Incineration is a “waste treatment technology that utlises the combustion (burning) of organic materials at high temperatures and in a plentiful supply of air. Incineration and other high temperature waste treatment systems are described as “thermal treatment”.

Incineration of waste materials converts the waste into incinerator bottom ash, flue gases, particulates, and heat, which can in turn be used to generate electric power.

How does an incinerator generate electricity?

The heat from the incinerator generates steam in a boiler, and that steam is then fed into a turbine manufacturing as much as a hundred MW of electricity. A high stack, fan, or steam jet supplied from the boiler provides a draft to feed air into the process. The combustion takes place and the flue gases are cleaned of contaminants before they are dispersed in the atmosphere.

Did you also know that?

All waste incinerators in Europe must now be approved to be permitted to operate, and the owner/operator has to get and keep their licence which can be removed at any point by the Environmental Regulator if the flue gasses emitted surpass the authorized levels.

Incineration with energy recovery is an example of many waste-to-energy ( WtE ) technologies like gasification, plasma arc gasification, pyrolysis and anaerobic digestion which are classed as renewable energy helping to reduce climate change. Incineration could also be implemented without energy and materials recovery but this is quite rare in Europe now.

What Will We Do When All the Landfills Get Full?

Well if we do nothing we will suffer from ill health and diseases spread by rotting materials and decay around us once there is nowhere to take the waste.

In numerous areas in many countries the landfill sites are virtually full so that the Council’s waste management staff are contemplating beginning a waste management scheme that may include an incinerator.

We must find alternative ways to get rid of our rubbish without using landfill, otherwise diseases from rats and other decay will happen when the waste has to be left lying around.

Secret to What Mechanical Biological Treatment Plants Do?

They help to minimise waste, segregate waste, and treat it to as far as possible avoid sending organic based Municipal Soild Waste to landfills.

The best Mechanical Biological Treatment Plants Do Not burn the waste.

There many new ideas to discover in the new Waste Technologies. Find out more about what Mechanical Biological Treatment Plants are, plus you will learn about many other types of waste technology. These exciting new technologies will help ensure a sustainable future for society, and the health of future generations.

Global building solutions provider CEMEX is forming a partnership with the Waste Recycling Group (WRG) to produce Climafuel, an renewable fuel derived from waste, for use in cement making at the Rugby cement plant.

Last year, CEMEX submitted applications for permission to build a Climafuel manufacturing plant either at Southam or Malpass Farm in Rugby. Should planning permission be granted by Warwickshire County Council (WCC) at one of these locations, CEMEX’s agreement with WRG means that the plant would be built and operated in partnership with WRG, and the resulting fuel supplied to the cement plant.

This is welcome news as UK MBT Plants are being built which will remain risky investments unless and until a market develops in Refuse Derived Fuel like this SRF. The aim ultimately will be to produce an SRF which will be saleable for use in any boiler, but the Waster understands that for now any SRF in the UK must be classed as a waste still – and that means that stringent Waste/Waste Incineration Directive type rules still apply to the emissions from any site which burns it.

As one of the UK’s leading waste management and energy recovery companies, WRG brings to the partnership the necessary expertise and experience in the manufacture of solid recovered fuel (SRF) from residual household, commercial and industrial waste. The Climafuel plant would utilise mechanical biological treatment (MBT) technology which is widely used in mainland Europe with over 80 operational facilities, mainly in Germany, Italy and Spain. Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas (FCC), the Spanish construction and services group and WRG’s parent company, brings a wealth of experience in implementing solutions utilising a range of MBT processes and technologies.

CEMEX has demonstrated the significant benefits the use of Climafuel provides in displacing traditional fossil fuels and reducing emissions. By diverting waste from landfill, the manufacture and use of Climafuel can also help local authorities to meet the stringent targets set by the European Union for reducing the volume of waste going to landfill. The use of Climafuel will further reduce the plant’s consumption of fossil fuels, such as coal, and thereby help to achieve climate change objectives.

If permission for such a plant is granted by WCC, it could make a significant contribution to the county achieving its landfill diversion targets.

Neville Roberts, CEMEX’s Technical Director, commented: “CEMEX had always planned to involve a waste management specialist in this project and in WRG we have one of the leaders in this activity in the UK and Europe. The use of Climafuel represents a ‘win-win’ situation and this new partnership will deliver tangible benefits environmentally and commercially.”

Andy Ryan, WRG’s Development Director, said: “WRG has a strong strategic focus on providing solutions for local authorities as they seek to reduce the amount of waste they send to landfill, as well as improving performance on waste minimisation, re-use and recycling.

“This partnership represents an important extension to our offering. Climafuel would be manufactured to CEMEX’s tight specifications and this will produce a solid, clean and non-hazardous alternative fuel which generates valuable energy from material that cannot otherwise be recycled.”

