SPOTLIGHT ON RDF/SDF AND SRF
Key questions are being asked about the supply of energy recovery
In the UK, to try and meet EU Landfi ll Diversion targets as well as escape the ever increasing rise in landfi ll tax, larger and larger volumes of RDF and SRF are being exported for incineration and energy recovery overseas.
The commercial waste sector has tapped into this market, and have built dedicated RDF and SRF production facilities to maintain the constant requirements for the supply of RDF and SRF to energy from waste plants in Northern Europe – mainly, the Netherlands, Germany and Scandinavia.
Some large multinational waste management companies such as FCC and Shanks Waste Solutions are already exporting RDF and SRF to the Netherlands. Other smaller and medium sized fi rms dotted geographically across the country have also followed suite, to divert waste from landfi ll.
It seems a nonsense we are exporting so much RDF and SRF to facilities in Northern Europe to fulfi l their shortfall in tonnage. This is due to their waste to energy plants being far too large, as well as fulfi lling energy needs when the UK can’t quite fulfi l its’ own energy requirements.
It would seem this trend will continue to grow for the next few years, while the UK still builds other energy from waste facilities to meet this shortfall of RDF and SRF currently exported abroad.
It would seem far more sustainable, with increased recycling rates as well as small pockets of overcapacity being realised in the UK (for example, in the West Midlands and North East in the next few years) that we capitalise on using the RDF and SRF
we currently export to Northern Europe to fulfi l our own shortfall in incineration capacity.
The shortfall of tonnage will increase in the UK in the future, due to increased recycling rates as well as new technologies which are able to recover far more value from a wider range of recyclables and reduce residual waste volumes further. This will mean the requirement for RDF and SRF production will be reduced.
This will also be combined with other energy from waste facilities being constructed, or those which have reached the fi nal planning stage.
However one key question will remain - will the calorifi c value in the RDF and SRF left over after the recyclables have been extracted, meet the required calorifi c values needed to produce the required volumes of combined heat and power (CHP) by energy from waste facilities?
If we combusted the RDF and SRF that we do produce, it could be used to help fulfi l our own energy requirements, as well as help meet the Renewables target for 2020.
Waste to energy plants in Northern Europe, which currently rely on our RDF and SRF, could approach other Eastern European countries as well as other EU member states still reliant on landfi ll as their main route of waste treatment, and capitalise on utilising their waste to fulfi l shortfalls in tonnage.
This will also help other member states manage their waste in a more sustainable way, as well as helping them to meet their EU landfi ll diversion targets.
By Timothy Byrne
Timothy Byrne
B.Sc. (Wastes Management), MCIWM, ISWA IWM
• Timothy Byrne has been interested in
waste transportation vehicles ever since he was four years old. He remembers all the national and regional waste management companies which existed from the late 70s to the year 2000.
• He has a degree in Wastes
Management from the University of Northampton, is a Chartered Waste Manager (MCIWM) through the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management, and is an International Waste Manager certifi ed by the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA). He has worked in the industry for many years, and currently is an International Waste Management consultant.
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SHM February, 2017
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