Although there are already around 50 Energy from Waste (EfW) plants operating in Great Britain, plus two (and a third in planning) in the Republic of Ireland, new projects are still progressing. Facilities to have featured recently in the trade press include the Isle of Wight where a former gasifier is being converted to use more mainstream ‘moving grate’ technology and projects in Aberdeenshire. Isle of Wight The Council-inspired project in the Isle of Wight has a number of similarities to arc21’s proposals. Apart from being a private sector delivered solution to meet specific needs identified by local government, the project, like arc21, also includes pre-treatment to improve recycling rates by first recovering recyclable material. The moving grate technology, which will only burn landfill rubbish, is used in nearly all EfWs across Europe and is similar to that proposed by arc21. Likewise, the facilities will be owned by the local council and managed by an experienced operator. Gasification, as originally proposed in the Isle of Wight, is a particular type of thermal treatment which doesn’t use full combustion. The technology can be more technically challenging than mainstream moving grate EfWs (which do use full combustion) and requires a more homogenous feedstock or fuel. The Isle of Wight plant was originally granted planning permission as a gasifier in 2016 but this was changed in 2017 to moving grate. According to the trade publication ‘Lets Recycle’, the switch “marks the end of years of difficulties on the island with its early gasification system that saw various modifications implemented, and which were not always successful”. The final commissioning of the new EfW plant has been delayed but the Isle of Wight Council has said that the 44,000-tonne capacity facility is now in the final stages of being fully commissioned. Aberdeenshire Last month Aberdeenshire Council gave the go-ahead for a new £200m EfW on an existing brownfield site beside the river Don which used to be a paper mill. It’s anticipated that building the 200,000-tonne capacity plant will create around 300 construction jobs and a further 45 operational roles and generate c.£1m in business rates for the Council. The developers, Agile Energy, are looking at ways to capture CO2 emissions from the plant including a project with Aberdeen University to explore whether it could be used to produce chalk or gypsum for the pharmaceutical sector. While most of the waste Agile Energy plans to treat will be business and commercial waste, three local councils (Aberdeen City, Moray and Aberdeenshire councils) are also progressing a £150m, 150,000 tonne capacity EfW which is now under construction. The council collaboration aims to treat household waste by diverting it from landfill and reducing their reliance on exporting waste to northern Europe as a fuel for incineration.
