Looking for incineration capacities
Working on behalf of the Association of Bavarian Disposal Companies (Verband der Bayerischen Entsorgungsunternehmen e. V. - VBS), bifa examined the situation of disposal of mixed commercial waste in Bavaria with regard to incineration capacities and options for relieving the situation.
Before the outbreak of the corona pandemic substantial capacity bottlenecks existed. Many disposal companies had problems finding takers for their waste and their storage capacities were frequently full to their limits. After the pandemic has ended, the situation will quickly return to being as it was before.
Among other things, the causes of these bottlenecks lie in the population and economic growth, the loss of incineration capacities due to the phasing out of coal-fired power plants, the reduction in EU-wide waste quantities placed in landfill and import restrictions of Asian countries.
Insufficient data are available on the volume of mixed household-type commercial waste. Based on information available in the literature, a quantity of approx. 925,000 Mg/a can be estimated for Bavaria. Of this, around 370,000 Mg passes through sorting plants, 425,000 Mg is disposed of directly in thermal recovery and 130,000 Mg in other systems. Insufficient statistical data are also available on suitable plant capacities for the sorting of such waste. An operator survey undertaken together with the VBS indicated a capacity of approx. 800,000 Mg/a for Bavarian sorting plants, around one half of which is currently used.
The 14 domestic waste incineration plants (DWIP) in Bavaria account for more than three quarters of the energy recovery capacity. Easing the load on these plants could help to relieve the situation significantly. In order to identify the greatest levers for adjusting the situation, among other things, bifa analysed the theoretical DWIP relief potential for important waste streams through complete separation and recycling of the recoverable materials in the waste. It was not possible to examine which part of this theoretical potential can actually be realised within the scope of this study. Nonetheless, the results allow the order of magnitude to be estimated.
The most important fields of action have proven to be improvements in the areas of separation of commercial waste at source and the collection of biowaste. Further significant potential can exist, above all, in the sorting of mixed commercial waste and the collection of lightweight packaging. However, when evaluating the DWIP relief potential, apart from the quantities of the additionally separated recoverable materials, their calorific value must also be taken into consideration, because waste with a high calorific value uses more DWIP capacity than waste with a low calorific value.
Furthermore, it is possible to extend DWIP capacities by building new plants. Even if such a project is planned, a relieving effect is only to be expected in the long term due to the time delay associated with the approval process. The degree to which the capacities of existing DWIP can be extended must be evaluated specifically for each plant.
The results of the study have been published as bifa-Text No. 69 and are available from www.bifa.de
You want more information?
You are welcome to contact me:
Dr. Siegfried Kreibe
skreibe@bifa.de