The 3rd International Symposium on mechanical-biological waste treatment (MBT) and automatic / sensor based waste sorting technologies, which is under the auspices of German Minister of Environment Sigmar Gabriel, takes place from the 12th to the 15th of May 2009 in Hanover, Germany. It is world’s leading conference specialised on MBT and MRF (material recovery facilities). Key aspects of the programme are as follows:

12th of May: International aspects and experiences, future developments including new methods of waste treatment, waste management strategies

13th of May: Mechanical-biological treatment, Production of alternative fuels (RDF).

14th of May: Processing of refuse derived fuel (RDF), sorting of recyclable fraction, waste-analysis

15th of May: Site visit to MBT Suedniedersachsen (maximum150 participants) and afterwards to RDF co-generation plant Witzenhausen (max. 50 participants)

Single day tickets are available. Programme and more information about conference and exhibition is available at wasteconsult website

There will be continuous simultaneous translation provided on the 3 conference days, so that it will be possible to hear all presentations in English, German, French, Spanish and Italian.

The parallel exhibition (12th-14th of May) brings together a highly qualified audience and market leaders in advanced waste and recycling technology. You will find the details for reservation of an exhibition surface, sponsor packages and further advertising possibilities under http://wasteconsult.de .

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Wiltshire county council has given the go-ahead for Marlborough-based waste management company Hills Group to build a £15 million mechanical biological treatment (MBT) facility at Westbury.

The county council awarded planning permission last week (March 18) for Hills to develop the 45,000 tonne-a-year capacity plant, which will be known as the Northacre Recovery Centre, as part of its contract to dispose of Wiltshire’s residual household waste.

Hills also intends to build a £1 million household waste and recycling centre at the Stephenson Road site in Westbury.

Speaking after the approval, Alan Pardoe, chairman of Hills Group, said: “We are delighted by today’s decision. This plant is a key element of Wiltshire’s overall war on waste and means that we can look forward to the day when at least 85 per cent of the county’s waste can be diverted from landfill. It adds up to a much more sustainable future.”

Originally, Hills had planned to send 30,000 tonnes of solid recovered fuel (SRF) generated by the proposed plant to be used in a cement kiln run by Lafarge Aggregates in Westbury before Lafarge was forced to mothball the operation due to the effect the economic downturn had on the construction market. However, the firm said it was now in talks to send the fuel elsewhere.

Mr Pardoe said: “Fuels of this type that reduce both waste and CO2 have a big future in the UK. We are already in discussions with other end-users and are confident that other outlets will be found for this fuel.”

A spokeswoman for Wiltshire county council confirmed that contract negotiations for the SRF were underway.

See letsrecycle.com story.

12-03-2009

The German trade association for mechanical biological treatment (MBT) has refuted claims that the technology has not proved effective and popular in the country.

Michael Balhar, manager of the Association for Material Specific Waste Treatment (ASA), told www.letsrecycle.com that MBT – which comprises a sorting facility and some kind of biological treatment – was “still alive and in the best of health”, and that there were some isolated problems with it.

His comments come after Mechanical Biological Treatment MBT company MVV Umwelt claimed in late 2008 that MBT had not always worked when it was used in Germany and that energy-from-waste was increasingly a more attractive option for councils and waste management companies (see letsrecycle.com).

Mr Balhar pointed towards the 48 plants currently “successfully” operating in Germany using variations on MBT technology to pre-treat up around 25% of the country’s municipal solid waste as proof of its success.

And, he outlined a number of advantages that the technology offered, including “lower investment costs in relation to waste incineration plants”, and that, in Germany at least, MBT plants had a “smaller projection period” than incinerators.

Mr Balhar explained that MBT was particularly effective in allowing different materials within residual waste to be treated in different ways according to their properties.

He cited the examples of using anaerobic digestion to produce biogas from organic material, while dry materials such as paper and plastics could be prepared as a solid recovered fuel which could result in reduced use of fossil fuels.

Mr Balhar acknowledged that, as a “young and innovative” technology, MBT had faced some difficulties in Germany, but said that a German Federal Environment Agency study in 2007 had shown that “existing problems could be solved to [a] large extent and reduced clearly”.

Explaining that many of the problems had centred on the use of anaerobic digestion, he said however that the “MBT plant operators mastered the challenges placed against them well”, and said that questioning the technology was “not justified”.

He said that MBT had potential to be rolled out across Europe, explaining it was of “great interest to our European neighbours.”

“If one doesn’t consider the very ambitious German requirements and limit values as standard, relatively small investments are necessary to realise the EU provisions and guidelines all over Europe quite rapidly,” he said. More here.

The UK government’s Defra funded New Technology Demonstrator Programme (NTDP) features in many of the events. The NTDP sets out to provide councils and staff from the local authorities with the opportunity of seeing new technologies for waste processing in operation, and for the lucky chosen few operators the opportunity to show off their technological prowess in developing these plants commissioning and operating them.

Information being gathered and publicised about the new technologies in the NTD Programme is playing a vital role in informing the discussions on a national scale.

Some recent conferences have been: