Summary
A Dutch paper mill in the Netherlands has commissioned a new unit to make solid fuel pellets out of reject material. The mill recently changed its dried paper sludge manufacturing process. The recycled paper is separated into organic and small inorganic fractions. The organic fraction is separated into dried paper sludge and "combustibles" such as fabric fibre, plastics, wood and rope fibre. In a new production unit, the mill processes this combustible fraction into solid fuel pellets using a multistage process. The company markets the pellets as solid organic fuel under the trade name of ROFIRE.
Results
Since its completion in early 2000, the unit has produced 16000 tonnes of ROFIRE® per annum. Production of this amount requires 30,000 tonnes/year of solid waste. Using paper production refuse to make solid fuel is highly innovative. The calorific value of the pellets is about 23.7 GJ/tonne, so the annual production of 16,000 tonnes represents 380,000 GJ, equivalent to about 9,000 tonnes of coal or 12 million m3 of Dutch natural gas.
Using ROFIRE as fuel does not reduce the CO2-emissions of a combustion process. It does, however, abate national CO2-emissions, since the waste used to produce ROFIRE, would otherwise have been burned separately. The actual size of the CO2 reductions of course depends on the fuel replaced by Rofire. Replacing other solid fuels like coal results in a CO2-reduction of 37,000 tonnes/year. Furthermore, the project avoids the disposal of 25,000 tonnes/year of waste.
The pellets are sold at € 0.6/GJ (€ 14/tonne) so the annual turnover is € 228,000. Considering reductions in waste disposal costs, the payback period is about 4 years.
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Biomass & Bioenergy
: Energy from Waste
: Industry
: ManagEnergy
: Pellets & Pelleting
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Agentschap NL Secretariaat Mondiale Samenwerking Energie en Klimaat
Case Study (29 KB PDF)