Refuse derived fuels for the industry >>>

At the end of July, the EU Commission published its delegated act to concretise the taxonomy regulation which was approved in principle at the middle of the same month.

In Germany, energy generation from waste has been a significant part of the country's energy mix for several years now. Waste-to-energy (WtE) facilities convert municipal solid waste (MSW), industrial waste, and biomass into electricity and heat, reducing the amount of waste sent to landfills.

Residual waste of municipal origin and similar industrial waste are usually treated in thermal waste treatment plants. The primary focus of thermal treatment is the environmentally friendly and efficient use of the energy contained in this type of waste.

In wastewater management facilities, different types of pumps are in use, depending on the processes to be executed (collection of wastewater, transport of wastewater during different treatment stages, sludge handling, etc.). This work focuses on submersible sewage centrifugal pumps, which are the most common types of pumps used in wastewater management installations [1,3,4].

Vietnam: Director of the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment Nguyen Toan Thang said at a conference calling for investment in WTE that with the annual growth rate of 5 percent per annum, total domestic garbage in the city would reach 13,000 tons a day by 2025.

The removal of mercury and its chemical compounds from waste gas is a matter of special importance due to its ecological toxicity and non-restricted to waste incineration facilities.

In its current phase (04/2014 - 12/2016), the Sustainable Municipal Services (SMS) program of the German Development Cooperation (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit – GIZ) in Kosovo has the potential to provide in the medium term basic public services in the waste management sector for 70% of the population. Such an achievement would be to a large extent dependent on the success and development of an incentive-based competition in 17 selected municipalities (out of a total of 38 ), which was set up by the MESP in cooperation with the German Development Bank (Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau – KfW). Responsible municipal bodies get access to investments provided that they implement reforms for performance development and make improvements in selected performance indicators. The latter aims at a financially sustainable expansion of services.

In order to treat household waste Romerike Avfallsforedling (ROAF) located in Skedsmorkorset north of Oslo, Norway required the installation of a mechanical Treatment facility to process 40,000 tpa. Together with a Norwegian based technical consultancy Mepex and German based technical consultancy EUG the project was tendered and the plant build against a technical specification. In 2013 the project was awarded to Stadler Anlagenbau and since April 2014 the plant is in operation with an hourly throughput of thirty tons. The input waste contains specific green coloured bags containing food waste which is collected together with the residual waste from the households. The process recovers successfully the green food bags before the remaining waste is mechanically pre-treated and screened to isolate a polymer rich fraction which is then fully segregated via NIR technology in to target polymers prior to fully automated product baling. Recoverable Fibre is optically targeted as well as ferrous and non-ferrous metals. All food waste is transported off site for further biological treatment and the remaining residual waste leaves site for thermal recovery. In 2015 the plant has been successfully upgraded to forty tons per hour and remains fully automated including material baling.

The waste disposal system in Poland is one of the least advanced in Europe. Despite great efforts over the last 20 years municipal waste landfilling has only reduced from 95 percent in 1991 to 73 percent in 2010. This still means that millions of tonnes of post-consumer waste continue to be landfilled.

This study has shown that several cement plants have replaced part of the fossil fuel used by AF, such waste recovered fuels. Many years of industrial experience have shown that the use of wastes as AF by cement plants is both ecologically and economically justified.

In the bifa Text No 64, the collection of biowaste without biowaste bags was compared to collection in paper bags, PE bags and biowaste bags made of the compostable plastic ecovio.

Industrial symbiosis (IS) represents that two or more industrial operations, which are preferably close to each other physically and work independently, form long-term partnerships and work in solidarity to increase resource efficiency, environmental performance and competitiveness.

Municipal solid waste is a source for recycables also in times of comprehensive source separation with separate collecting systems. Plastic is one example for the household sourced recycables that can be recovered both from the selective collected and the mixed waste streams. The determination of the recycable potentials always is difficult.

Rising greenhouse gas emissions, the careless handling of finite energy and raw material resources and the lavish use of limited landfill space require a rethinking, not only on the production and consumption sector, but also in terms of waste management.

A research project on behalf of the Federal Office for Environmental Protection aims to assess the quantity, the management and the aspects of resource preservation of commercial solid wastes.

The approaching exhaustion of many raw materials and expanding demand for resources due to fast growth of word population and increasing prosperity in many developing countries are a challenge for the world economy and will become a driving factor for enhanced waste treatment / material recovery technology. Quantity and quality of recovered resources from residual waste depend on the kind of waste treatment. Mechanical-biological treatment (MBT) and incineration are the dominant treatment technologies for residual waste and have to prove their feasibility for sustainable waste and resource management.

Based on own Prognos analyses the article shows the so far achieved recovery rates for selected waste streams within the 27 EU member states as well as the still existing resource potential - a potential that can also contribute significantly to climate protection. Looking back from the future the article describes the major challenges of our time and for our future and develops visions for a global resource management system.

Apparently, recycling worn out PVC windows and doors pays off - at least for Veka Umwelttechnik GmbH. The eastern German company recently put its second recycling line into operation and is considered a specialist in the window recycling industry.

Identifying the moment at which waste ceases to be waste and once again acquires the status of a product is far from being a merely theoretical question. From a legal point of view, significant consequences can ensue from the qualification of a substance or object in relation to the applicable legislation for its management and treatment. An incorrect evaluation of the applicable legislation can lead not only to consequences of an administrative but also of a criminal nature. The consequences may also be significant from an economic perspective. The holder of a substance or object, which does not qualify as a product but as waste, must withstand all the negative consequences deriving from the fact that, compared to a product, waste is much less attractive to the market.

A research effort was undertaken to produce secondary value-added products (dimethacrylated oligoesters) from the products of PET chemical recycling by glycolysis. The final objective was to use these compounds, as potential raw materials for the production of UV-curable formulations, used as enamel paints or coatings for metallic surfaces in automotive industry.

Initially, different plastic packaging materials from super-market consumer products were recorded and classified according to the particular polymer type from which they are made of. Following, a questionnaire was formed and data were collected from a number of citizens in Thessaloniki during the time period 2007 to 2008. It was found that the plastic packaging with the highest consumption in a number or weight basis is general purpose bags followed by water and soft drinks bottles.

A type of biofuels with a wide known use and a significant number of applications, are the biomass pellets of wooden form, known as wood pellets. The market of wood pellets in Greece has not been developed yet.