Displaying items by tag: Refuse Derived Fuel

India: A group of cement producers in the Kalaburagi district have stopped using refuse-derived fuel (RDF) sourced from Bengaluru on economic grounds after a six-month trial period. Although the manufacturers do not pay for the RDF they say that it costs more than coal once transportation costs are taken into account, according to the Hindu newspaper. RDF from the city is transported over 500km to the plants.

In a meeting with the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palik (BBMP), an administrative city council body, one producer alleged that the RDF supplied by the city was not meeting pre-determined agreed moisture content, presentation in compressed bales and that the local government had promised to pay for the transport costs. An official from the BBMP argued back that the body was not prepared to pay transport costs for RDF and that coal costs US$82/t compared to the RDF transport cost of US$34/t. However, the BBMP has agreed to supply RDF in compressed bales and producers have welcome this concession as it will reduce logistics costs.

India: Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar says the state has approved US$12m to nearly double the production capacity of a solid waste management plant at Saligao. The production capacity of the unit will be increased to 250t/day, according to the Times of India newspaper. Refuse-derived fuel (RDF) from the unit has previously been sent to cement plants in Karnataka. Other solid waste processing plants have also been announced in Cacora, Bainguinim and Verna. Work on the plant in Cacora is scheduled to start by October 2018.

US: RePower South (RPS) has reached an agreement with Montgomery, Alabama to operate the city’s materials recovery facility (MRF). RPS will invest US$12m in the City of Montgomery Recycling and Recovery Facility. RePower South has partnered with Bulk Handling Systems (BHS) and Loesche Energy Systems to upgrade the existing recycling system to also produce refuse-derived fuel (RDF) to be sold to cement, power stations and other industrial customers.

The system will process 45t/hr of mixed waste to capture cardboard, metals, paper, plastics and produce fuel. New equipment joining the existing BHS screen, Nihot air and NRT optical sorting technologies include a primary reducer, two NRT optical sorters for fuel cleanup, a Loesche fuel system reducer and PAAL Dokon baler. In total, the system features 10 optical sorters, ensuring the positive recovery of fibre and containers and removal of contamination from fuel.

Repower South holds an exclusive regional license from Accordant Energy for the development, manufacture and sale of ReEngineered Feedstock fuel.

India: UltraTech Cement’s Reddipalayam plant at Ariyalur in Tamil Nadu has started receiving domestic waste from the Vellore Municipal Corporation. The shipments are part of a local smart city initiative, according to the New Indian Express newspaper. Normally the cement plant sources its waste-derived fuels from a 150km radius but a special exception has been made in this case.

A memorandum of understanding was signed between the cement producer and municipal corporations in the state to supply regular consignments of non-biodegradable wastes. At present 24 municipalities and one corporation in the state have signed contracts with UltraTech Cement to supply waste-derived fuels.

UK: The Netherland’s N+P Group has started a joint venture with Simec to sells its refuse-derived fuel (RDF) pellet product Subcoal to power stations. The joint venture, Simec Subcoal Fuels (SSF), has signed a 20-year fuel supply agreement with the Uskmouth power station in South Wales, to supply 900,000t/yr tonnes of Subcoal. N+P and Simec want to build at least four new Subcoal production units in the UK to support the contract at Uskmouth.

“This joint venture with Simec is a very important milestone in our growth strategy for alternative fuels with the Fuel Supply Agreement as an excellent foundation, “ said Stijn Jennissen, commercial director of N+P Group.

Simec Group, based in Hong Kong, is an international energy, infrastructure and natural resources business. Its activities span renewable energy generation, mining, shipping and commodities trading through its key hubs in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia. In 2016, Simec unveiled its plan to turn the existing 395MW Uskmouth Power Station Newport into a centre of excellence for Advanced Conversion Technologies, using biomass, waste and other sustainable energy sources.

India: The government of Trichy in Tamil Nadu has increased its supply of refuse-derived fuel (RDF) to UltraTech Cement’s plant at Ariyalur. In has increased its supply by 30t/day from 30t/day at present for the next 10s years, according to the New Indian Express newspaper. The current agreement to supply 30t/day was arranged in February 2018.

Egypt: Khaled Fahmy, the Minister of Environment, has opened a new production line at Arabian Cement Company’s Ain Sokhna plant in Suez. The line uses FLSmidth’s Hotdisc combustion device to allow it to use high levels of alternative fuels, according to the Watani newspaper. The opening was attended by Muhammad Shehab Abdel-Wahab, chief executive of the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency, Nahed Youssef, head of waste management organisation, as well as a number of representatives of the financiers, and director of the European Investment Bank.

In 2015 Arabian Cement Company commissioned another Hotdisc installation. At the time is said it had a designed fuel mix of 70% coal and 30% alternative fuels, using a mixture of agricultural wastes, municipal sludge, and refuse-derived fuel (RDF).

Indonesia: The Danish government has invested US$3.63m to support a refuse-derived fuel (RDF) plant project in the Cilacap regency of Central Java. Ahead of construction delegates from the Danish Embassy in Jakarta, the Cilacap Environment Agency, Holcim Indonesia and other non-government agencies visited the proposed site, according to the Jakarta Post newspaper. The US$5.6m plant started construction in mid-2017 and is expected to start operation by October 2018. Holcim Indonesia will use RDF from the plant at its cement plant at Cilacap to substitute 5% of its daily coal use.

US: RePower South, a licensee of Accordant Energy, has started building a municipal solid waste (MSW) processing plant at Moncks Corner in South Carolina. The unit will use Accordant's ReEngineered Feedstock technology to process 50t/hr of MSW to make the company’s ReEngineered Feedstock product, a type of refuse-derived fuel (RDF). ReEngineered Feedstock will be marketed to cement plants and other industrial users.

"The RPS team has decades of experience in the recycling, solid waste, energy, finance, and construction industries, having built, owned, and operated multiple recycling and solid waste companies. We are confident this first commercial facility utilising the Accordant technology will improve recycling performance and landfill diversion while providing a renewable solid fuel for cement kilns and utility and industrial boilers," said Paula A Calabrese, Senior Vice-President and Chief Strategy Officer of Accordant.

Accordant says that its ReEngineered Feedstock product can be engineered for a variety of combustion applications and is physically and chemically designed to mimic the properties of coal. The product also holds a non-waste fuel determination from the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) allowing regulatory benefits for its users.

UK: Andusia Recovered Fuels is celebrating the collection of its one millionth tonne of refuse-derived fuel (RDF) to be sent to markets in Europe. The millionth bale will be produced and collected from Associated Waste Management in Leeds and then delivered to a waste-to-energy plant operated by SWB in Bremen, Germany. Since the company launched in 2012 it met its 0.75Mt milestone in 2016 and its 0.9Mt milestone in 2017.