Waste-to-energy was addressed at many conferences held this spring.
The waste-to-energy (WTE) industry received attention at many conferences this spring, as attendees at various events learned about topics ranging from mass-burn facilities and anaerobic digestion (AD) to using construction & demolition wood as boiler fuel.
The North American Waste-to-Energy Conference (NAWTEC) has long covered the mass-burn side of the WTE industry. But, as newer waste conversion technologies become more prevalent, more conferences are offering sessions to help attendees in the waste and recycling industries understand them. Sessions at C&D World and WasteExpo went beyond their traditional recycling scope this year and delved into the topic of producing energy from waste.
C&D Impact
During C&D World, the annual meeting of the Construction & Demolition Recycling Association (CDRA, formerly the Construction Materials Recycling Association), Jorge Caspary, director, solid waste division, Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) provided an update on Florida’s recycling rates. In 2008, the Florida Legislature enacted House Bill 7135, which established a statewide recycling goal of 75 percent to be achieved by the year 2020.
C&D debris is considered part of municipal solid waste (MSW) in Florida. Caspary said that since 2011 the amount of municipal solid waste sent to landfills in Florida has decreased by 10 million tons. That same year, the C&D recycling rate was 29 percent. He also noted that more waste in Florida is used in WTE facilities than any other state, with 17 percent of the state’s waste going to combustion, 30 percent to recycling and 54 perecent to landfill.
In a session titled “Using Traditional Nonrecyclable C&D Residuals as Alternative Fuel,” Monica Sowders, alternative fuel manager for Cemex, discussed how the global cement maker is using various forms of refuse-derived fuel (RDF) in its cement kilns.
“Recycling rates increase in areas that use waste as fuel,” Sowders told attendees. She compared coal with waste as a fuel, saying that coal, while often used as a benchmark for pollutants, is not necessarily a cleaner fuel than waste fuels. “Coal is not the perfect fuel,” she said. “C&D and RDF emissions are lower in some cases.”
Some Cemex plants in the U.S. substitute anywhere from 20 percent to 85 percent of their coal with waste material. A Cemex plant in Georgia is close to 100 percent substitution, she said. The company has a review process before accepting a new form of waste material into its kilns. Sowders said volume and consistency of waste material and plant location are important considerations.
C&D Word 2013 was held April 20-23 at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa, Fla.
Making Progress
NAWTEC bills itself as the industry’s premier technical conference and trade show focusing on municipal WTE operational issues and policy, the latest in legislative updates that impact WTE companies as well as technology and research initiatives.
Now in its 21st year, NAWTEC is cosponsored by the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA), the Energy Recovery Council (ERC) and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) in partnership with the Waste-to-Energy Research and Technology Council (WTERT) at Columbia University.
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More Opportunities
The Recycling Today Media Group will offer two conferences in the fall that will address waste-to-energy markets.
First, in October, the Paper Recycling Conference & Trade Show will offer a session during its Oct. 16-18 event in Chicago titled “The Energy Market Options.” This session will discuss how energy-from-waste markets are providing potential new homes for material recovery facility (MRF) residues, mixed plastics and other nonrecyclable or difficult-to-recycle items. This is an opportunity for attendees to learn about the energy-from-waste industry during a conference designed specifically for those in the recovered fiber industry. Visit www.Paper
RecyclingConference.com to learn more.
For people further engaged in the waste-to-energy industry looking for a full conference dedicated to the technology, economics and legislative aspects of energy recovery from waste, the Renewable Energy from Waste Conference is designed for you. Being held Nov. 18-20 in West Palm Beach, Fla., the conference will provide three days of educational sessions, an exhibit hall and tours designed to provide a thorough understanding of the industry. Visit www.REWconference.com to learn more.
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During a session on the development of WTE capacity in North America, Leah Richter, vice president, Arcadis-US, discussed the progress being made on the expansion of the Solid Waste Authority (SWA) of Palm Beach County in West Palm Beach, Fla. Ground has been broken on the 24-acre site addition and the design is 90 percent complete, she reported. Equipment is being fabricated, and a 24-hour continuous pour was needed for the new refuse pit. SWA says it plans to increase its capacity from the current 2,500 tons per day to more than 5,500 tons per day by 2015.
Another project in development is Durham York Energy Centre in Ontario. Mirka Januszkiewicz, director of waste management services for the Regional Municipality of Durham, spoke about the process of getting the WTE project approved, saying it was “very difficult and very expensive.” After nearly 100 public meetings, the project received approval in November 2012. Site preparations began in the winter of 2012 and the facility is expected to be fully operational in the fall of 2014.
Jim McKay, solid waste manager for HDR Inc., Richmond Hill, Ontario, discussed the research being done in Alberta for the Southern Alberta Energy from Waste Association (SAEWA) Development Project.
Objectives of the SAEWA include exploring energy from waste options to reduce reliance on landfills, enhancing waste management sustainability as well as developing an understanding of available and emerging technologies and facilities.
According to McKay, a potential of 336,000 metric tons per year of waste are generated in the region, which not only includes MSW, but also waste such as scrap railroad ties and oil field wastes. Several technologies are being evaluated, including AD, mechanical biological treatment (MBT), RDF processing and combustion, mass-burn combustion, catalytic depolymerization, hydrolysis, pyrolysis, gasification and plasma arc gasification. When requests for expressions of interest were issued, 24 technologies and vendors responded and six potential host sites responded, but no potential users of the energy responded to the request.
NAWTEC was held April 22-24 at Sanibel Harbour Marriott Resort & Spa in Ft. Myers, Fla.
A New Track
WasteExpo attendees may have noticed a new track on the program in 2013. The Organics & Composting sessions were an addition to this year’s offering and reflected a growth initiative of show organizer Penton Media’s Waste Industry Group.
During a session titled “Compost and Anaerobic Digestion Markets and Applications,” Evan Edgar of Edgar & Associates Inc., Sacramento, Calif., discussed how legislation in California will mandate cocollection of food waste with green waste and highlighted AD facilities in California built by Zero Waste Energy, Lafayette, Calif., and Harvest Power, Waltham, Mass., that can take in these organic solids.
By converting the methane produced at AD facilities into compressed natural gas (CNG), Edgar said these facilities are actually carbon negative.
Edgar said AD is not a conversion technology; rather, it is a form of composting. According to him, the progress in California will soon spread to other states, saying, “What happens in California does not stay in California.”
WasteExpo was held May 20-23 at the Earnest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans.
The author is managing editor of Renewable Energy from Waste and can be reached at [email protected].