PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
About 40 % of EU waste remains unused, and the amount is still growing. In 2020, the total waste generated in the EU by all economic activities and households amounted to 2,151 million tonnes, or 4,808 kg per capita. Construction contributed 37.1 % of the total amount, followed by mining and quarrying (23.4 %), manufacturing (10.9 %), waste and water services (10.7 %), and households (9.5 %).
The main driver of increasing waste generation during this period was economic growth. Although the European Environment Agency has identified a decoupling of waste generation and economic growth, a key problem to achieving it is the lack of smart waste management technologies .
Energy recovery from waste, and in particular of fuels from waste streams that are no longer suitable for re-use or for efficient material recycling due to their specific chemical and physical properties, is included in the Waste Hierarchy set out in the Waste Framework Directive. Such fuels can be used as alternative fuels or, more precisely, as Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF). Today, there are various treatment processes for producing fuels from waste. However, they generally lack a controllable and adaptable process flow to produce high quality substitute fuels that can be easily adapted to the needs of different end-users. Solid recovered fuels (SRF) are a subgroup of the large family of RDF, consisting of processed fuels that meet the quality requirements for economic, technological and environmental needs specified in existing standards (e.g. EN 15359 in Europe).
OBJECTIVES
The overall objective of the project is to produce substitute fuels from waste and waste by-products with recoverable calorific value which can be used in industrial thermal processes to replace primary raw materials (fossil fuels).
The project aims to:
Construct an industrial size demonstration plant for industrial, commercial and household waste in Bremen, Germany, with an input capacity of 100,000 tonnes/annum (t/a), with the latest available technology for sorting different waste fractions. The plant will aim for a maximum recovery of valuable materials such as ferrous and non-ferrous metals (1,400 t/a) and plastics (7,600 t/a: 7,000 t of polyolefins (PO) and 600 t of PVC).
Process the remaining non-recyclable waste to provide sustainable and customisable high quality Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF) (approximately 91,000 t/a from 100,000 t/a of new raw materials input), which can be used by energy intensive industries (EIIs) (e.g. cement, lime, steel, glass) and RDF/ SRF power plants as alternative fuels.
Adapt the substitute fuel's composition specifically to the customer's combustion technology and exhaust air purification system so that the use of substitute fuel is maximised, and fossil fuels are minimised.
A market uptake is planned by starting replication projects in Germany, Romania, Poland and the Netherlands. A total of 11 follow-up projects are planned for five years after the end of the project. The investments for the SRF 4.0 in Bremen will amount to € 22.1 million until the end of the project. Furthermore, € 62.1 million will be invested for the follow-up projects until 2032 (duplication plant: € 22.1 million, 8 retrofits € 5 million).
RESULTS
The LIFE SRF 4.0 project will achieve the following main results by the end of the project:
An industrial size demonstration plant for industrial, commercial and household waste producing sustainable and customisable SRF.
A circular value chain will be created between the waste treatment/recycling industry and EIIs.
A licencing model will be established for retrofitting of recycling facilities by recycling operators.
The SRF 4.0 technology will be implemented in nine additional plants (one new construction, eight retrofits) by 2032.
25 jobs will be created by the project to operate the SRF 4.0 plant in Bremen. By 2032, it is expected that more than 100 additional jobs will be created through the duplication and transfer of the technology.
The project will contribute to reducing the EU's dependence on fossil energy imports:
It is expected that 61,000 t of fossil fuels (coal) will be replaced annually in EIIs by 91,000 t of SRF.
It is expected that CO2 emissions will be reduced by 67,000 t/a through coal substitution and recycling.
Further GHG savings also result from metal recycling (1348 t CO2-equivalent per year), PO recycling (3920 t CO2-eq. per year) and PVC recycling (948 t CO2 -eq. per year).
About 6.1 kg less mercury is emitted per year through coal substitution.
Water consumption will be reduced by 39,833 m³ per year.
