WELSH EFW POLICYTechnology Assessment of High Thermal Efficiency Solutions

Kathryn Warren – Senior ConsultantWaste Management & Resource Efficiency, AEA

AWMA 201219th – 22nd JuneSan Antonio, Texas

A world leadingenergy and climatechange consultancy

Overview …. In 20 minutes …..

+ Personal Welcome

+ Introduction to the topic

+ Aims of the research

+ Methodology applied

+ Outcomes of the work

+ Next steps

+ Lessons learned

2

3

A personal welcome

+ Kathryn Warren

- Senior Consultant @ AEA in Waste Management & Resource Efficiency- 7 years of waste management experience- Focus on waste derived fuels, EfW, waste procurement

+ Role on the project

- Project Manager+ Acknowledgements

- Welsh Government for giving permission to publish data- AEA for their support in allowing me to be here today

My sponsor … www.aeat.co.uk

5

Our US sponsors

+ We are here exhibiting with ERG

- we acquired them in 2010+ Come and see us on Booth #118

- ERG and AEA Technology Group+ Franklin Associates (ERG division)

- extensive experience in all aspects of solid waste management (over 30 years of practice)- integrated solid waste master plans- full life cycle analyses of solid waste- waste stream evaluations for local,

regional, state, and national agencies

Setting the Scene

6

The EU Landfill Directive

+ EU Landfill Directive – mitigating landfill’s environmental impacts- BMW reductions required to mitigate fugitive CH4 emissions- Pre-treatment of landfilled materials- Landfill waste acceptance criteria (WACs)- Landfill design, operation, completion and closure requirements

+ BMW includes commercial and industrial wastes and municipal waste streams

+ BMW Landfill targets for the UK- 75% of 1995 level by 2010- 50% of 1995 level by 2013- 35% of 1995 level by 2020

+ Significant driver for innovation in technology solutions7

The Need For Change in the UK (MSW)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

20

03

20

04

20

05

20

06

20

07

20

08

20

09

20

10

20

11

20

12

20

13

20

14

20

15

20

16

20

17

20

18

20

19

20

20

Mil

lio

ns

to

nn

es

pe

r a

nn

um

Non-biodegradable Municipal Waste

Biodegradable Municipal Waste Requiring Diversion

Biodegradable Municipal Waste Allowed to Landfill

Setting the Scene in Wales …

+ European and UK legislative drivers aim to divert waste from landfill and encourage more sustainable use of resources

+ The Welsh Government (WG) published its revised National Waste Strategy (2010) – Towards Zero Waste

+ The strategy sets a cap of 30% of residual waste to be treated in high efficiency EfW plants

+ WG wished to establish if setting a target for thermal conversion efficiency would be achievable

+ Policy positions taken by WG must be based on firm and robust evidence

9

About Wales

+ Part of UK

+ 3m population

+ 22 local authorities, including a mix of rural, urban and valley regions

+ Devolved Government

+ Target of 70% recycling by 2025

10

Research Aims

11

12

Research Aims

To inform WG Policy ….

1. To conduct a technology review to determine which EfW technologies are capable of achieving a total conversion efficiency of 60%

2. To test the feasibility of district heating at a number of proposed EfW sites in Wales

Phase 1 – Technology Assessment

13

14

What technologies?

+ Assessed the current range of thermal treatment technologies

- Combustion: mass burn, moving grate etc.- Advanced Thermal Treatments: Gasification, Pyrolysis

+ Examined the “Prime Mover” used for energy recovery

- Looked at Steam Turbine, Gas Engine, Gas Turbine

+ Determined the efficiencies that could be achieved in “Power only” and using CHP at differing efficiencies

EfW Process

Support Fuel In

Waste Fuel In

Electricity Out

Heat Out(CHP only)

Conversion = [Electricity Out] + [Heat Out]Efficiency [Waste Fuel In] + [Support Fuel In]

WG’s definition of efficiency

15

16

Combined Heat & Power

+ For a standard steam turbine

- the combustion process is used to raise steam- steam drives turbine to generate electricity in power only

mode- excess energy from waste heat is lost to the environment

+ Combined Heat and Power (CHP) allows increased utilization of the embedded energy in waste

