Displaying items by tag: RDF
Colombia: Cementos Argos and Sistema Verde have collaborated to transform nearly 27t of waste from the Estéreo Picnic music festival in Bogotá on 21 – 24 March 2024 into alternative fuel for Cementos Argos' Cartagena plant. The initiative, which includes converting materials such as plastics and cardboard into fuel, aligns with Cementos Argos’ aim to reduce fossil fuel use and CO₂ emissions per tonne of cement by 29% by 2030.
Mauricio Giraldo, director of alternative resources at Cementos Argos said "We are very pleased to be part of this alliance with which we join the global need to join efforts to make an adequate use of waste in a safe, controlled and clean manner. Our goal as a company is to dispose of more than 300,000t/yr of waste, and with actions like this, we continue to contribute to achieving this goal.”
India: Kerala has converted approximately 48,000t of non-recyclable waste into refuse-derived fuel (RDF) for use in cement plants, from the period of January - December 2023. The Department of Local Self-Government reported that 29,826t originated from the government sector and 18,205t from the private sector. The material was collected from households and shops, separated at collection facilities and sent to cement plants for co-processing. The local authorities managed the collection and separation of dry waste.
The state has ‘significantly’ invested in infrastructure for dry waste storage, with 167 resource recovery facilities, 1981 collection facilities, 20,904 mini collection facilities, and 57 storage warehouses over 45,522m2. The Haritha Mithram mobile app has led to an increase in door-to-door waste collection and the volume of dry waste processed. The state has added 41 more warehouses so far in 2024 to manage the increased waste collection.
MPA Cement publishes 2019 Sustainable Development Report
17 January 2020UK: The Mineral Products Association (MPA) Cement’s five members – Breedon Cement, Cemex UK, Hanson Cement, Lafarge Cement and Tarmac – saw their direct CO2 emissions per tonne of cement rise by 0.6% year-on-year to 633kg in 2018 from 629kg in 2017. Refuse-derived fuel rates in 2018 were 43.2%, down by 0.5% from 43.8Mt in 2017. The industry achieved its seventh consecutive year in which producers sent zero process waste to landfill. Overall sales fell by 1.0% year-on-year.
Ministry of Environment permits tyre-burning by Cementos Cosmos
06 December 2019Spain: Brazilian-based Votorantim Cimentos’ subsidiary Cementos Cosmos has received authorisation for the combustion of tyres to fuel the kilns at its 1.6Mt/yr Toral de los Vados plant in León. Diario del León has reported that the government of Castile and León will complete bureaucratic procedures finalising the permit before 25 December 2019.
Dalmia cement commits itself to carbon negativity by 2040
20 September 2019India: Dalmia Cement has revealed its commitment to dropping its net CO2 emissions to below 0t/yr by 2040 as part of its new ‘Future Today’ branding. The company’s plan consists of a transition to renewable power by 2030 and the adoption of plant matter and refuse-derived fuel (RDF) for 100% of its fuel needs. Dalmia’s 4.0Mt/yr integrated Ariyalur cement plant in Tamil Nadu will receive a 0.5Mt/yr carbon capture and storage facility in 2022 at the latest. The UK-based Carbon Clean Solutions will provide technology and operational services for the installation, the largest in the cement industry. Mahendra Singh, managing director and CEO of Dalmia Cement, has expressed the hope that its product should become ‘the World’s greenest cement.’
Egypt: Suez Cement plans to spend US$77m to convert its Helwan and Torah cement plants to use coal and refuse derived fuel (RDF), according to local media. The Kattameya and Suez cement plants were converted in 2015.
The company intends to start the conversion process in February 2016 at Helwan and July 2016 at Torah. The upgrade is expected to take 12 - 18 months. Subsequently both plants would use 70% coal for their energy. Helwan Cement will supplement this with 20 – 25% RDF and 5% natural gas. Torah Cement will use 30% heavy fuel oil. These conversions are expected to reduce the company's operating costs.
Wastecycle expands site and takes on 20% more staff
10 December 2015UK: Wastecycle's recycling facility in Colwick, Nottinghamshire is now one of the largest in the UK after an expansion of the site. By acquiring seven acres of property, which the company previously leased, and buying an additional four acres, Wastecycle has extended its site to nearly 20 acres.
"It's an exciting time for us because this expansion provides us with the platform we need to reach the next stage of growth as a company," said Financial Director Nathan Cole. "Over the long term, we plan to use the additional land to expand our extensive recycling and resource management activities. This will help us broaden the services we offer our customers while improving the quality and sustainability of the recycled products we manufacture."
