Producing fuel from waste will not be a gold mine, Czech waste expert says

The common practice of sending most waste to landfill is set to end in a few years. Municipalities, waste companies and energy firms are jointly seeking other ways to dispose of what cannot be recycled. “Waste from black bins will be better suited as fuel for fluidised-bed boilers at district heating plants because it has a lower calorific value,” says Jakub Kos of FCC Environment.

One of the main options for dealing with such waste is to convert it into thermal energy. But even when it is incinerated, what is burned and how matters. “Waste-to-energy plants do not have major requirements regarding waste quality. A cement plant or fluidised-bed boiler operator requires waste that has been pre-treated through shredding and sorting,” outlines Jakub Kos, head of the technical projects department at FCC Environment, describing the options for energy recovery from waste. The company is part of the multinational FCC Group, which provides waste management services in Czechia to 1.2 million people. It also produces waste-derived fuel for cement plants at three facilities – in Úholičky, northwest of Prague, in Brno and, most recently, in Lovosice.

There is more talk about solid recovered fuels made from waste, known as SRF, due to rising fossil fuel prices. Have you seen greater interest in them?

Yes, there has been an increase in demand, particularly from cement plants. So far, district heating plants and power stations have virtually not burned waste-derived fuel (they can co-fire very small quantities with coal in a boiler, editor’s note); for them, it is more a consideration for the future in response to the current energy crisis. The first waste-derived fuel boiler project is being completed in Přerov, at a district heating plant in the Veolia group.

Will municipal waste be used significantly more as fuel?

SRF is one route for the energy recovery of waste; another option is conventional waste-to-energy plants (WTE). The new Waste Act stipulated that landfill charges will gradually increase to 1850 Czech crowns in 2029. From 2030, there will be a complete ban on landfilling energy-recoverable waste. That is why a number of other entities (including waste companies such as FCC, editor’s note) are beginning to seek alternatives to the previously dominant practice of landfilling. Cement plants have fairly specific requirements, but fuel from mixed municipal waste can be used in fluidised-bed boilers at district heating plants and power stations. In most cases, however, this means building new boilers designed for that purpose, including special flue-gas cleaning systems on the same level as those at the aforementioned WTE plants.

The first facility to produce fuel from municipal waste is due to be launched by waste company OZO Ostrava in the middle of next year – for the Přerov district heating plant. It will involve so-called mechanical-biological waste treatment. First, recyclable and inert waste will be sorted out, while the remainder will undergo biological treatment. The line will cost 280 million Czech crowns. Will more such lines be built?

For a mechanical-biological facility to operate economically, you need to have demand secured – for example, from newly built and planned fluidised-bed boilers. High energy prices are creating room for energy facility operators to demand lower fees for accepting fuel than they do today, or even to pay for it, so this may start to make sense.

An alternative is purely mechanical waste treatment, in which the residual fraction after SRF production is not further biologically treated and is sent to a WTE plant. It is substantially cheaper in terms of investment, but has higher disposal costs – the residue cannot go to a district heating plant, only to a WTE plant.

Waste-derived fuel for cement plants has relatively demanding quality requirements. Do you have enough suitable material to produce the fuel?

The decline in production in the automotive industry has brought a fall in the generation of waste, some of which was used as input material for SRF. To some extent, residues and rejects from the further sorting of waste from coloured bins can be used. This year, FCC upgraded its SRF line in Brno, which can, among other things, sort out PVC – which must not enter the fuel. This has significantly increased our ability to use sorting rejects. Current problems with energy prices and availability are increasing demand for waste-derived fuel on the one hand, but SRF production itself is fairly energy-intensive on the other. Producers face a sharp rise in electricity prices – in our case up to fivefold – as well as higher prices for spare parts and fuels. The idea that SRF production will now be a “gold mine” is mistaken.

The market price of waste-derived fuel can even be negative. Yet producing fuel from waste entails considerable transport and energy costs. How can this work economically? Is it not cheaper to burn it without treatment?

Waste does not need to be treated for incineration in a WTE plant, and there are no major quality requirements. The trade-off is that the operator needs a more capital-intensive facility, which is reflected in the fee for accepting waste, i.e. for its disposal. A cement plant or fluidised-bed boiler operator does not need to invest as much, but requires waste to be pre-treated through shredding and sorting, and it must not contain chlorine, and so on. It offers a lower acceptance fee, but transfers a substantial part of the costs to the SRF producer. Ultimately, the costs of disposing of – or, more precisely, recovering energy from – one tonne of waste are similar.

Why is waste that could be used for energy recovery sent to landfill? Under the law, recoverable waste must not be landfilled even today.

Waste that can be used as SRF – meaning it meets the relevant quality requirements – is generally not sent to landfill. If it is, this is more likely due to insufficient capacity at SRF production lines or transport distances. It is different with the energy recovery of mixed municipal waste, from black bins. This will be better suited as fuel for fluidised-bed boilers at district heating plants because it has a lower calorific value. Facilities for producing SRF from mixed waste are relatively demanding both in terms of capital expenditure and operation, and landfill is currently cheaper economically. This will change as charges gradually rise and the landfill ban takes effect.

You mentioned the rising landfill charge – from the current 500 Kč per tonne, it is expected to climb to 1850 Czech crowns in 2029. However, if municipalities meet the conditions and obtain a sorting discount, they will continue to pay only 500 Czech crowns for the next several years. That does not yet create many opportunities for a competing method of dealing with mixed municipal waste.

The amount of the charge plays a role, but crucial is the so-called landfill ban from 2030. It will not be possible to landfill waste with a calorific value above 6.5 megajoules per kilogram in dry matter and biological activity AT4 above 10 mg per gram of dry matter. This will affect not only mixed municipal waste, but also most other waste that is currently landfilled.

Will there be a problem with insufficient landfill space before then?

I cannot say. New landfills are no longer being permitted, only the expansion of some existing ones. Even after the aforementioned landfill ban, some capacity will still be needed for waste that can no longer be used in any way, such as bottom ash from WTE plants.

A decree on SRF is currently awaited. What key changes is it expected to bring?

For 20 years, most domestic producers supplied SRF as a product under internal company standards based on European standards. And it was sufficient for this to be approved by the regional authority. However, the new Waste Act introduced new rules for the transition of waste into product status. A specific regulation – the SRF decree – must be issued to make this transition possible. The draft submitted so far by the Ministry of the Environment sets such strict quality requirements that virtually no one will be able to meet them. If the decree is adopted in this form, SRF will continue to be produced and burned in cement plants, but under the waste regime. However, in terms of developing SRF use, this could in future limit above all its wider application in fluidised-bed boilers.

Republished from the online portal EkoNews.cz, a website covering business and sustainability.