The £18 million plant, which has been under development since 2013, will produce SRF for burning by cement manufacturer CEMEX in its kiln close to the site, under a 250,000 tonnes-per-year supply agreement signed between the two firms in April 2012 (see letsrecycle.com story).
It is expected that the plant, which will take in around 220,000 tonnes of residual waste per year, will be fully operational in the summer. The residual waste material arriving at the site is primarily collected from commercial and industrial businesses across the region and would otherwise go to landfill.
Once the material is received on site, any metals, plastics and paper present will be extracted for recycling. Similarly, materials with a high chlorine content, which could damage the kiln, will also be extracted and any residual waste material that is removed from the production process will be processed into Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) for use in traditional EfW applications.
The remaining material is sifted, shredded and blended while being continuously analysed using infrared technology, allowing the plant operators to ensure that the ‘confetti-like’ fuel has the chemical composition and calorific value required by CEMEX.
Climafuel
SITA anticipates that the plant will produce around 186,000 tonnes of the ‘Climafuel’ SRF product, 72,000 tonnes of refuse derived fuel, and 42,000 tonnes of metals, plastics and paper which will be sent for recycling each year.
SITA UK head of alternative fuels, Andy Hill, said: “The residual waste that will be delivered to this facility would have gone to landfill but, instead, we are going to take out anything which can be recycled and then turn what’s left into a replacement fossil fuel – made to the exacting standards expected by our partners at CEMEX.”
“We have been producing this fuel very successfully at our sister plant at Landor Street in Birmingham for the last couple of years, but this new facility implements the latest technology and will substantially increase our production capacity.”
Commissioning
SITA UK has employed 20 new permanent staff to operate the Malpass Farm SRF facility on a single shift during the commissioning phase. In July, once commissioning has concluded, SITA UK expects to employ an additional 20 members of staff at the site to run a second shift.
The Malpass Farm site will be working in tandem with an already running facility at Landor Street in Birmingham, which has been producing SRF to service the CEMEX deal since opening in 2013 (see letsrecycle.com story).
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