In March 2015 global engineering and construction company Stuttgart, Germany-based M+W Group appointed Machinex, Plessisville, Quebec, to provide a material recovery facility (MRF) for the energy-from-waste (EFW) project for Levenseat Renewable Energy Ltd. in Lanark, Scotland. Last May, Machinex began installation of the front-end sorting facility, which the company says should be completed and operational in early 2017. The addition of the drying solution is scheduled to be operational in mid-2017 to complete the project.
Regarding the installation, Angus Hamilton, director at Levenseat Ltd., says, “We have been very impressed with Machinex as a company; they were more than willing to work with us to find an appropriate, robust and creative solutions for our project. They have been very professional and have shown a dedication to not only completing the project on time but also [to] making sure we were satisfied throughout. Above all we felt Machinex really listened to and understood our requirements and worked with us to produce a design that aligned perfectly with what we were aiming to achieve.”
The system is a refuse-derived fuel (RDF) and solid recovered fuel (SRF) preparation plant designed to process 42 tonnes per hour of commercial and industrial waste along with municipal solid waste, Machinex says. The MRF will produce a minimum of 100,000 tonnes annually of high-quality RDF as a feedstock for the Levenseat Power Plant while also maximising the recovery of high-value recyclates (such as paper, cardboard, plastics, metals and wood) and waste diversion from landfill. The system will also produce a SRF stream from the super-light and high-calorific nonrecyclable material.
To meet the objectives of the plant, Machinex says it is using the latest technologies, including four shredders, one Machinex trommel, one waste screen, three air separators, two MACH Ballistic separators, three MACH Hyspec optical sorting units, one belt dryer and two Machinex single-ram balers. One of the balers will be used to process recyclables, while the second baler will be dedicated to handling RDF and SRF bales. This baler was developed by Machinex specifically for the waste-to-energy industry to handle RDF baling. This machine incorporates plastic strapping and bale wrapping.
To increase and assure the quality of RDF recovered from the stream of fines, which includes wet organics, belt drying technology was selected. The continuous dryer is self-sustainable and will use heat generated by the waste-to-energy plant adjacent to the MRF.
