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December, 2012:

150,000 TPA Plasma Arc Gasification Waste to Energy Plant for Ottawa

http://www.waste-management-world.com/index/display/article-display/5109701043/articles/waste-management-world/waste-to-energy/2012/12/150_000_TPA_Plasma_Arc_Gasification_Waste_to_Energy_Plant_for_Ottawa_.html

Plasco 150,000 TPA Plasma Arc Gasification Waste to Energy Plant for Ottawa

18 December 2012

Ottawa, Ontario based Plasco Energy has signed an agreement with the City of Ottawa to build a 150,000 tonnes per year plasma arc gasification waste to energy facility.

The company said that under the contract with Ottawa, the City will supply 109,500 tonnes of municipal solid waste and has a right of first refusal to supply the balance of plant capacity.

The site for the facility has been leased to Plasco for nominal cost by the City, which will pay a tipping fee for each tonne processed of $83.25 per tonne, escalating annually at the rate of increase in the Consumer Price Index.

The first 20 years of the contract are fixed and the City has options for a further four five year extensions.

The company added that the City of Ottawa has made no other financial contribution and has no other risk or obligation.

The City estimates that the deal will extend the life of Ottawa’s existing landfill by at least 28 years saving the City approximately $250 million in future landfill capital costs.

Construction is expected to commence in the second half of 2013 with commercial operation planned for the first half of 2015.

Plasma arc technology

The company said that the new facility will be built to the Plasco Conversion System (PCS) design and will incorporate three proprietary Integrated Converting and Refining System (ICARS) modules.

According to Plasco the PCS breaks down garbage using its patented ICARS system, which gasifies the waste and refines the resulting gas using plasma technology.

The synthetic gas created from the waste fuels General Electric Jenbacher internal combustion engines, together with a steam turbine driven by heat recovered from the process and engines, which the company said will produce approximately 15MW of net electricity that will be sold to the grid.

Further to this any residual solids are refined using Plasma to produce slag which meets requirements for a range of applications, including construction aggregates and abrasives.

Moisture in the waste is recovered, cleaned and made available for reuse in the community.

Effective throughput of the facility will be 130,000 tonnes per year.

The company claimed that there are no emissions to atmosphere in the conversion process, with any unused gas sent to a flare. Exhaust from the engines and flare have emission levels significantly below the most stringent standards in the world.

The ICARS modules will be manufactured in Ontario and, according to Plasco, site construction and assembly of the PCS will create about 200 construction jobs.

Once complete the facility will permanently employ 42 operations technicians.

Plasco added that construction and operation of the Facility will be subject to receipt of and compliance with the terms of Environmental Compliance Certificates to be issued by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment.

Read More

Pollution Control System for Canadian Plasma Gasification Firm

Plasco Energy has selected Ontario based air pollution control systems company, Macrotek to design and engineer a commercial gas cleanup system.

Asia’s insatiable demand for coal plays havoc with climate goals

18 December 2012
Asia’s insatiable demand for coal plays havoc with climate goals
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
The Telegraph (UK)

For greens, ecologists, and those convinced that CO2 emissions pose a grave threat to the planet, it is a nightmare coming true. The world is becoming more reliant on high-polluting coal, not less.

“Coal met nearly half the rise in global energy demand during the first decade of the 21st Century,” said the International Energy Agency (IEA). Wind, solar, and gas have yet to change the overall picture.

The IEA said “insatiable demand” from Asia’s rising powers will gobble up a further 1bn tonnes each year by 2017, equal to the entire consumption of the US and Russia today. “If no changes are made to current policies, coal will catch oil within a decade,” it said.

By a rough rule of thumb, coal produces 238 tonnes of carbon per gigawatt hour (GWh), compared with 207 for heavy oil and 99 for gas. The IEA says coal already accounts for 43pc of global CO2 emissions.

“The situation is utterly dire,” said Jeremy Leggett, head of the UK Task Force on Peak Energy and Climate Change. “The window over the next decade is absolutely crucial. The danger threshold is a two-degree rise in average temperatures above pre-industrial levels by the end of the century. We’re currently on track for a rise of six degrees. The cognoscenti in the scientific world are terrified,” he said.

The great hope of carbon capture and storage has yet to materialise, at least at viable cost. “CCS technologies are not taking off as once expected, which means CO2 emissions will keep growing substantially,” said the IEA’s Maria Van der Hoeven.

The world has yet to build a single CCS project for large-scale electricity output. Utility companies do not receive the same sort of subsidies available for wind or solar to cover the extra cost, so little has been done.

Asia’s industrial revolution is the driving force behind the coal revival. China will absorb half the world’s output within two years to supply its steel, chemical, and cement plants. It still generates 83pc of its power from coal.

India is catching up fast, with coal use rising 6.3pc a year. It will be the world’s largest importer of seaborne coal by 2016. The country has just floated Coal of India for $35bn (£21bn) in its biggest-ever IPO, oversubscribed 15-fold.

