Waste disposal authority SYCTOM, which represents the Western suburbs of Paris and neighbouring towns, has built the facility at Issy-les Moulineaux to treat 460,000 tonnes of residual waste a year, alongside a recycling facility for 50,000 tonnes.
The energy from waste plant uses a twin-stream moving grate system manufactured by Swiss firm Von Roll to burn over 30 tonnes of waste an hour.
This produces steam which is fed into a 52MW turbine to generate electricity and is also used to provide district heating for buildings including the Musée D'Orsay.
The plant, called ISSÉANE, came online in December 2007 and was unveiled this month. A spokeswoman for Tiru explained: “ISSÉANE is already an essential contributor to the production of renewable energy in the Paris region. More than 182,000 inhabitants rely on it for their district heating every year.”
Acceptance
In order to fit in with its surroundings, two thirds of the ISSÉANE facility is constructed underground – which the company claims has played a “crucial role” in its acceptance by residents.
The facility has also been given a green roof and wooden cladding, and small chimneys – making it stand out from the energy from waste plant it has replaced, which still stands 500 metres away.
All of the communities the facility serves are within a 10km radius of the sites, which helps to limit transportation to the site and therefore its carbon footprint.
The spokeswoman said: “The building itself begins 31 metres (or six storeys) below ground level and all traffic movement associated with waste deliveries takes place underground. The site's twin chimneys protrude no further than 5 metres above the green roofline, minimising visual impact.”
Waste
Inside the facility, refuse collection vehicles deliver their waste in one of seven bays, from which it drops into a huge waste hall with an aspiration system to limit odour. Here the waste is picked up by two grabber cranes which load it into two hoppers, which feed the boiler.
Combustion gases from the process are treated by an electrostatic precipitator which recovers more than 99% of the particles contained in them, according to the company. Flue gases are also treated to remove pollutants.
Bottom ash produced in the process is taken away on barges for re-use in aggregates, scrap metal is recycled and fly ash is sent for hazardous waste disposal.
Fee
Bart Fourment, UK liaison for Tiru, estimated that the gate fee for the facility was about €85 a tonne, inclusive of energy sales and residue disposal costs. He explained that Tiru charged €30 a tonne which fell to €17 if energy revenue was taken away, and added: “This is incredibly cheap due to size factors, the sale of the steam and other factors.”
[…] Although short-term pain is likely, this may be an opportunity for Australia to develop an internal recycling industry to cater for the population. A power plant in Paris burns household waste to generate power for 79,000 homes – a model that the Clean Energy Finance Corporation believes could have serious potential in Australia. According to Syctom, the waste disposal company managing the site, combustion gases are treated by an electrostatic precipitator which recovers more than 99% of the pa… […]