+ CHP allows ‘heat’ to be captured driving up overall efficiency and improving environmental performance

+ The research tested the potential performance of combustion and advanced thermal treatment technologies using electricity only and CHP at 40%, 60% and maximum efficiency conditions

WG’s Aspirational Efficiency Targets

+ It was proposed that different efficiency targets should be set for EfW facilities dependent on the EfW technology being used

- Using research findings and current operational data to inform this

+ The target values have been set at such a level that an EfW facility will need to operate in CHP mode in order to comply

- A clear policy steer for new developers

17

WG Aspirational Efficiency Targets

EfW Technology Welsh Government Conversion Efficiency

Target

Combustion 60%

Gasification or Pyrolysis with Steam Turbine Prime Mover

60%

Gasification of Pyrolysis with Gas Engine Prime Mover

50%

18

Modeled efficiencies

+ Detailed performance modeling assessed technology configurations

+ Determined typical net efficiency for plant producing- Electricity only- CHP @ 40% net efficiency- CHP @ 60% net efficiency- CHP @ maximum efficiency conditions

+ Combustion and ATT scenarios modeled using steam turbines

+ ATT processes (where syngas produced) also modeled using reciprocating gas engine and gas turbine

+ Based on feedstock of 645,000 tonnes of residual waste with net calorific value of 8.6 MJ/kg- total MSW available in Wales for treatment by recovery 19

Technology Assessment Outcomes

20

Performance modeling results

21

Technology Type

Energy use Power Only

40% CHP

60% CHP

Max CHP Efficiency

Combustion Conversion efficiency powerConversion efficiency heatTotal conversion efficiency

23% 

23%

18%22%40%

13%47%60%

8%71%79%

Gasification – steam turbine

Conversion efficiency powerConversion efficiency heatTotal conversion efficiency

22% 

22%

18%22%40%

12%48%60%

8%72%81%

Gasification – gas engine

Conversion efficiency powerConversion efficiency heatTotal conversion efficiency

23% 

23%

23%17%40%

N/AN/AN/A

23%29%52%

Gasification – gas turbine

Conversion efficiency powerConversion efficiency heatTotal conversion efficiency

18% 

18%

18%22%40%

N/AN/AN/A

18%35%53%

22

Summary of the findings

+ Technology configurations using steam turbine to recover energy performed in excess of the 60% target

+ Overall efficiencies of approximately 80% are deliverable

+ The performance modelling confirmed to the WG that a total conversion efficiency of 60% was achievable by combustion or gasification with a steam turbine

- A policy based on this efficiency target (60%) would be appropriate from an environmental and technological perspective

Phase 2 – Achieving 60% efficiency by district heating

23

Waste Infrastructure Procurement

+ None of the local authorities in Wales are large enough to procure a residual waste treatment facility individually

+ WG has encourage the development of procurement ‘clusters’

+ 6 procurement clusters have formed, and are working together to procure residual waste infrastructure

+ The reference sites identified by the clusters of local authorities as potential locations for future EfW plants were used in the next stage of the analysis

- These sites may not be actual sites that are developed in the future

24

25

Scenarios modelled

+ Case 1 (Municipal)

- EfW plants procured under the existing municipal residual waste treatment programmes sized to receive only residual municipal waste arisings for a specified area

+ Case 2 (Commercial and Industrial)

- Merchant EfW facilities handling C&I waste+ Case 3 (Combined)

- EfW plants procured under the municipal residual waste treatment programme sized to receive residual municipal and C&I waste arisings

26

District heating feasibility

+ Indicative heat networks arrangements were produced for each assessment case

+ The objective was to create a network that connected the EfW facility to a sufficient number of heat customers to achieve the target heat demand figure

+ Where there was insufficient demand large principal heat users, the heat network also drew upon smaller heat loads (e.g. industrial estates) identified through use of the DECC UK Heat Map

27

Wales Heat Demand Map

28

Key Heat Loads

29

Heat Mapping Outcomes

30

Heat Network Sizing Results

31

Procurement Group

Case Target Heat Demand (MWh/y)

Available Heat Demand (MWh/y)

Available Demand exceeds Target Heat output?