The US is the one area of world where coal use is plummeting, and the one country cutting carbon emissions on both a per capita basis and per unit of GDP. Americans can preen for once as “greener than thou” thanks to cheap shale gas. “The US experience suggests that a more efficient gas market can reduce coal use, CO2 emissions, and consumers’ electricity bills. Europe, China, and other regions should take note,” said the IEA.

The shale effect has been to divert excess US coal to Europe. Prices have fallen from $200 a tonne to nearer $90, undercutting gas in Europe. Coal use in power plants has jumped by 65pc in Spain and 35pc in Britain this year.

The IEA expects “tightened markets” for years to come with coal demand ratcheting up until politicians price carbon more aggressively.

Even a hard-landing in China with growth falling to 4.6pc a year would not change the picture dramatically.

Climate politics have long been bedevilled by clashes between the Old World and the emerging powers, with the latent threat of a strategic showdown, but this can be exaggerated. China and India are acutely vulnerable if global warming spins out of control.

Two billion people depend on the steady supplies of water from the melting snows of the Himalayas and the Tibetan plateau. Rising temperatures risk a witches’ brew of floods, droughts, and destruction of the topsoil.

China’s politburo has exalted green energy in its next five-year plan, alert to growing popular backlash over foul air and polluted rivers, and the risk of an energy crunch.

The party is scrambling to cut fossil dependency, building 26 nuclear power plants by 2015, with 51 at the planning stage, and further 120 in the pipeline more than the rest of the world.

It has just doubled plans for new solar installations, aiming for a further 40 gigawatts by 2015. It is trying to pull off its own shale gas miracle, launching a fracking blitz to rival the US by 2020.

This will not be easy. China has the world’s largest reserves, but mostly in regions with scarce water. It lacks pipelines and fracking know-how. Most experts say it is a story for the 2020s, not this decade.

China knows it cannot keep up its own break-neck output of coal, a staggering three quarters of all extra output in the world last year. The best seams have been mined. Fresh reserves are ever further removed from the industrial hubs of the eastern seaboard. Rail freight costs are climbing.

For Indonesia and Australia, the world’s top producers, another decade of roaring coal demand is a godsend. It is even better news for Glencore, Peabody, Coal of India, and Shenhua Group. For the rest of us, let us hope that man-made global warming is a hoax after all.

**************************************************************

Hong Kong should review the profit scheme of its two electricity companies

Submitted by admin on Dec 13th 2012, 12:00am

Comment›Insight & Opinion

SCMP Editorial

No one likes a tariff increase. In the case of electricity bills, public sentiment is even stronger. For decades, an archaic business agreement with the government guaranteed the two power companies a maximum return on their investment. Despite efforts to reduce the profit, CLP Power and Hongkong Electric are still allowed profits of up to nearly 10 per cent until 2018. Consumers have little choice but to live with higher tariffs every year. The only comfort is that the adjustments this year are not as steep as expected.

On January 1, CLP will raise prices an average of 5.9 per cent, while Hongkong Electric will charge 2.9 per cent more. The rises are moderate compared with the 9.2 and 8 per cent sought by the two power giants last year. The increases were eventually reduced to 4.9 and 6.3 per cent respectively after a public outcry. But CLP warned that hefty increases were in store.

Households and businesses are already weighed down by high inflation. The increases, however moderate, will add to their burden. It is, therefore, important for the power companies to reduce the impact. The rebate of the rents and rates overcharged by the government to all CLP customers in the coming year is a welcome step to take.

Rewarding low-use customers is also a commendable strategy to promote energy efficiency. Under the CLP rebate scheme, those who can keep usage below 400 kilowatt hours during the two-month billing period can get a rebate of 7 to 9 cents a kilowatt hour. About 700,000 households and 130,000 general businesses may end up paying the same tariff as before or HK$3 to HK$6 less per month. But for heavy users, their bills will be even higher than previously.

Clean energy comes with a price. The increasing use of natural gas to meet more stringent emission targets is likely to push up tariffs in the future. Like it or not, there will be steeper adjustments ahead. That is the price to pay for a greener environment, and the community should be prepared for it.

But that does not mean excessive charges can be tolerated. The profit scheme for the power giants has put customers in a helpless situation. With the agreement due for a mid-term review next year, the government should explore options to protect consumers’ interests. Sadly, the environment chief has already said there is little room to manoeuvre. The remarks are not reassuring to people who count on the government to play a better role in monitoring public utilities.

