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ENERGIX-Stort program energi

Waste-to-Energy 2030

Alternative title: Energiutnyttelse av avfall 2030

Awarded: NOK 14.1 mill.

Project Number:

280949

Project Period:

2018 - 2021

Funding received from:

Partner countries:

Our main target is to contribute to keeping the Waste-to-Energy (WtE) sector competitive and performant as it is at the center of a complex web of interests (the public, politics, energy, economy, environment) in the development of circular economy. Using a local, secure supply of mainly renewable feedstock, WtE heat and power from Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) combustion is an integral part of the Norwegian (and European) energy system as it produces about half of district heating in Norway. This sector is tightly regulated and is facing more and more stringent legislation, especially concerning environmental as well as energy performance. The EC commission had a clear message to the WtE sector at the 2016 CEWEP Congress (Confederation of European WtE Plants): Extract more energy from less waste by optimisation of energy efficiency and by harnessing existing WtE capacities in the EU. To achieve just that, we will focus on developing cost-effective solutions for a more stable and predictable process in existing installations. This is not an easy task since waste is so heterogeneous but can be achieved through modelling, a better use of the available plant data and new, better sensors. Increased process stability will lead to increased energy efficiency, decreased emissions and consumables' use, and increased plant capacity and availability. Other aspects addressed in the project include WtE and the circular economy, heat storage and fly ash valorisation. Focus in the first year of the project was on establishing a framework for the dynamic model as well as initiate the R&D activities related to sensor development (PostDoc), fly ash valorisation (experiments with Åbo Akademi) and energy storage (EU survey with PREWIN network). In 2020-2021, all R&D activities progressed: - SINTEF has worked further on a dynamic model for waste incineration plants (incl. start-up). The work is presented in 2 articles. The model was improved with operational data from industry partners, including open loop experiments. The latest part of this work in 2021-2021 focused on development towards (1) CCS integration (one article accepted in 2021) and (2) control strategies - Advanced analysis of operating data investigating correlations between emissions and operating conditions using a new method, with one article accepted in December 2020 and showing the great potential of this method - NTNU Post Doctoral study on sensor development: a prototype has been operating at a Norwegian plant (Statkraft Varme, Trondheim) since June (and was dismantled in January 2021) to collect data. An algorithm to classify different types of waste (household/commercial waste) was successfully being developed and tested (results to be published). A second algorithm to delve further into the waste composition was also developed. A review article is also under review - Åbo Akademi University has conducted a number of lab-scale multi-step leakage tests including thermal treatment with fly ash collected from industry partners. The goal is to show the possibility of extracting selected metals separately. The work, first presented in a journal article, is now summarised in an extended journal article (under review) - Several what-if Circular Economy scenarios for REG Oslo's MSW treatment have been investigated in order to evaluate the possible consequences of new regulations (especially increased sorting and material recycling) as well as other parameters (population, consumption, etc.) on waste quantities, treatment methods, etc. This work was presented at an international conference in December 2020 and the results summarised in a conference article - active participation in national, European and international networks and conferences / workshops: arrangement of an IEA Bioenergy Task 36 webinar on fly ash valorisation (available online), participation in AvfallNorge workshops and seminars, PREWIN meeting, IRRC 2020 conference, etc. - Dissemination of results/activities (project workshop, news update, publications, wrap-up webinar), education (3 NTNU project students, 2 NTNU MSc assignments - one on sensor and one on control system)

1 - WtE dynamic model development & validation using real process data for improved operation 2 - Advanced process data analysis for better process predictability 3 - Sensor concept for MSW characterisation to improve operation: prototype, testing on-site (Statkraft Varme, Trondheim) and algorithms development 4 - Circular Economy & its consequences on MSW/WtE: scenario analysis for REG Oslo 2020 - 2035 5 - Fly ash valorisation: multi-step leaching & mild treatment novel concept to separate target metals & technical monitoring of industrial initiatives relevant for Norway/Scandinavia 6 - Heat storage - technical review The project activities provided in-depth knowledge of several aspects of WtE to the consortium as well as showed the potential of novel methods and concepts to improve performance. Most of the results from activities 1-5 have been published in peer-reviewed (journal or conference) articles, ensuring the quality and dissemination of the work worldwide.

In the EU the WtE sector represents over 4.5% of the total renewable energy. The WtE sector is a workhorse in the renewable energy segment. Operating with a secure supply of local, largely biogenic feedstock, it displaces the use of fossil resources. The combination of stringent legislation and increasingly challenging waste and energy markets have resulted in numerous technological developments to keep the WtE sector competitive. Unfortunately, the majority of the possible solutions require capital intensive retrofitting or are only feasible in new installations. Hence, to ensure that the WtE sector maintains its competiveness, the majority of research efforts should focus on either reducing the cost of capital-intensive technologies or reducing the complexity of low cost alternatives. In this project, we will focus on the latter by developing solutions for increased process performance through a more stable and predictable process. Increased process stability will have a direct consequence on process performance, enabling increased energy efficiency, decreased emissions and consumables use, and increased plant capacity and availability. Major research efforts should be targeted to optimize existing WtE plants as there is a large potential for improvement. We will focus on low cost solutions with a high complexity & additional technologies interesting in the future circular economy. Our methodology: Activities are intertwined but can be described along two paths: - Dynamic model will be developed with emphasis on the use of data collected from industry partners. These data will also be processed (data mining) to promote knowledge discovery, generate fundamental understanding and knowledge-based guidelines & practices - New online sensors aimed at measuring not-currently-collected parameters (i.e. moisture and energy content of MSW) will be developed. The supplementary data will enable validation and improvement of the dynamic model

Publications from Cristin

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Funding scheme:

ENERGIX-Stort program energi