ENERGY FROM WASTE
uilding an energy-from-waste (EfW) plant is a challenging task, both for the owners wishing to commission a substantial piece of construction and the plant engineers charged with its design and build. Add in a third element – the long-term operation, maintenance and control of the plant once built – and companies face yet another important factor. Having the ability to satisfy all three areas success-
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fully is becoming a point of differentiation when it comes to winning or losing an EfW process plant contract as more businesses examine a growing market opportunity. As the EfW market develops, increasing numbers of companies are emerging that not only plan to design and build plant, but also seek to go on to operate the new sites for up to 25 years on behalf of local councils.
This creates a requirement within such companies that traditionally have been contracted on a design and build basis only, to develop a more structured and long-term plan for the plant they will deliver. With this in mind, looking at the total cost of ownership and lifecycle costs of a complete plant gives rise to all sorts of important questions that are not generally considered when only capital expenditure cost- ing is the driving force behind such a major project.
Contractor expertise is key
For companies targeting the EFW market, winning or losing a long-term contract is now highly dependent on the ability of the contractor to be able to understand and rationalise the operational and long-term maintenance costs of a plant – in addition to the design and build stages. The pressure of this growing competition is being felt in the field of plant engi- neering as firms also strive to satisfy demands for shorter development timescales and reduced project costs.
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Operators no longer want tactical process control system solutions, engineered on a one-off basis
By taking a consisten and integrated approach to plant design, this can help save time and money. The challenge of workflow in the engineering of process plants remains, with a consequence of the high numbers of people and departments involved in the passing of different data formats and media often resulting in duplication of effort, inconsistency of data and disparate systems leading to lost time and higher costs. Integrated and consistent design data can be a decisive fac- tor for competitive success. 3D-CAD programmes alongside the deployment of standardised interfaces and central data management is making continuous work progress for the individual stages of procedural planning possible today. The next step towards increased efficiency for the EfW plant’s design is the smooth merging of process planning and con- trol technology through an integrated planning approach. Before an EfW plant can be taken into operation, a variety of individual and independent planning stages is necessary.
” 28 Local Authority Waste & Recycling April 2011
Demand for shorter development timescales and reduced project costs are forcing companies to re-evaluate their approach to EfW plant design, build and operation, says Simon Ellam
Here, the most varied of specialist disciplines are involved. These will range from process plant technology, mechanical engineering, process control and instrumentation technol- ogy through to software-programming. The specific knowl- edge and expertise of all those involved must be integrated into the overall project.
The role of CAD Each of the disciplines has recourse to specific methods and tools; the element combining them is the utilisation of com- puter applications to support the planning. Computer aided engineering is an important component in the handling of the respective tasks. The process of engineering is strongly dependent upon the division of labour – the planning of automated industrial plants is a complicated structure with those handling the individual stages only surveying in its entirety with difficulty, if at all. Mutual dependencies are known, but are often not seen as a problem. Those involved tend to process the planning data in the format necessary for their own work and then simply pass it on. Data consistency is at its most important at the time of transmission. This leads to a multitude of discon- tinuities in the entire process with data transmitted in the form appropriate to the respective tools.
Main pic: An incineration facility in Lombardy, Italy, and inset: a computer-generated image of modern plant design
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