Topics:

Electricity

CLP Power

HK Electric

profit scheme


Source URL (retrieved on Dec 13th 2012, 6:15am): http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1103936/hong-kong-should-review-profit-scheme-its-two-electricity

中電公佈2013年電價調整 推出節能回扣 CLP Announces 2013 Tariff Adjustment and Introduce Energy Saving Rebate

各位朋友:

中電今日下午剛向立法會議員進行匯報已提交環境局的2013電價調整方案,在此向各位簡介明年電價方案的主要內容。

我們理解市民對電價及鼓勵節能提出的訴求,因此在審慎考慮各方面的因素後,我們已經採取措施將2013年的電價調整維持在一個合理的水平。

1.     我們嚴格控制成本加上2012年炎夏帶動銷售,令2013年平均基本電價可維持不變。

2.     儘管燃料價格不斷上升,我們仍然能夠將燃料價條款收費加幅限於4.6仙。目前中電的天然氣供應主要來自南中國海的崖城氣田。因其快將枯竭,而即將引入來自「西氣東輸二線」的新天然氣將按國際市場價格釐定,是目前使用的崖城天然氣的三倍。崖城天然氣價格早於20年前簽訂,當時燃料價格比今天顯著為低。

3.     連同在2013年提供一次性地租及差餉特別回扣2.1仙,平均淨電價加幅為5.9%。

4.     中電希望可以協助低用量客戶和鼓勵客戶節能,推出新的「節能回扣」計劃。在計劃下,每兩個月使用少於400度電的住宅客戶,以及每個月使用少於400度電的小型商業客戶將可獲電費回扣。

5.     在新的電價方案下,約有70萬個家庭(即35%的住宅客戶)和約13萬的小商戶(即44%的商業客戶)的電價將不受影響,甚至有輕微的減幅。

在調整後,香港電價仍然遠低於新加坡及澳洲悉尼等國際城市。縱然如此,我們仍會緊守崗位為香港提供安全可靠、環保和價格合理的供電。

中電同時亦會繼續推動關懷社區的計劃,包括於2013年推出關顧社區津貼計劃,為符合資格的低收入家庭提供一次性300元津貼,預計將會減輕中電服務地區內3萬個家庭的電費負擔。

有關電價調整的詳情,可參考附上的新聞稿或登入下列網址:

https://www.clpgroup.com/ourcompany/news/currentrelease/Documents/20121211_tc.pdf

多謝閣下的支持!

中華電力企業發展總裁

莊偉茵謹啟

Dear Friends,

I would like to give you an update on the CLP 2013 Tariff Review Proposal that we submitted to the Environment Bureau, which was presented to members of the Legislative Council this afternoon.

We fully understand the community’s concerns on electricity tariffs and the need for energy conservation. We have therefore taken a number of factors into consideration and put forward measures to contain the 2013 tariff adjustment to a reasonable level.

  1. CLP has managed to maintain its Average Basic Tariff for 2013 unchanged due to stringent cost control and higher electricity sales as a result of the hotter weather in 2012.
  2. Despite rising fuel costs, CLP has managed to contain the increase in the Fuel Clause Charge to 4.6 cents. CLP’s main natural gas supply, from the Yacheng field in the South China Sea is depleting fast and our replacement supplies will come from the new second West-East Gas Pipeline. The new gas price, which is priced in line with current international benchmarks, is three times that of the existing gas supply, which was contracted 20 years ago when fuel prices were significantly lower.
  3. The average net tariff increase for 2013 will be 5.9%, after taking into account an adjustment to the Rent and Rates Special Rebate, which will be at 2.1 cents.
  4. To help low consumption customers and encourage energy efficiency, we are introducing the new Energy Saving Rebate Scheme. Under this Scheme, domestic customers using 400 units or less on a bi-monthly basis and small business customers using 400 units or less per month can enjoy savings in their electricity bills.
  5. The new tariff will result in 35% of domestic customers (about 700,000) and 44% of small business customers (about 130,000), seeing no increase or even enjoying a small reduction in their electricity bills, depending on their consumption level.

After the tariff adjustment, Hong Kong’s electricity tariff level is still much lower than that of other World cities such as Singapore and Sydney. We will continue to provide safe, reliable, environmentally-friendly and reasonably priced electricity supply for Hong Kong, as we always do.

CLP will also continue to expand its community support footprint including the introduction of a one-off community care subsidy, at HK$300 per eligible household, for targeted grassroots families in its service area in 2013, a move that is expected to alleviate tariff pressure for thirty thousand families.

For details of the tariff package, please refer to the attached press release or visit CLP’s website at:

https://www.clpgroup.com/ourcompany/news/currentrelease/Documents/20121211_en.pdf

Thank you for your support!

Best regards,

Quince Chong
Chief Corporate Development Officer
CLP Power Hong Kong Limited
‘The World is in Our Hands’ – Think before you print

Disclaimer:

This e-mail is intended for the addressee(s) only. It is privileged and may also be confidential.
Any copying, modification, retransmission or other use of this e-mail or the information
contained therein without CLP approval is prohibited. If you are not the addressee(s) or have received this e-mail
in error, please contact the sender and delete this email from your computer systems.

Internet communications cannot be guaranteed to be timely, secure, error-free or virus-free.
The sender will not accept any responsibility for any errors or omissions contained in this e-mail.

Website: http://www.clpgroup.com

Download PDF : 20121211_TC

Download PDF : 20121211_EN

U.S. Military Waste to Energy & Fuel Gasification Prototype V2.0

http://www.waste-management-world.com/articles/2012/12/u-s-military-waste-to-energy-fuel-gasification-prototype-v2-0.html

07 December 2012

U.S. Military scientists have made revisions to a prototype mobile waste gasification system which can produce power and fuel, the Tactical Garbage to Energy Refinery (TGER).

