From gasification to biogas to the public and private and academic sectors, many players are shaping the development of the waste conversion industry in North America. Speakers representing all aspects of this rapidly developing industry shared insights from their areas of expertise during a panel discussion at the Renewable Energy from Waste Conference in Orlando, Florida, in November.
Moderating the session was Harvey Gershman, president Gershman, Brickner & Bratton Inc., Fairfax, Virginia. He discussed how economics are not in the corner of waste conversion projects in North America as landfills are inexpensive and energy revenues are at all-time lows.
Other reasons procurements fail, outlined Gershman, are as follows:
- costs too high;
- no site;
- lack of political will;
- technology risk;
- hurts recycling;
- inadequate waste supply;
- regulatory push back; and
- no financing.
He emphasized selling procurement to the private sector. “Sell them the concept you want to have implemented,” he said. He predicted mixed-waste processing and “one-bin” systems will continue to be a trend while environmentalists and zero-waste proponents will continue to push a “recycling only” agenda.
Ted Michaels, president of the Energy Recovery Council, Arlington, Virginia, echoed Gershman’s comments, also pointing to the decline in oil prices and recycling markets in its overall negative impact on the energy-from-waste and recycling industry. He also noted what he described as a major “policy failure” on the part of legislators and regulators to create an optimal environment for waste-to-energy (WTE) in the U.S.
He made reference to the circular economy as a way value can be captured from secondary materials, not just by recycling.
“There is value in recovering energy from materials that would otherwise go to a landfill,” he said. The circular economy, he said, “brings together a lot of different industries with a common theme.”
The economic benefit of a circular economy also has appeal with government. “It is a good bipartisan message,” said Michaels. “This is the kind of growth that can appeal to an awful lot of policymakers.”
He also said the Clean Power Plan could have implications for the WTE industry as emission and fossil fuel reduction will mean less coal and more natural gas, and landfill diversion is one way to reduce greenhouse gases.
One of the fastest growing waste conversion industries in the U.S. is anaerobic digestion (AD). Norma McDonald, of Cincinnati-based Organic Waste Systems and an American Biogas Council board member, shared results from some of the different AD operational systems around Europe, including:
- a high-pressure press;
- a short residence time rotating drum; and
- a long residence-time rotating drum.
She also discussed the benefits of front-end processing with a shredder, followed by a screen
McDonald said different approaches “provide options for municipalities to tailor [systems] to the communities in which you reside.”
Alison Kerester of the Gasification Technologies Council, Arlington, Virginia, discussed global urbanization and the differences between the development of this waste conversion technology here versus the rest of the world.
She said the world’s cities generate 1.3 billion metric tons of solid waste/year and the volume is expected to increase to 2.2 billion metric tons by 2025. Moreover, Waste generation will more than double over the next 20 years in lower income countries. While this may drive the technology elsewhere, Kerester also pointed to economics here in the U.S. She said project developers in the U.S. will not respond anymore to requests for proposals (RFPs), but that they will look at higher value products, such as biofuels, and to working with the military.
PHG Energy, Nashville, Tennessee, has seen some success building gasification facilities with municipalities in Tennessee. She pointed to another win with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recognizing biosolids gasification as being different from incineration.
The largest municipal solid waste (MSW) gasification facility is being built in the U.K. in Tees Valley. It is expected to process 2,000 tons per day of MSW into electricity. The first of two units is expected to be operational in the first quarter of 2016.
Marco Castaldi of the Earth Engineering Center of Columbia University and City College of New York, discussed the Food/Energy/Water (FEW) Nexus and that thermal conversion technologies enable FEW Nexus.
He talked about converting methane into chemicals from the H carbons which are the standard feedstock in chemical production, and noted the opportunity for gasification that can convert solid waste into chemicals.
He also pointed out that while water, food or energy is scarce in certain areas around the world, “Zero percent of the world is without waste.”
According to Castaldi, MSW streams are getting more pure as plastics are rising and paper is declining. This trend will “enable technology to be developed in a more robust way because the feedstock will be more homogeneous.”
The 2015 REW Conference was Nov. 16-19, at the Caribe Royal in Orlando. More information about the conference is available at www.REWConference.com.