The company has also completed an expansion of its main office to accommodate its growing workforce. After a 20% growth in staff 2015, it now employs almost 300 people across its Colwick site and its two sites in Leicestershire. "Ensuring our teams are comfortable in their working environments is very important to us because, not only does it increase productivity, but it also creates positive morale," said Cole. "Larger premises also provide the opportunity to open up new jobs, while improving the quality of service we can provide to customers."
Wastecycle separates 500,000t/yr of waste, including 18,000t/yr of recycling from 126,131 homes in the Nottingham City Council area. Some of the waste is turned into refuse-derived fuel (RDF) for use at cement plants. It also sorts through the rubbish of thousands of businesses across Nottinghamshire, runs a skip hire service and operates a wallboard recycling facility, which it developed with British Gypsum.
In 2014, Wastecycle's turnover increased to Euro42.8m from Euro35.9m in 2013. In 2015, it won four awards, including a bronze environmental best practice accolade at the Green Apple Awards in November 2015. It was recognised for the success of its wallboard recycling scheme, which has prevented more than 30,000t/yr of wallboard from reaching landfill.
Egypt: According to Reuters, Arabian Cement Company has commissioned new alternative fuel processing machinery at its plant in Suez.
The state-of-the-art FLSmidth HOTDISCTM allows Arabian Cement's plant to rely completely on coal and alternative fuels to run its operations. Moreover, it enables the plant to operate its kilns using alternative fuel materials directly, without the need to pre-treat them. Arabian Cement now has a designed fuel mix of 70% coal and 30% alternative fuels. The alternative fuel that will be used will be a mixture of agricultural wastes, municipal sludge and refuse-derived fuels (RDF). Alternative fuel use is expected to result in around 60,000t/yr of reduced CO2 emissions.
New RDF plant comes online in Pasig, Manila
25 June 2015Philippines: According to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, on 24 June 2015 the Pasig City government brought online what it described as, 'The country's largest facility for turning rubbish into fuel, capable of processing 600t/day of trash.'
The plant, which is Pasig City's joint project with the IPM Construction & Development Corp (IPM) and the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), can process almost all of the city's daily waste production into refuse-derived fuel (RDF). Pasig City mayor Maribel Eusebio said that the plant would produce fuel pellets from the waste, which would then be supplied as an alternative fuel to cement plants. The RDF is majority-owned by Basic Environmental Systems & Technologies (BEST), a subsidiary of publicly-listed Minerales Industrias Corp, as well as France-based Lafarge Industrial Ecology International.
The plant mechanically segregates waste, selecting garbage with high thermal value that will be shredded, made into pellets and wrapped into bales. The plant is expected to convert 25 – 35% of the processed waste into alternative fuel for cement kilns. "The plant addresses serious concerns on increasing municipal solid waste and disposal," said Eusebio. "The RDF plant also complies with the waste diversion requirement of Republic Act No 9003 or Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000. It also addresses climate change issues associated with how municipal wastes are managed."
The use of RDF in lieu of coal addresses the twin issues of solid waste management and climate change. "This is the largest RDF plant in the Philippines to date," said Isabelita P Mercado, president of IPM, which operates and manages the plant. "This is also a pioneering endeavour to save the environment by reducing our dependence on fossil fuel."
India: According to the Economic Times, the waste from city kitchens will soon be recycled into refuse-derived fuel (RDF) at waste processing plants in Kalaburagi City, Karnataka. The RDF from the 10 upcoming waste processing plants in Kalaburagi will be given to cement companies for use as fuel and the biodegradable waste will be used as manure by farmers.
The joint initiative taken up by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) and Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development & Finance Corporation (KUIDFC) has had agreements with cement manufacturers such as ACC, Vicat Sagar and UltraTech in Kalaburagi.
"Plastic-like material is a good alternative for fossil fuel as it can replace up to 20% of fossil fuel in terms of energy," said KSPCB chairman Vaman Acharya. The pact is yet to be signed and talks between the stakeholders is in the final stages. Transport costs for the RDF are estimated to be less than US$0.016/kg.
The idea to use RDF instead of fossil fuel in Kalaburagi cement plants was first conceived by Hasiru Dala, a Bengaluru-based non profit organisation working on waste management. It has provided 100t of combustible waste to Zuari Cements' plant in Andhra Pradesh in the past two months. Nalini Shekar, founder of Hasiru Dala, said that the material was not sold to the cement plant for a price, but Zuari paid for packaging and transportation. Households have been asked to segregate waste and hand it to BBMP garbage collectors to make the process easier.