Developed by the U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC), the first two systems were initially deployed for 90 days at Camp Victory in Baghdad back in 2008.

The army said that the deployable machine tactically designed to convert military field waste into immediate usable energy for forward operating bases.

The biorefinery system is a trailer-mounted hybrid technology which the army said supports a 550 person unit generates around 2500 pounds (1130 kg) of waste per day, and converts paper, plastic, packaging and food waste into electricity via a standard 60 kW diesel generator.

“We picked a forward operating base in Iraq because we wanted to really stress the system,” explained Dr. James Valdes, a senior technologist at the U.S. Army ECBC.

“All other energy systems had been tested in laboratories or under ideal conditions and temperature climates. What we really wanted to do was stress it with heat, sand and real world trash in a low infrastructure environment,” continued Valdes.

“We learned an awful lot over there about what works, what doesn’t work and what’ll break,” he added.

As ECBC project director for TGER, Valdes is responsible for leading a team which has implemented the necessary re-engineering of the new prototype, TGER 2.0.

TGER V2.0

Among the modifications is an automated interface which uses a touch-screen panel, to make it easier for operators to input information and monitor every part of the machine, from oxygen levels in the gasifier-to-ethanol production and power output.

According to the ECBC while the machine used to take three technicians to operate it now takes two – one to feed the waste and another to monitor the progress.

But Valdes hopes that as the prototypes advance, TGER could eventually be used by one technician or Soldier.
The ECBC said that one of the most valuable lessons it learned while the TGER was deployed in Iraq was the realisation that the downdraft gasifier had a tendency to get clogged if there was too much plastic in the fuel pellets. Additionally, a large %age of the synthetic gas was inert and could not be used as viable fuel.

To fix the problem, Valdes’ team developed a horizontal gasifier with an auger device that rotates the waste, eliminating the mechanical step of pelletising the trash. The TGER 2.0 prototype also enables steam to be injected into the gasifier, which allows a larger conversion of output gas to become energetic.

According to Valdes, the old system produced 155 BTUs (British Thermal Unit)/cubic foot of gas, whereas the new TGER 2.0 prototype produces 550, more than tripling the amount of usable energy.

The ECBC also claimed that the new TGER 2.0 is environmentally friendly with its zero-carbon footprint.

“We think of garbage in terms of volume, not weight. There are things that take up a lot of space in landfills but they don’t weigh much, like Styrofoam,” explained Valdes.

“TGER reduces the volume of waste in 30 to one ratio. If you start off with 30 cubic yards of trash, you end up with one cubic yard of ash, and that ash has been tested by the Environmental Protection Agency. They call it a benign soil additive. You could actually throw it on your roses,” he added.

Power ups

The advanced prototype was shipped back to the manufacturer for modifications after undergoing a final field trial in September where the technology was tested to see how long it could run at the highest levels of garbage input before breaking down.

According to the ECBC, within two hours of powering on, TGER 2.0 can make synthetic gas which enables a generator to be run on about 75% power. Within 12 hours, alcohol is produced and blended with the synthetic gas to run on full power at a steady state if the machine is continually fed.

One of the innovations Valdes said he would like to capitalise on is recapturing the excess heat that the machine produces with a heat exchanger that can apply the energy to field sanitation and heating water.

Valdes added that the new TGER prototype could also be transitioned into the commercial sector.

“Longer term, we will be talking to project managers about transitioning it but we’ll also be talking to some companies that do things like support oil and gas operations in places such as Mongolia and parts of the world that are difficult to have camps in,” he said.

Read More

Mobile Waste Gasification Units for Military Applications
Idaho based waste to energy technology supplier, Dynamis Energy has launched its WasteStation – a mobile waste gasification unit with military, healthcare and hospitality applications.

Waste to Energy Could Power Australian Military
The Australian Minister for Defence Science & Personnel, Warren Snowdon has said that energy requirements for future troop deployments could be powered by waste to energy.

EWS Supplies Mobile Waste Incineration to Canadian Military
Ontario, Canada based advanced thermal treatment technology developer, Eco Waste Solutions (EWS), has been awarded a contract with the Canadian Department of National Defense for a mobile waste incineration system

U.S. Military Waste to Energy & Fuel Gasification Prototype V2.0

National Grid, Advanced Plasma Power and Progressive Energy announce new project to transform waste into Bio Substitute Natural Gas

Download PDF : FINAL Waste to Gas Pilot Project press release 22 Feb 2012

Review of state-of-the-art for WtE technologies

Download (PDF, 3.53MB)

SOLENAFUELS Sustainable Jet, Diesel and Marine Fuels from Waste Biomass

download PDF : Solena Fuels Presentation

GreenSky project provides boost for Oxford Catalysts Group

StockMarketWire.com – Oxford Catalysts Group (OCG.L), the modular gas-to-liquids technology innovator, has reported several significant milestones announced by British Airways concerning the GreenSky London project being developed by Solena Fuels Corporation.

British Airways has confirmed that it has committed to purchase the sustainable jet fuel produced by the plant for ten years (at market rates) – worth £315m at current prices.

