Waste Management & Handling


New Shredding Technology Shreds Old Wind Turbine Blades Even though the cross flow shredder DIABOLO® is not the devil’s advocate,


it certainly is a bad omen for all disused wind turbine blades that are waiting to be disposed of. In a town near Luneburg, in the north of Germany, the shredding technology by (Germany) has been in operation for about twelve months now. At present, it grinds down eight tonnes of scrap from mechanical biological treatment plants to a standard grain size of two to four centimeters every hour. This process happens continuously on a six- days-a-week basis and serves to “prepare” the shredding device for what there is to come. Soon, it will fulfill its intended purpose and with this it will face its biggest challenge yet, the communition of fibre-glass reinforced rotor blades.


Since 2005, old and worn-out rotor blades from wind power stations can no longer be landfilled in Germany. Even though incineration is still a viable option to dispose of wind turbine blades, it proves to be rather tricky due to the sheer size of the input material. Today’s rotor blades have a standard length of 46 metres and can weigh between nine and ten tonnes. Mirko Winter, general manager of AU+T adds: “The material would definitely have to be cut down before it can be incinerated. However, due to the lack of suitable tools, the high degree of material wear as well as health and safety issues that may arise with regard to the amount dust that is released during the cutting process, the incineration of rotor blades is still not practical.” Thanks to the DIABOLO®


, one needs no longer waste thoughts on incinerating rotor blades because the shredding device is going to be at the core of


a new process that can recycle this oversized input material without difficulties and without leaving any residues. During the treatment, the rotor blades are pre-shredded and then they are fed into the DIABOLO®


, which disintegrates material


compounds and crushes the input material to homogeneous grits using its two-stage process. Right after the treatment in the 43-tonnes cross flow shredder, metals are separated from non-metal by means of magnetic separators, whereas the fine dust from the rotor blades is extracted by suction. ‘Waste not’ seems to the motto of this process. Everything that is obtained at the end of the process is re-used. For instance, the plastic powder will find a use in the production of concrete. “The first couple of tests with the rotor blades were a major success. You see, a devil just cannot be intimidated that easily,” Mirko Winter laughs.


The cross flow shredder DIABOLO® unites two processing steps in one machine, which can get different types of input material such


as WEEE, scrap from mechanical biological treatment plants, refrigerators or rotor blades, down to a pre-defined homogenous size. Further treatment steps including granulation, manual sorting and hammer milling are not required when using this machine. At first, the material is pre-crushed by means of a rotating chain in the upper chamber of the machine. The breakdown of material occurs, for the most part, due to the force of the impact between the input materials as they are smashed together. The conically shaped processing chamber enables an optimal and unproblematic material feeding. Subsequently, the pre-processed material is dropped into the second comminuting chamber through an adjustable chute. As the chute is regulated by means of hydraulic cylinders, the maximum size of the material that reaches the second chamber can be determined.


Finally, in the second comminuting chamber the material is grinded down to a homogeneous grit size, which happens by means of


a technology that can be compared to a hammer mill. The shell that encases the hammer mill is adjustable in height by means of several hydraulic cylinders and expands conically from top to bottom. Using flexible beating elements which are attached to conically arranged hammer disks inside the shell, the material is milled vertically top down to a uniform grit size that has a minimum diameter of 10 millimetres.


By the end of 2009, there were 21,164 wind turbines in operation in Germany. It seems like the DIABOLO® of work so soon. Reader Reply Card No 55 will not be running out


GE Expands Its Waste-to- Energy Capabilities


Further expanding its diverse portfolio of power generation technologies, GE announce the acquisition of substantially all of the assets of Calnetix Power Solutions (CPS), a Florida-based company that develops innovative technology for small-scale, waste heat to power projects. Recovering waste heat from industrial processes and using it to produce electricity is a rapidly growing trend in the global power industry offering high efficiency and a reduced carbon footprint.


CPS offers well-proven waste heat to power technology to


generate electricity using the waste heat of various types of engines, biomass boilers and gas turbines. The acquired business will be integrated into GE’s Jenbacher gas engine business, based in Jenbach, Austria. Today, much of the activity in the small-scale, waste heat recovery sector is centered in Europe.


“Alternative energy sources such as waste heat are growing in importance given the urgent global need for more efficient use of our limited resources. Acquiring CPS’s technology gives us a tremendous opportunity to enter this very promising, small-scale waste heat to power segment with a competitive, fully commercialised offering. Because of its energy efficiency and zero emissions, we see this industry sector as a $1 billion global space with high growth opportunities,” said Steve Bolze, president and CEO of GE Power & Water.