North Wales 1.MSW 187,000 255,500 TRUE2. C&I 53,200 255,500 TRUE3. Combined 643,900 429,800 FALSE

Mid Wales 1.MSW 31,100 31,900 TRUE2. C&I 62,900 44,400 FALSE3. Combined 232,000 44,400 FALSE

South West Wales

1.MSW 204,300 1,100,000 TRUE2. C&I 502,900 394,200 FALSE3. Combined 755,700 1,100,000 TRUE

Tomorrow’s Valley

1.MSW 37,400 51,400 TRUE2. C&I 49,000 69,700 TRUE3. Combined 215,200 95,000 FALSE

Heads of the Valleys

1.MSW 22,100 21,800 TRUE2. C&I 54,000 73,900 TRUE3. Combined 76,100 80,700 TRUE

Project Green 1.MSW 201,100 225,900 TRUE2. C&I 174,000 225,900 TRUE3. Combined 818,700 276,300 FALSE

Heat network findings

+ Case 1

- all six procurement groups were able to develop EfW CHP facilities capable of meeting the conversion efficiency target when plants were sized for MSW only

+ Case 2

- four our of six of proposed Merchant facilities to meet the efficiency target. Two were found not able to secure sufficient demand for heat in order to meet the conversion efficiency target.

+ Case 3

- only two out of six schemes had access to sufficient heat demand to meet the target conversion efficiency

32

Analysis of results

+ Schemes failing to meet the conversion efficiency target could attain only 19% to 67% of the heat output required to achieve the target

+ This indicates that the development of a single EfW facility large enough to accept both MSW and C&I arisings for a procurement area could lead to facilities being developed that would not be able to access sufficient heat demand

+ There would not be sufficient heat users in the vicinity to utilise the heat produced effectively

+ This suggests smaller and a more distributed network of facilities is more likely to meet the target, and is thus a potential new development for WG policy

33

Costing the heat networks

+ Network costs varied significantly between schemes

+ The cost of distribution for heat it was found that costs for the schemes modelled can vary between £12 and £142 per megawatt-hour of heat supplied

+ Thus, network costs for schemes that met the conversion efficiency target were between £0.9m and £23m

34

Costing heat networks – Example 1

35

 

1

Costing heat networks – Example 2

36

 

1

2

3

4

Conclusions

37

38

Conclusions

+ EfW schemes proposed in Wales should be able to access sufficient heat demand in order to meet the aspirational efficiency target

+ Procurement hubs must carefully consider the size of plants they ‘buy’

- those designed to treat both MSW and C&I waste may be too large to access sufficient local heat demand

+ WG have yet to implement mandatory targets for EfW conversion efficiencies

- however, they remain confident that high efficiency EfW facilities are the best option for Wales to treat its residual waste

39

Next steps

+ Challenge is to secure the heat user in high efficiency scenarios

- Municipalities, Waste Management Companies, Developers all have a role to play in securing these

+ Further analysis required to ensure that sufficient heat use can be identified and is deliverable

- Case by case basis- Need to develop a Business Case for future sites / facilities

+ WG need to facilitate joined up thinking between waste procurement projects, planning authorities and waste management companies to make this a reality

- Lessons to be learned fro the rest of the UK!

Lessons for the US

+ Petrol / Diesel / Energy prices are on the up!

- Will renewable energy get a boost?+ Evidence that 60% total conversion

efficiency can be achieved

- Will US decision-makers make this part of their strategies (sustainable solutions)?

+ Size does matter!

+ Location of plants is key if heat recovery is to be realised

- Need to build this into local planning decisions and regional strategies 40

42

Thank you!

Come and see us …. Booth #118

Adam Read

Practice Director - AEA

Waste Management & Resource Efficiency

cell: 0044 7968 707 239

email: adam.read@aeat.co.uk

web: www.aeat.co.uk

Shelly Schneider

Franklin Associates (ERG)

Waste Management & Resource Efficiency

tel: 913-800-8276

email: Shelly.Schneider@erg.com

web: www.aeat.co.uk