In July 2012, Oxford Catalysts was selected by Solena to provide its Fischer-Tropsch (FT) technology to GreenSky London, Europe’s first commercial scale sustainable jet fuel facility, being developed in partnership with British Airways.

GreenSky London is the first of several waste-biomass to jet fuel projects planned by Solena. Successful implementation of the GreenSky London project and receipt of the notice to proceed (targeted for next year) is expected to generate revenues for Oxford Catalysts in excess of $30m during the construction phase, and additional ongoing revenues of more than $50m over the first 15 years of the plant’s operation.

Roy Lipski, CEO of Oxford Catalysts Group said: “Today’s confirmation of British Airways’ financial commitment to the project represents a major step forward for GreenSky London. We are very pleased to be part of this landmark facility and to contribute to British Airways’ strategy for sustainable aviation, as well as Solena’s worldwide project roll out plans.”

At 11:59am: [LON:OCG] share price was +16.75p at 130.5p

Story provided by StockMarketWire.com

SITA makes “big commitment” to gasification

http://www.letsrecycle.com/news/latest-news/waste-management/sita-makes-big-commitment-to-gasification

Waste management firm SITA UK has today (September 9) made one of the UK’s “biggest ever commitments” to developing gasification capacity after signing a partnership agreement with Monmouth-based Cyclamax Holdings.

The deal covers the development of six gasification and recycling-led resource parks across the UK, which are intended to treat a combined total of 600,000 tonnes of commercial and industrial waste each year.

Under the agreement between the two firms, French-owned SITA is set to develop materials recycling facilities on four of the planned sites and also provide waste for the gasification process, while Cyclamax will operate the gasification plants.

Stuart Hayward-Higham, technical director at SITA UK, said: “This agreement is one of the first of its kind in the UK and is an important step forward in investing in the alternate treatment technologies to service the industrial and commercial waste market at a local level in the UK.”

“At SITA UK our goal is to offer our customers a service that allows them to reach a point where the majority of their waste materials can be reused, recycled or recovered for their energy content, in others words to give waste ‘a second life’ wherever possible. Gasification is one of the many tools we can use to meet this goal and we are pleased to announce this agreement as another significant step forward in our plans,” he added.The deal between SITA and Cyclamax is set to see it work together to develop projects such as the Sheepbridge Resource Park

The first four resource parks are set to be developed using batched gasification technology, a renewable energy technology distributed in the UK by waste-to-energy company Planet Advantage Limited – which is a subsidiary of Ascot Environmental Limited.

Parks

Four of the proposed resource parks – intended for sites at Dagenham, Avonmouth, Chesterfield and Derby – have already either received planning permission or are in the planning process, with the locations of the two additional facilities set to be announced in due course.

The first four facilities are expected to produce in excess of 45MW of electricity, which Cyclamax claims is sufficient to power over 85,000 homes.

Tony Watkins, managing director of Cyclamax, said: “By combining the expertise of both Cyclamax and SITA UK we feel we can offer localised, sustainable recycling and renewable energy solutions by productively diverting around 600,000 tonnes of waste away from landfill.

“Gasification technologies are particularly suited to delivering local community scale solutions and with investment levels of around £220M for the first four facilities, are economically competitive at this scale,” he added.

Proposals for the Chesterfield facility came under scrutiny in January this year when the local borough council’s planning committee refused to back plans for the 60,000 tonnes-a-year capacity merchant facility. However, Cyclamax said the decision did not affect its plans (see letsrecycle.com story).

Gasification

The gasification process sees waste materials converted into a gas called synthesis gas – or ‘syngas’ – that is made up of differing proportions of hydrogen, carbon monoxide and some methane.

Related links

In the case of gasification, which uses a combustion process, the oxygen levels are kept purposefully very low so that the combustion reaction only gets to the volatilisation stage where combustible gases are produced. The syngas generated can then be tapped off and used elsewhere for a multitude of applications.

Ascot, which has a contract with Cyclamax to provide ‘turnkey’ gasification facilities at the first four of the proposed sites, opened its first batched gasification plant in Scotland last month

http://www.sita.co.uk/news-and-views/press-releases/sita-uk-and-cyclamax-to-partner-on-six-new

SITA UK and Cyclamax to partner on six new gasification-led Resource Parks for commercial and industrial waste

SITA UK has teamed up with waste management development company, Cyclamax, to develop six gasification and recycling-led Resource Parks, which will treat in excess of 600,000 tonnes of commercial and industrial waste. This agreement is one of the biggest ever commitments to developing gasification capacity in the UK and will produce enough electrical power for over 85,000 homes.

The first four resource parks will be developed using batched gasification technology, a relatively simple, but robust renewable energy technology distributed in the UK by Planet Advantage Limited and integrated into the EPC contract by Ascot Environmental Limited.

Four of the Resource Parks including Dagenham (part of the Sustainable Industries Park being developed by the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation in Dagenham), Avonmouth, Chesterfield and Derby have either received planning permission or are in the planning process. The locations of the two additional facilities will be announced in due course. SITA UK will develop its own materials recycling facilities on the Avonmouth, Derby and Chesterfield sites and will supply the waste to each facility.