Reader Reply Card No 54


New Recycling Opportunities for Waste from Paper


Severnside Recycling (UK), a leading recycling and waste management company, has joined forces with Envar, an innovative resource management organisation, to develop alternative outlets for waste produced during the paper making process. Severnside and its parent company, DS Smith Plc, which includes St Regis, have a no-landfill ethos, so finding new uses for waste such as paper sludge is vital in supporting their own environmental objectives.


Oil Spill Response Assists with Kuwait Spill


Oil Spill Response (UK), has just completed a response to a fuel oil spill in the Arabian Gulf. The spill, which occurred in early August in Kuwait, was the result of a malfunction in part of a process system. A small quantity of fuel oil spilt into the surrounding environment.


Says Richard Sims, Regional Manager Middle East, “Although the spill was small our member decided that they needed additional


assistance and so we initially provided them with the services of a Technical Advisor. An assigned Technical Advisor works alongside our member’s in-house team and essentially is there to help ease and improve decision making.


“Once we received the call I travelled from our base in Bahrain to Kuwait where I worked with our member’s in-house team to assess


the spill area. Together we concluded that additional equipment was required. As an organisation we then worked to support the in-house team, we surveyed the surrounding beaches over a 10 day period, gave guidance and recommendations on response activity and mobilised the additional equipment from Bahrain.


“We had three Oil Spill Response personnel on-site including Ali Hussan who, as an Arab national and Arabic speaker, helped hugely with communications. Our team was integrated into our member’s team to bring the total response team to just over 50 people.”


In the four years that Oil Spill Response has had a base in Bahrain this is the first response incident of this nature that has required equipment to be mobilised from it. Adds Richard, “The equipment was transported across the Causeway, through Saudi Arabia and on into Kuwait.” Border crossings can, on occasion, be complicated but according to Richard despite differences encountered at different borders their equipment passed through smoothly. “As a global organisation we are experienced in border crossings. Different countries require equipment to be packed in different ways and documentation has to be correct but apart from differences in the time taken to cross different borders we experienced no problems at all.”


The response is now complete and a full internal investigation into how the spill occurred has commenced. Says Richard, “After any spill we reflect on what we did, how we did it and how well we responded. Our primary lesson learned from this response is that we can mobilise quickly and effectively from our Bahrain base and cross borders efficiently. We were also able to get additional support from both our UK and Singapore bases as we required it; so our global positioning worked really well.


“Other lessons learned were about adapting to some extreme working temperatures. For instance the temperature, at its peak, each


day was around 510 C. We couldn’t work between the hours of 12noon and 4pm because of the heat so we worked around those times to ensure the safety of the team whilst still providing an effective response. Whilst we were responding to the spill it was also the holy month of Ramadan. As an organisation we are very culturally aware so again we ensured that we worked in such a way as to respect Ramadan, support the team – both in-house and from Oil Spill Response – whilst getting the job done.


“The final lesson learned, or should I say re-learned, is around security. Security remains a top priority for everyone at Oil Spill Response and with planning and support our equipment and team were safe and secure at all times during the response.”


Reader Reply Card No 56


Envar specialises in the recycling of organic wastes. This partnership will see de-inked paper sludge from St Regis’ Hollins Mill in Darwen, Blackburn, being used for a range of applications including animal bedding, land restoration and agricultural fertiliser.


“De-inked paper sludge offers a number of different


recycling options,” said Andrew Urquhart, development director, at Envar. “The paper crumb from the mills is ideal as a bedding product as it has low moisture content and no odour, offering farmers a cost-effective and sustainable alternative to intensively farmed hay and straw. Furthermore, paper sludge contains excellent organic matter, provides plant nutrients and can be used in restoration projects as an ingredient in manufactured soil helping to grow new trees and providing a complete closed loop when the trees are harvested to produce paper.”


“We’re delighted to be working with Severnside to deliver


innovative and sustainable uses for the waste from DS Smith Plc’s manufacturing processes, helping to meet the company’s objectives for sustainable waste management,” Urquhart adds.


Envar will handle around 26,000 tonnes of paper sludge from Hollins Mill. Not only does Envar find new uses for organic wastes, it also focuses on using the materials locally, reducing road miles, carbon emissions and helping local communities be more sustainable.


Mathew Prosser, commercial director for Severnside, comments: “Envar is able to offer some interesting solutions which are seeing the waste from our companies’ mills being put to excellent reuse. With our own clients, we pride ourselves on developing innovative solutions to avoid landfill, so working with Envar means that we can ensure that our own waste practices are just as sustainable.”


Before working with Envar, the waste from the Hollins Mill


was spread on farm land as an organic fertiliser, but the partnership with Envar means that the waste can go to a wider range of uses. The paper sludge from St Regis and DS Smith’s other mills continues to be used on local farm land.


Reader Reply Card No 57


www.pollutionsolutions-online.com • Annual Buyers’ Guide 2011


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