Energise your waste! EU legislation pushes for a reliable alternative to landfilling for residual waste. 13 th September 2011, Birmingham

Transcription

1 Energise your waste! EU legislation pushes for a reliable alternative to landfilling for residual waste 13 th September 2011, Birmingham Recycling & Waste Management (RWM) Exhibition Dr.ir. Johan De Greef (Technology Manager Keppel Seghers)

2 RWM ESWET Alternative to Landfilling EU Waste Hierarchy Avoidance of waste (less packaging materials) Reduction of waste, e.g. through re-use & recycle Selective collection in separate fractions: Organic waste (garden, fruit and vegetable waste) for composting Paper, glass for recycling Plastics for re-use in other applications Thermal valorisation with energy recovery Landfilling (ash) EU Landfill Directive: reduce/ban!

3 RWM ESWET Alternative to Landfilling Alternatives for Landfilling are to be: continuous waste keeps coming permanent offer full treatment (not just intermediate output) effective proven on large scale high plant availability per year economically & ecologically viable

4 RWM ESWET Alternative to Landfilling Alternatives mostly considered Bioreactor landfill Gasification (& Pyrolysis) Co-Combustion Grate-fired combustion: Energy-from-Waste

5 RWM ESWET Alternative to Landfilling Bioreactor Landfilling Waste is dumped underground & above-ground Contained by traditional landfill technology More energy is recovered than in a traditional landfill =» As waste must be landfilled so that the bioreactor works, is it a reliable alternative to Landfilling?

6 RWM ESWET Alternative to Landfilling Gasification & Pyrolysis Many different technologies available in practice: no real gasification but 2-staged combustion restricted valorisation of waste-originating syngas Very few proven references on large scale Working well for homogeneous/homogenized fuels Biomass, sludge, RDF/SRF, shredded car tires Driven by particular geographic & economic conditions (for e.g. Japan) =» As these treatment options reject many waste streams or work intermittently, are they a full alternative to Landfilling?

7 Co-combustion High energy efficiency & good economics Waste diluted into (fossil) fuel pollutant emissions Selected, clean & energetic waste input RDF/SRF excludes (low-calorific) MSW Business= make a product not to treat waste waste can sit idle for long period =» What to do when market conditions are unfavourable? What to do when energy demand is lower? What happens to the rejected waste? Is co-combustion a reliable alternative to landfilling? RWM ESWET Alternative to Landfilling

8 RWM ESWET Alternative to Landfilling How to quit Landfilling? Lowest landfill rate highest rate of waste combustion!

9 RWM ESWET Alternative to Landfilling Advantages Grate Combustion Comparably simple and scalable technology Proven track record on large scale Plant availability up to >8000 hours/year Handling heterogeneous waste under a wide range of conditions Maximum waste reduction (for total waste stream) Recoverability of materials Net energy producing technology Combustion= sole contributor to Carbon Footprint reduction! Cost-effective

10 RWM ESWET Alternative to Landfilling Reliability Mixed, unrecyclable waste contains a wide array of harsh and polluting substances, greatly different calorific values, inerts and metals A grate handles all these challenging elements without pre-treatment in a reliable and efficient manner Treated waste volumes attest it and the availability of plants can exceed 90% While other technologies may prove effective under determined circumstances, none is as efficient as gratefiring technology on all aspects

11 RWM ESWET Alternative to Landfilling Waste Volume Reduction What needs to be landfilled? ±2% Scrap metals? Definitely not! ~22% Bottom Ash? No! Can be reused to save raw materials. <5% Ultimate Residues? Yes, it is a solid waste that concentrates pollutants and safely isolates them from the eco-cycle in a Safe Disposal facility

12 RWM ESWET Alternative to Landfilling Worthy materials Scrap metals are now almost systematically extracted from the bottom ash. Metal quality is very high and rising market prices mean good income stream for operators Worthwhile residues: part of a resource-efficient society and a revenue stream! Reusable bottom ash is a useful construction material. Using it offsets the need to extract raw materials, which has considerable environmental impacts. It is disposed of when no demand exists or if waste contaminated it.

13 kg CO2-eq/tonne MSW RWM ESWET Alternative to Landfilling Energy & Carbon Footprint Christensen et al. (2009), TU Denmark reference = coal based economy MBT & RDF-to-elec (20%) MBT& RDF to elec (20%) & heat (40%) Landfilling MSW-to-elec (20%) MSW-to-elec (20%) & heat (40%) RDF to coal power plant organic-rich MSW average MSW paper-rich MSW

14 RWM ESWET Alternative to Landfilling Cost-effectiveness Widespread adoption of grate-firing throughout Europe has brought down the costs of installed capacity Reliability of the technology ensures predictable operational costs Warranties provided by the suppliers are honoured when problems occur

15 RWM ESWET Alternative to Landfilling Conclusions EU pushes Member States to move away from Landfilling. This includes the UK, which must quickly decrease landfilled quantities of biodegradable waste Many alternatives exist to divert waste from landfills, but all countries that reliably and permanently moved away from landfilling did it thanks to the grate-firing technology Grate-firing is the most widespread, scalable, reliable and cost-effective solution to handle vast quantities of unrecyclable, mixed waste Energy-from-Waste using grate technology is a proven way recipe to surpass waste management targets while reaping energy and climate benefits

16 RWM ESWET Alternative to Landfilling Thank you for your attention! ESWET Contact: Tel , info@eswet.eu Dr.ir. Johan De Greef, Keppel Seghers: johan_de_greef@keppelseghers.com