Each Resource Park has been designed to be of a community scale and will provide the local area with an alternative solution for treating industrial and commercial waste with facilities to recover materials for recycling and recover energy from the residual waste. The first four facilities are expected to produce in excess of 45MW of electricity, sufficient to power over 85,000 homes. For example, the Sheepbridge facility will provide power for around 38 per cent of the homes in its host town of Chesterfield.

Stuart Hayward-Higham, Technical Director at SITA UK, says: “This agreement is one of the first of its kind in the UK and is an important step forward in investing in the alternate treatment technologies to service the industrial and commercial waste market at a local level in the UK”.

“At SITA UK our goal is to offer our customers a service that allows them to reach a point where the majority of their waste materials can be reused, recycled or recovered for their energy content, in others words to give waste ‘a second life’ wherever possible. Gasification is one of the many tools we can use to meet this goal and we are pleased to announce this agreement as another significant step forward in our plans.

“We believe that there is an exciting future for gasification and other energy recovery technologies in the UK.”

Tony Watkins, Managing Director of Cyclamax Holdings Limited, adds: “This is not about using technology for technology’s sake, nor about a one-size-fits-all approach. Our goal is to bring forward developments that have sustainability at their core; reducing the environmental impact of waste management and fossil fuel power production through recycling and generating renewable energy from non recyclable waste residues. We see each development as a community based project providing good quality local employment and in many cases returning Brownfield land back to beneficial use. Clearly, to successfully deliver these projects you need to work with like minded partners who share your aspirations and we are delighted to make the announcement of our agreement to work with SITA UK on these Resource Parks.

“By combining the expertise of both Cyclamax and SITA UK we feel we can offer localised, sustainable recycling and renewable energy solutions by productively diverting around 600,000 tonnes of waste away from landfill.

“Gasification technologies are particularly suited to delivering local community scale solutions and with investment levels of around £220M for the first four facilities, are economically competitive at this scale.”

http://www.sita.co.uk/your-environment/our-plans/binn-farm

Gasification facility

Permission has been granted by Perth and Kinross Council for SITA UK to develop a gasification facility at Binn Farm.

The plans for a 60,000 tonne per annum gasification facility that will treat municipal waste and small amounts of business waste were granted permission in October 2011. The facility will generate enough electricity to heat and light the equivalent of almost 8,000 homes.

The planning application for the facility was submitted in October 2010 following a series of public consultation events with local residents and regular liaison with local community councils.

Copies of the exhibition panels and a newsletter distributed to local residents as part of the consultation can be found below, both containing detailed information on the proposals and contact details for more information.

http://www.letsrecycle.com/news/latest-news/councils/pickles-backs-sita-surrey-gasification-plant

Pickles backs SITA Surrey gasification plant

6 December 2011

SITA UK’s long running attempts to build an energy from waste plant in Surrey have been given a boost after a decision by Eric Pickles, secretary of state for communities and local government, not to review plans for a site in Shepperton.

Dubbed an ‘Eco Park’ by SITA UK, which has a 25 year contract with Surrey county council, the facility will include “a batch oxidisation gasification facility and an anaerobic digester” which will sit alongside improved recycling and waste transfer facilities.

‘The Eco Park will have huge financial and environmental benefits for our county’
– Surrey county council leader David Hodge

Now, it has been revealed that last week Mr Pickles decided not to review the application for the facility which means that Surrey county council can now grant planning permission.

A statement from Surrey today said that the Eco Park will help Surrey towards achieving its long-term aim “to eliminate the use of landfill, which costs the county £600,000 every month in taxes alone while also damaging the environment.”

Food waste

The Shepperton site will deal with 40,000 tonnes of food waste and 60,000 tonnes of household waste a year and is expected to generate sufficient power “for thousands of homes”.

Surrey county council leader David Hodge said: “This is very good news for the people of Surrey. The Eco Park will have huge financial and environmental benefits for our county.”

Members of Surrey County Council’s Planning and Regulatory Committee approved the Eco Park planning application from SITA Surrey in June 2011. The decision was then referred to the Secretary of State for consideration.

Moving closer: artist’s impression of the proposed SITA Surrey gasification plant, Shepperton

Batch oxidisation gasification involves heating waste to produce a gas which is then combusted to produce heat and steam for electricity generation.

Delighted

Gareth Phillips, planning manager at SITA UK, said: “Following confirmation that the secretary of state for communities and local government will not hold a public inquiry to consider the planning application for an Eco Park at Charlton Lane, Shepperton, we are delighted that we can now move forward with the development.

“Surrey needs this facility to deal with household waste in the most populated northern part of the county. Landfill tax is increasing at the rate of £8 per tonne per year and at present Surrey County Council is spending £600,000 a month on landfill tax alone.
SITA UK has made slow progress so far in developing infrastructure for its Surrey contract which was awarded in September 1999 and in 2006 agreed changes to its contract which allowed for the construction of smaller facilities, see letsrecycle.com story.

The next stage of the project is expected to be an application by SITA UK, once planning permission has been confirmed, for an environmental permit from the Environment Agency and to gain consent to divert an existing footpath, alongside the development of detailed designs. Construction is expected to get underway in autumn 2012.

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SITA Surrey

Prior to that, work to improve the existing waste site, which was approved in an earlier planning application, will get underway. This is due to start in spring 2012 and will include work on the entrance to improve access to the site and ease congestion.

96,000 TPA Waste Gasification Plant Awarded EA Permit in Merseyside

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96,000 TPA Waste Gasification Plant Awarded EA Permit in Merseyside

15 November 2012

UK waste to energy company Energos has been awarded a full Environmental Permit to operate a small scale advanced conversion technology (ACT), which will use gasification to treat 96,000 tonnes of waste per year at Knowsley Industrial Park, Merseyside.

The company said that the facility, which will use its patented gasification process, has also been selected by Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority (MRWA) to manage short-term treatment of residual, non-recyclable waste, helping to divert it from landfill.

Once operational the plant is expected to generate some 9 MW of power, which Energos said is equivalent to the output of 15 large wind turbines.

According to the site’s developer the facility is designed to complement local recycling initiatives and to process only non-hazardous, residual waste, with an ability to accept a variety of waste streams, including refuse derived fuel (RDF).

In recognition of the technology’s capability of achieving NOx emissions less than 25% of the EU limit, without any form of NOx abatement system, the Environment Agency has set low limits for NOx emissions from the plant.

The company said that the first phase of construction at the Knowsley Energy Recovery facility has already been completed and the second phase of work is expected to start in 2013.

The facility could be completed by 2015,” said Nick Dawber, managing director of Energos. “Despite the difficulties in the financial markets, we are making good progress in securing finance for this £60 million project.”

Public consultation

According Dawber the company set up the Knowsley Community Liaison Group back in 2008 to manage communication with residents and businesses and members have been fully involved in the project and met at key points in the development cycle.

Steve Molyneux, environment manager for the Environment Agency commented: “We’ve carried out a thorough assessment of the application and consulted widely on the details. We’ve sought comments from other organisations, including Knowsley Council, Knowsley NHS, the Health Protection Agency and local people.”

“The Environment Agency is confident that the proposed energy from waste facility will not harm human health or the environment,” he added.

Technology

The company said that the scheme will use an advanced conversion technology (ACT) gasification technique which converts waste into a gas via a rigorously controlled two-stage thermal treatment process – using the heat of partial combustion.

The gas is then fully combusted to generate heat, which is used to produce steam and electricity. The combined heat and power process will generate heat for use by neighbouring businesses, as well as electricity.

The company said that the project will create 20 long term skilled jobs at the site and more than 50 jobs during the two-year construction period, with more jobs created through the supply and support chain.

Energos added that its advanced conversion technology has also been selected for the treatment of residual waste at the proposed Milton Keynes Waste Recovery Park and at Glasgow City Council’s proposed Recycling and Renewable Energy Centre.

Small Scale Community Plants Way Forward for Waste Gasification

Energos’ Sarpsborg facility

25 June 2012

To maximise efficiency and carbon dioxide emissions savings waste to energy plants in the UK need to make use of their heat potential, according to Nick Dawber, managing director of Energos.

Speaking at the recently held Waste to Energy City Summit, Dawber argued that waste to energy facilities should exist within the heart of industrial and residential communities to utilise the heat value of the waste.

The Summit brought together technology developers and waste management companies with the city?s financial community and policy makers to identify emerging investment and development opportunities in gasification and pyrolysis for municipal and industrial waste.

“To achieve higher levels of efficiency we need to sell heat – either directly as steam to industrial customers to displace existing fossil fuel supplies – or as combined heat and power (CHP),” explained Dawber.

“When the ratio of energy used is two parts heat to one part electricity, facilities will achieve up to 50% efficiency, which rises to as much as 85 % if you utilise the full heat potential,” he added.

According to Dawber it is necessary to develop smaller waste to energy facilities to capitalise on heat potential since there are more sites available for such facilities, which can be located close to the potential demand for heat and are appropriately sized to satisfy that heat requirement.

He also claimed that there will be higher public acceptance for ‘community sized’ facilities.

Smaller plants minimise traffic to the site and can sit alongsiderecycling

facilities to provide a local solution for local non-recyclable waste while delivering a renewable supply of low carbon, low cost energy, he argued
.
Dawber called on the government to accelerate the development of district heat networks, as demanded under the EU Energy Efficiency Directive, to avoid valuable heat resources being wasted.

He stated that a large 400,000 tonnes per annum waste to energy plant, producing around 32 MW of electricity, would have a surplus of around 70 MW of heat that is normally lost to the atmosphere because there are very few industrial facilities that have sufficient CHP demands for large scale facilities.

Dawber cited small scale facilities such as Energos? plants in Norway and its UK sites, scheduled to open in 2014 that can supply usable amounts of energy (up to 20MW of heat) to local customers.

