Alternative energy from garbage. Scheme, description

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ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RADIO ELECTRONICS AND ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
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Alternative energy from garbage. Encyclopedia of radio electronics and electrical engineering

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Encyclopedia of radio electronics and electrical engineering / Alternative energy sources

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What will our planet, our country, city, street be like in a couple of decades. Will all this turn into an ennobled corner of the earth, or will the ever-expanding dump reach our yards and porches? The recycling of household waste has been used in developed countries for more than 40 years, and for Russia it is still a novelty. Moreover, practically nothing is known about the latest and most advanced technologies in the field of waste processing. Andrey Lopatukhin, senior economic consultant of ALECON, answers questions from AEnergy.ru. The ALECON company is engaged in the implementation of technologies for the hydroseparation of municipal solid waste (MSW) in the CIS countries.

What is MSW hydroseparation technology?

The hydroseparation process takes place in this way: unsorted garbage enters the moving conveyor belt. Moving under a very strong magnet, metal waste sticks to the magnet, then the garbage enters the drum with holes of different diameters. There is a separation of waste by size. Large and small fractions go along different belts, which are immersed in a water tank. Here, lighter debris floats to the surface, and with the help of a powerful fan, packages fall into one container, bottles into another. Further, this garbage is prepared for recycling, and from the garbage that has settled to the bottom - organic residues - biogas is obtained in a bioreactor.

The electricity obtained by burning biogas satisfies the plant's own needs, 60-70% is sold. 80-85% of the waste is recycled. The design of the plant is modular, starting from 300 tons of garbage per day, it is possible to increase productivity up to 2000 tons per day or more. From waste - we get income! Biogas and green electricity are produced from organic waste!

What is the annual energy potential of MSW in Russia, where is it concentrated? Is MSW recycling capable of solving energy problems?

Excluding numerous spontaneous dumps, in the Central Federal District alone, the annual potential of accumulated solid waste is 250000 tons. The largest landfills are a priority for modern technological projects for the extraction of methane. They are concentrated in the Central Federal District - 4 landfills, in the Moscow region - 3, in Tula - 1, in the North-Western Federal District - 2, in the Southern Federal District - 1, in the Volga Federal District - 6 landfills, in the Urals Federal District - 2, in the Siberian Federal District - 3 landfills and in the Far Eastern Federal District - 1.

Is MSW recycling capable of solving energy problems? Undoubtedly! Calculations showed that the volume of methane produced at the landfills is 858 million tons per year, biogas - 1715 million tons.

What is the content of the organic component in the waste? What happens to the inorganic component in the proposed hydroseparative technology?

Waste includes both inorganic and organic substances with varying degrees of decomposition. The content of organic matter in waste is from 35% to 60% by weight of all garbage. As for the inorganic component, in the process of processing inorganic resources acquire a second life. So, ferrous and non-ferrous metals are melted down, glass is used in the construction industry, and many useful household items are made from plastic.

What is the advantage of the MSW hydroseparation method in comparison with the methods of plasma pyrolysis and overlapping of MSW landfills with landfill gas production? What is its market niche?

The main advantage of the MSW hydroseparation method in comparison with the plasma pyrolysis method is significant cost-effectiveness and quick payback of the enterprise, environmental friendliness and a closed technology cycle. The construction of the plant requires an area of 2 hectares and relatively small investments, which pay off in a five-year period.

Electricity is produced from the resulting biogas, part of which satisfies own needs, and part is sold. The organic mass, turning into compost after processing in a bioreactor, is an excellent environmentally friendly fertilizer for growing vegetables and herbs in greenhouses.

Since the use of plasma pyrolysis requires a lot of electricity, in terms of its costs it is comparable to the method of MSW incineration. All plants operating on pyrolysis technology do not provide a proper solution to the problems of solid waste, for the following reasons:

low productivity, plants with a capacity of more than 300 tons per day are very rare in the world;
a large percentage of secondary waste polluting the environment;
the high cost of building factories and unit costs in processing.
small energy return of waste.

To ensure the environmental cleanliness of the technological cycle, the installation of expensive gas filters and smoke eliminators is required.

Another technology for obtaining landfill gas with the overlap of solid waste landfills has many indicators of environmental pollution. "Filtrate" - a toxic liquid, accumulating in the bowels, enters reservoirs and groundwater, poisoning them. In addition, at such landfills, the process of waste decomposition slows down due to the lack of air, and no one knows how many decades it will take for all this to decompose completely.

In addition, this technology requires significant land areas and high operating costs.

MSW hydroseparation technology occupies a worthy niche in the market of proposals for waste processing as the most economically viable and environmentally friendly technology.

What market product is offered by MSW processing enterprises: gas, electricity, heat? Who is the buyer of these energy resources?

In addition to those products that are recycled (metal, glass, plastic, paper and cardboard), MSW processing enterprises fully satisfy their needs for electricity and are suppliers of gas, electricity and heat to the market. High-quality compost for agriculture is produced from biowaste.

It is also possible to have a joint complex for the processing of solid waste with a greenhouse for growing vegetables, herbs or flowers.

Does Russia have experience in building enterprises for the processing of solid waste that produce energy resources? What problems did they face?

The Russian potential of MSW is about 60 million tons per year. In the Moscow region alone, about 6 million tons of MSW are buried annually in landfills. As a result of the decomposition of the organic part of the waste in landfills, biogas is formed. The main components of biogas are greenhouse gases: methane (40-70%) and carbon dioxide (30-45%).

According to our specialists, at a landfill with an area of 12,0 hectares with a disposal capacity of 2,0 million m³ of solid waste, about 150-250 million m³ of biogas can be obtained per year and about 150-300 thousand MW of electricity can be produced. Such a landfill can be operated for several years, on the same equipment and without additional investments. Unfortunately, we do not know any implemented projects on this technology in the Russian Federation.

One of the reasons for the lack of innovative technologies for the processing of solid waste in Russia is the failure to use the potential of the Kyoto Protocol. For example, in Israel for the collection of greenhouse gases at a landfill with a volume of 2.0 million m³ of solid waste, you can attract 5-10 million euros per year under the Kyoto mechanism. We practically do not use existing landfills and landfills, but sort out garbage immediately after it is collected, we process organic waste into compost and biogas immediately from garbage cans. In this way, we prevent unnecessary burial.

AEnergy.ru expresses its gratitude for the interview with Andrey Lopatukhin, Senior Economic Consultant of ALECON consulting company, Tel.: +972-77-4327034, info@alecon.co.il, alecon.co.il; Publication: AEnergy.ru

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