isramart :Remedy for CO2 and communal waste

isramart news:
Restrictions in CO2 emission rights and the implementation of the EC’s 3×20 programme are a big challenge for Poland’s economy. Also dramatically mounting are problems with waste management and processing, where years of negligence have put Poland in the EU tail.

To-date experiences in EU countries show that waste-generated energy is cheapest and waste incineration generates 2-3 times less pollution than traditional fuels. In the EU heat-processing installations for communal waste are considered an environmentally neutral CO2 source.

On January 1, 2009 environmental fees rose by one-third, the extra cost to be carried by urban and rural communities. The hike was necessary as Poland must not only store but also reclaim and process increasing amounts of waste. Today more than 90% of Poland’s bio-degradable waste lands on dumping grounds and is not processed at all. The EU has demanded that by 2010 no more than 75% percent of such waste be dumped unprocessed.
This is necessary not only in order to avoid horrendous fines, but also because communal waste is a good energy source. And, unlike traditional fuels, an inexhaustible one as waste is a permanent by-product of our civilisation.

National Waste Management Plan
In 2004 Poland produced 11.8 million tons of communal waste annually, of which 92% was stored, 2% composted and 5% came under selective waste-collecting schemes. Only 0.5% of the waste was heat-processed.
Table 1
Reclaimed and neutralized communal waste in Poland /GUS/
2000 2004 2006
Selectively collected waste
13,000 Mg 243,000 Mg 403,000 Mg
Bio-processed waste
300,000 Mg 279,000 Mg 297,000 Mg
Heat-processed waste
50,000 Mg 44,000 Mg 45,000 Mg
Storaged waste
11,800,000 Mg 9,500,000 Mg 9,300,000 Mg

The last 5 years saw the emergence of new organic waste composting and sorting plants. Recycling was also on the rise. Nothing, however, was done to upgrade the heat-processing of communal waste. As before, the country’s only incineration plant is the small ZUSOK unit in Warsaw.
In keeping with Article 5.2 of EU Directive 99/31, Poland undertook to reduce its bio-degradable waste. The reduction is to take place in three stages: by the end of 2010 stored communal waste should account for no more than 75% of the total bio-degradable waste produced in 1995. By the end of 2013 this should be down to 50%, and by the end of 2020 to no more than 35%.

Operational Programme Infrastructure and Environment 2007-2013
Waste incineration plants are included on the indicative list of the Operational Programme Infrastructure and Environment 2007-2013 and will be the key projects in a scheme aimed to improve the national communal waste management system in keeping with the environmental obligations laid down in Poland’s EU Accession Treaty.

Table 2
Regional Development Ministry Indicative List: PLN million

1. Communal waste management, Łódź – Phase II – project costs: 660,00
2. Communal waste management programme, Cracow: 703,00
3. Resolving waste management problems, Warsaw: 533,42
4. Integrated waste management system,
Białystok: 413,89
5. Waste management system, Gdańsk, Gdynia, Sopot: 539,03
6. Waste management system and waste heat-processing plant,
Upper-Silesian Agglomeration: 1081,16
7. Waste management system and waste heat-processing plant, Poznań: 640,00
8. Thermal waste neutralisation plant, Szczecin Metropolitan Area: 300,00
9. Waste heat-processing plant, Bydgoszcz-Toruń Metropolitan Area: 400,00
10. Communal waste management system, waste neutralisation plant, Olsztyn: 517,64
11. Waste management system, waste heat-processing plant, Central Pomerania – Koszalin: 280,00
Total: PLN 6,068,140,000

EU funding for the above projects will amount to PLN 3,727,770,000, or 61.4 percent of the total costs.
The National Waste Management Plan 2010-2013 specifies the amount of bio-degradable waste that is to be neutralised or reclaimed and not stored. The minimum amount until the end of 2010 is 2,500,000,000 Mg, until the end of 2013 3,500,000,000 Mg and until the end of 2018 4,100,000,000 Mg.
The National Plan foresees the construction of large installations for the heat-processing of communal waste. This will raise the share of incineration in waste processing to about 16%. This project is so big technologically and financially that it will change communal economy in cities. Heat-processing will reduce waste by up to 90% and eliminate methane emissions (as a greenhouse gas methane is 20 times as lethal as CO2) and toxic seepage in waste deposits. The appearance of large, 50-80 MWt thermal waste plants will certainly change local energy markets, especially the heating sector. To-date experiences in EU countries show that waste-generated energy is cheapest and waste incineration generates 2-3 times less pollution than traditional fuels. In the EU heat-processing installations for communal waste are considered an environmentally neutral CO2 source.
Poland also generates an annual half a million ton of sewage sediment (calculated in dry mass), which can be burnt or gasified alone or in combination with other energy carriers, e.g. communal waste. One ton of dry sediment yields 7.5-14 GJ of heat.

Scenario for Poland
Basing on the experiences of our colleagues from the Euroheat & Power European heat and energy federation I can say that the technological choice will be between grate and fluidized bed firing, depending on the adopted waste management policy. Cities with advanced waste management and European-standard processing plants will be better off with the fluidised bed variant, which guarantees high-standard incineration and minimum fume processing costs. Less technologically advanced agglomerations with a mixture of organic (especially wet) and non-organic waste should opt for the grate method, which is insensitive to changing waste content, very well-tested in Europe and practically breakdown-free. Tests in Scandinavia have shown that incineration systems which process under 50,000 tons of waste annually work well in plants equipped with fluidised bed boilers when they combust waste together with sewage sediment and biomass. After choosing their technology, cities will have to adjust their waste policies to it.
The choice of technology will be a difficult task for municipal and communal authorities. However, the relatively low costs of waste combustion should ensure that such projects are an environmental success and helpful to the main waste producers – the population.
Waste-generated energy is an important potential. Modern waste incineration plants are environmentally safe and could make waste energy into a meaningful provider of heat and electricity.
Janusz Różalski – Technical Manager, OPEC Gdynia
(Abridged from a report in www.nowa-energia.com.pl )