Focus on CO₂ capture in Waste-to-Energy Plants
Session at the IFAT Orange Stage
A session organised by bifa Umweltinstitut and the Bavarian Ministry of the Environment at IFAT analysed how thermal waste treatment plants can contribute to net greenhouse gas neutrality.
The capture of CO₂ from waste incineration plants is currently the subject of intense debate among experts. There is a consensus that a number of technical, economic and legal challenges need to be overcome. This was also the subject of an IFAT panel event organised by bifa Umweltinstitut and the Bavarian State Ministry of the Environment and Consumer Protection.
Technical processes such as amine scrubbing, potash scrubbing and the oxyfuel concept as well as aspects of European and federal law were discussed. An important key message from the event was that the capture and provision of CO₂ from modern waste incineration plants can be seen as an opportunity for a circular carbon economy.
There are still numerous tasks to be solved along the way, such as the further development of capture processes, increasing energy efficiency and the availability of renewable energies as well as logistics solutions for the CO₂.
The expert discussion was attended by Robert Winkler, Head of the Climate Protection, Policy and Sustainability Department at the State Ministry, Dr Ragnar Warnecke, Chairman of the Board of ITAD (Interessengemeinschaft der Thermischen Abfallbehandlungsanlagen in Deutschland e. V.) and Managing Director of GKS-Gemeinschaftskraftwerk Schweinfurt, Dr Wolfram Dietz, Project Manager at bifa Umweltinstitut and Dr Ling He from the Federal Environment Agency (UBA).
The packed audience and around 160 participants demonstrated a high level of interest in the topic.