Displaying items by tag: Refuse Derived Fuel

UK: Refuse-derived fuel (RDF) exports from England to decline by 13% to Europe fell by 13.4% year-on-year to 2.71Mt in 2019 from 3.09Mt in 2018. Waste recovery company Germinor reported the results of the survey from Footprint Services, which uses UK Environment Agency data. However, the report also said that exports of solid-recovered fuel (SRF) grew by 4%.

According to the Environment Agency data, the Netherlands remains the biggest importer of English waste-derived fuels (RDF and SRF), with 1.16Mt and 43% of the market in 2019. Sweden is the second biggest offtaker nation with 0.6Mt, followed by Germany at 0.4Mt and Denmark at 0.14Mt and Norway at 0.14Mt.

Geminor said that it led the list of waste-derived fuels exporters in 2019 with 0.31Mt in 2019. Biffa Waste Services was the second biggest exporter, followed by SUEZ UK and N&P Alternative Fuels.

Its UK country manager James Maiden said that 2019 was a challenging market for UK export, mostly due to issues surrounding Brexit, the Dutch temporary import restrictions and an increase in UK domestic capacity and facilities. He expected these conditions to continue into 2020, where the Dutch and Swedish tax announcements will impact on UK flows. Maiden said that the English export market is decreasing but that Geminor was balanced this with additional export volumes transported from Scotland, Ireland, Northern Ireland and internal UK flows.

Vietnam: The Vietnam National Cement Corporation (Vicem) and Denmark-based supplier FLSmidth have announced a cooperation agreement with the aim of radically reducing the greenhouse gas emissions from cement production and improving air quality. The cooperation will consist of Vicem implementing solutions pioneered by FLSmidth. FLSmidth said that a key focus of the cooperation will be Vicat’s use of ‘municipal and other waste streams as alternative fuel sources,’ with the aim of achieving 100% substitution using FLSmidth solutions, in accordance with FLSmidth’s ambition ‘to enable cement companies to operate with zero emissions by 2030.’

India: The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) in Andhra Pradesh has started transporting refuse-derived fuel (RDF) from its recycling unit at Ajit Singh Nagar to UltraTech’s Balaji cement plant. Under the agreement between the city and the cement producer the plant takes 50t/day of RDF according to the New Indian Express newspaper. The city authorities sort dry waste into RDF and the cement company handles the transportation.

Namibia: Ohorongo Cement has supported Carbo Namibia, one of its charcoal suppliers, in buying a new 80m3 side tipper truck worth around US$47,000. The move is intended to increase the volumes of charcoal fines the supplier can deliver. The cement producer uses charcoal fines as an alternative fuel at its plant.

It started procuring charcoal fines from Carbo Namibia in 2016 through the Ohorongo Energy for Future (EFF) project. It started with an initial supply of 786t/yr and has since grown to 5000t/yr in 2018, with a total of 11,000t to date. Its overall alternative fuels substitution rate is 42.7% and it has a target of 56% by 2020 and a long-term goal of reaching 80%. At present Ohorongo Cement says that its substitution rate breaks down into 58% woodchips, 28% refuse-derived fuel (RDF) and 14% charcoal.

UK: CWM Environmental has awarded a five-year contract to Geminor to distribute refuse-derived fuel (RDF) sourced from CWM’s Nantycaws material recycling facility in Wales to its European export market. The agreement, which followed a competitive tender process, has the option for extension of up to five years, in one-year increments. No value for the deal has been disclosed.

“Carmarthenshire’s waste will become a highly beneficial source of green energy,” said James Maiden, UK Country Manager at Geminor. “What’s more, through the use of empty load logistics, the entire project will result in minimal CO₂ emissions – a highly sustainable and economical solution.”

Denmark: Norway’s Geminor has signed a deal with Danish energy producer AffaldPlus to deliver 150,000t of refuse-derived fuel (RDF) for three years from January 2020. Geminor will deliver 50,000t/yr of RDF sourced from countries such as the UK, Italy and Germany. The logistics will mainly consist of bulk shipments but also train and road transport. No value for the order has been disclosed.

AffaldPlus is owned by six municipalities on the island of Sjælland. In addition to receiving and handling waste from the municipalities, AffaldPlus produces electricity and district heating at its plant in Næstved. Geminor will deliver about a third of the total annual secondary fuels burned in the incinerator at AffaldPlus.

Netherlands/UK: The RDF Industry Group has criticised a new tax proposal by the Dutch government on waste imports as part of its National Climate Agreement. The government wants to impose a tariff of Euro32/t on imported refuse-derived fuel (RDF) from the start of January 2020. It also wants to add a CO₂ tax of Euro30/t on industrial emitters from the start of 2021. The group says that, whilst it welcomes moves towards reducing CO₂ emissions, it believes the proposed Dutch taxes, in their current form, will be counterproductive in achieving this goal.

“RDF export forms a vital and flexible part of the UK’s waste management system, supporting over 6800 additional jobs in the UK, and saving over 700,000 tonnes CO₂ emissions annually. The Netherlands is the largest importer of UK waste, receiving 1.3Mt of RDF from the UK in 2018, powering good quality, efficient treatment facilities, many of which utilise heat offtake as well as electricity. The introduction of an import tax risks more waste going to landfill in the UK each year, disregarding the waste hierarchy, worsening the environmental impact, increasing costs and putting jobs at risk. Furthermore, given the large proportion of waste to Dutch incinerators that comes from the UK, there is also a risk of plant closures, and job losses in the Netherlands,” said Robert Corijn, chair of the RDF Industry Group.

The RDF Industry Group says it has raised its concerns with Dutch Parliamentary representatives.

Poland: Norway’s Geminor has opened a new national office in Sopot and appointed Andrzej Zientarski as Country Manager. Kjetil Vikingstad, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Geminor, says that the resource management company’s presence in Poland comes as a response to the ‘booming waste market.’ Although company is focusing on recycled waste wood the territory is also seeing a growing energy recovery sector in Poland, and it has numerous refuse-derived fuel (RDF) and solid recovered fuel (SRF) projects underway.

UK/Ireland: Geminor says it has been engaged in a partnership with MSC transporting refuse-derived fuel (RDF) and solid-recovered fuel (SRF) from the UK and Ireland since February 2019. The first shipments were transported from Barking and Nottingham, UK to Aalborg, Denmark. This will be followed up by container shipments from Birmingham, UK to Habberstad, Sweden and Dublin, Ireland to Greece. The shipments are based on so-called ‘backload,’ where empty containers are used to reduce the price.

“Moving waste from the UK to Scandinavia can also be completed with trailers, but we will continue to use containers where this is the best option. Currently we are moving containers with RDF and SRF from Dublin to Greece and Spain, where container shipment is a more efficient way of transport,” said Oliver Caunce, Senior Account Manager at Geminor UK.

Ukraine: MS Social Project (Kyiv), part of ICU Group, plans to build a 82,000t/yr municipal waste processing facility at Zhytomyr. The unit will produce variety of products including refuse-derived fuel (RDF), for cement production, according to Interfax. The project is expected to cost up to Euro10m.