Apart from the efficiency benefits, such plants also qualify as a ‘recovery’ plant under the EU Waste Framework Directive and stand to benefit from the UK’s Renewable Heat Obligation.

The plant room Energos’ Sarpsborg waste gasification facility

Small scale waste gasification process

Warrington based Energos has developed a small scale waste gasification process that converts residual, non-recyclable waste into a gas by using the heat of partial combustion to free hydrogen and carbon in the waste.

Residual waste is fed into the gasification chamber, where it is converted into a syngas. This syngas is then transferred to a secondary oxidation chamber where it is mixed with air and recycled flue gas under tightly controlled conditions that ensures complete and efficient combustion resulting in reduced emissions in the flue gases.

Since 2002, Energos’ Forus advanced thermal processing facility in Stavanger, Norway, has supplied electricity to the local grid and hot water to a district heating system for an adjacent industrial and commercial estate.

The 40,000 tonnes per annum plant exists at the heart of the community, handling municipal and commercial waste and complementing local recycling facilities.

Energos? newest gasification facility is at Borregaard Industries, Sarpsborg, in Norway. The 78,000 tonne per annum plant is owned by Norway?s leading power supplier, Hafslund Energy Recovery AS, which appointed Energos to design, build and commission the advanced thermal conversion facility.

The 32 MWth double line plant treats non-recyclable commercial and industrial waste and produces 256 GWh/a of high grade steam to displace approximately 22,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil per annum.

Waste Gasification, AD and MBT Facility Planned for Milton Keynes

01 November 2012

Waste and recycling company AmeyCespa has been named as the preferred bidder to design, build and operate a facility that will feature MBT and anaerobic digestion as well as waste gasification technology from Energos to treat around 90,000 tonnes of residual waste in Milton Keynes.

According to the company, a part of Spanish infrastructure company Grupo Ferrovial (FER:MC), the Milton Keynes Waste Recovery Park will deal with household ‘black sack’ waste, residual waste which has been through a recycling process and some commercial waste.

AmeyCespa said that it is proposing to build the new facility in the Old Wolverton industrial area, on the site of a former distribution centre, where it will bring together three technologies to divert waste which has not been reused, recycled or composted from landfill.

The company said that the technologies it is proposing are:

The gasification technology to be deployed at the planned facility is to be supplied by Warrington based Energos, and will have a capacity of over 90,000 tonnes and generate a gross output of 7 MW.

Energos said that it has also recently been selected as a technology provider for Glasgow City Council’s proposed Recycling and Renewable Energy Centre.

Benefits

According to AmeyCespa, these technologies will help extract more recyclable materials, as well as generate enough to power for the equivalent of 11,000 homes

Further benefits were said to include reduced costs for local waste management – a saving of more than £50million over the design life of the facility, a 95% reduction in landfill, 45 permanent jobs and an on-site visitor and education centre for use by schools and the wider community

“Milton Keynes Council has an excellent recycling record and has set out to build on this by recovering as much as possible for recycling and composting from our black sack waste and generating renewable energy with what’s left,” commented Councilor David Hopkins, Milton Keynes Council’s cabinet member for Environment and Waste.

According to Hopkin following dialogue with AmeyCespa, the council came to the conclusion that its proposal was an innovative long-term, value for money solution which will meet these aims.

The company said that over the coming months it will finalise its proposals for Milton Keynes Waste Recovery Park prior to submitting a planning application in 2013.

As part of this, the company added will undertake a comprehensive consultation programme and organise public exhibitions.

Waste Gasification Technology Selected for Glasgow Project

02 August 2012

Manchester, UK based waste gasification technology developer, Energos is to supply equipment to treat waste at Viridor’s planned waste to energy and recycling facility in Glasgow.

The company said that its technology will feature as part of a three stage-process residual waste project at the proposed £146 million Glasgow Recycling and Renewable Energy Centre.

Viridor’s planned facility will mark a major overhaul to the way Glasgow’s residual household waste is managed over the next 25 years, and will handle between 175,000 and 200,000 tonnes of the council’s green bin waste every year.

According to Energos its patented gasification process and proprietary control system ensure that emissions are consistently low.

The company said that average NOx emissions are typically 25-30% of the EU limit and no de-NOx system is needed.

The ENERGOS thermal conversion process consists of two stages, a primary chamber for gasification of the waste and a secondary chamber -for high temperature oxidation of the syngas produced in the primary chamber.

The company claimed that the project is expected to save the city £254 million across life of the contract, in addition to 90,000 tonnes of CO2 every year through landfill diversion from landfill, the sale of recyclate materials and the generation of electricity from renewable sources.

“This is an environmentally responsible, small scale local solution for local waste that would otherwise fill up landfill, commented Nick Dawber, managing director of Energos.

A planning application is expected to be made towards the end of summer with a view to securing planning consent in early 2013.

Read More

Viridor Contract for Waste Gasification, AD & Recycling Facility in Glasgow
Viridor – a part of the Pennon Group (LSE: PNN) – has signed a 25 year contract with contract with Glasgow City Council to Design, Build, Finance and Operate a 200,000 TPA recycling, AD and waste to energy gasification facility in the city.