden. Waste is our point of departure, but sustainable consumption, energy consumption and source separation are also on the agenda. A large proportion of our waste collection vehicles run on renewable fuels based on rapeseed. It would be hard to be driving more environment-friendly than this. Today. Proximity to our own shunting yard means that some of our transports to and from the plant can be by rail. All Renova s drivers are trained in Eco-driving, a method for driving with the least environmental impact. We combine this with computerized route planning so that not a metre is driven unnecessarily. 18

18 RENOVA Is western Sweden s leading waste and recycling company. Is owned by eleven municipalities in western Sweden. Delivers energy equivalent to 175,000 tonnes of oil or 160 million m 3 of natural gas. Every year. Provides simple, worry-free solutions in waste and recycling. Works actively to raise consciousness about the significance of environmental and climate change issues.

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20 We want to make it easy to do the right thing! We are inspired and challenged by all our customers and partners to keep finding new and better solutions in waste management and recycling.

21 WELCOME TO SÄVENÄS We are proud of our waste-to-energy plant at Sävenäs. Every year we receive thousands of visitors from all over the world who are curious about how we manage to combine high output and high availability with low emissions. We would welcome you, too! Thanks to our many years of experience and continuous improvement, we ve learnt how to use the equipment in a considerate way. Our maintenance personnel at Sävenäs know what is required to maintain a high level of availability. It s thanks to them that we can always receive waste around the clock, all year round. This is unique to Renova and a source of security and confidence for our own municipalities. Tjörn Stenungsund Ale WE DO MORE Because waste needs to be handled on the basis of its characteristics, we must continuously adapt our handling methods to what we receive. For this reason we partner with companies of all sizes in all phases of waste management, helping them with advice and tailored solutions for their waste management needs. This includes everything from more efficient systems for recycling in the office to solutions for managing hazardous waste or total waste logistics for big construction or demolition projects. If the waste is sorted correctly at the source, we can process it in the right way immediately. We recycle as much as possible of the waste we collect/receive, either to make new material or as energy. Waste that cannot be recycled is processed in the safest possible way. Kungälv Öckerö Gothenburg Partille Sävenäs Mölndal Kungsbacka Lerum Härryda RENOVA IN FIGURES In one year, we treat close to 700,000 tonnes of waste. We recycle 70,000 tons which are sent on to recycling industries. Our composting facility produces 22,000 tonnes of compost soil. Turnover: around SEK 1,200 million Renova is owned by eleven municipalities in western Sweden: Ale, Gothenburg, Härryda, Kungsbacka, Kungälv, Lerum, Mölndal, Partille, Stenungsund, Tjörn and Öckerö. We offer consultation and training, collection and transport, sorting, processing and other professional services. Approx. 850 employees 22

22 The Bill Clinton Foundation s waste expert Alex Hurd chose Renova and Gothenburg when he wanted to study best practice in how to manage waste in a large city with minimal environmental impact.

23 2010 Production: Infobolaget AB Photography: Niklas Maupoix Per-Anders Hurtigh (cover image) Jonathan Fernström (pages 12 13) Illustration: Fredrik Persson Printed by: Stromia-Futurum Grafiska AB, July 2010 Paper cover: Cocoon Offset 250 g, 100% recycled paper Paper insert: Cocoon Offset 140 g, 100% recycled paper

24 Renova AB, Box 156, SE Gothenburg, SWEDEN. Telephone +46(0)