Supplier news

Inashco to design metals recovery system for Lancaster, Pennsylvania, waste authority

The Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority (LCSWMA), Lancaster, Pennsylvania, has entered into a long-term contract with Inashco North America Inc., Annapolis, Maryland, to site a $14 million facility next to the Frey Farm Landfill in Conestoga, Pennsylvania. The facility is designed to recover a variety of metals from waste-to-energy (WTE) ash.

LCSWMA owns two WTE facilities in Bainbridge and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, that burn municipal solid waste (MSW), producing enough renewable energy to power the equivalent of 45,000 area homes and businesses. After combustion, the remaining ash from both power plants is transported to LCSWMA’s Frey Farm Landfill where it is used as daily cover.

While LCSWMA’s WTE facilities currently use in-line metal recovery systems, the authority says only larger metals are removed.

Inashco North America’s metals recovery system removes pebble-sized metals present in the ash.

This system incorporates the use of proprietary technology, in addition to various screens, magnets and conventional eddy current separators to remove fine ferrous and nonferrous metals from WTE ash for the benefit of bringing these metals back to manufacturers and to avoid primary mining.

“This will be our fourth facility built in the U.S. but our first project as public-private partnership with a county agency,” says John Joyner, president of Inashco North America.

Arno LaHaye, CEO of Inashco North America’s parent company based in the Netherlands, states, “Inashco is proud to be a part of this landmark project in the U.S. solid waste industry and to contribute to an advancement toward sustainability and a circular economy.”

The 100,000-square-foot facility is designed to process 165,000 tons of ash generated annually from LCSWMA’s two WTE facilities. About 8,000 tons of metals will be recovered each year. The partners anticipate construction to start in spring 2017, with full operations commencing by spring 2018.

Plexus Recycling Technologies launches at WasteExpo 2016

At WasteExpo 2016 in Las Vegas, Plexus Recycling Technologies, Westminster, Colorado, launched as a full line recycling solutions provider.

Plexus seeks to bring recycling technologies from around the world together in different systems.

The company will begin distribution of three new product lines: Andritz MeWa, which develops and manufactures recycling machines and turnkey solutions for the recycling of waste electrical and electronic equipment, refrigerators, oil filters, household and domestic waste and used tires; Matthiessen, which specializes in bag opening and bale breaking; and ZenRobotics, a robotic sorting system, along with Komptech stationary equipment.

Ener-Core initiates final testing for power oxidizer

Ener-Core Inc., Irvine, California, a provider of Power Oxidation technology and equipment that generates clean power from waste and low-quality gases, initiated its full scale acceptance test (FSAT) connecting the company’s 2-megawatt power oxidizer with the Houston-based Dresser-Rand business’ KG2-3G gas turbine. The system is large enough to power 2,000 to 3,000 homes. The FSAT involves a fully functional system in a configuration that enables testing of all performance against specifications.

After successful testing, the FSAT will trigger the payment of a $1.6 million license fee from the Dresser-Rand business, part of Siemens Power and Gas Division, payable to Ener-Core, as well as the full commercial deployment of the system.

The license agreement grants the Dresser-Rand business exclusive rights to commercialize the Ener-Core power oxidizer technology in the 1 to 4 megawatt range, bundled with the Dresser-Rand business’ KG2 gas turbine product line. Also following successful testing, the Dresser-Rand business can assemble and ship the first two commercial systems to Pacific Ethanol Inc. Sacramento, California.

Ener-Core signed the licensing agrement in November 2014. The sub scale acceptance test (SSAT) was completed in May 2015.

GE provides equipment for Eco Park facility

General Electric (GE), Fairfield, Connecticut, announced that global engineering and construction company M+W group, Stuttgart, Germany, has selected its Jenbacher gas engines and Monsal advanced anaerobic digestion system for Surrey County Council’s new “Eco Park” waste treatment and biogas-to-energy facility being built by SUEZ Recycling and Recovery U.K. in Shepperton, Surrey, England.

The two low-nitrogen oxide (NOx) gas engines are being provided by Clarke Energy, Liverpool, U.K., GE’s authorized distributor of Jenbacher gas engines.

The Eco Park’s anaerobic digestion facility is expected to process 40,000 tons of food waste annually from households in Surrey. Supported by a waste infrastructure grant from the U.K. government, it will be located adjacent to an existing community recycling center, about 5 miles from London Heathrow Airport. The biogas produced will be used to fuel two of GE’s Jenbacher J416 biogas engines, which are configured to generate up to 50 percent of the common limit for NOx and will provide a total of 2.4 megawatts of electrical power. After powering itself, the Eco Park will supply energy to the national grid.

The Eco Park is being built on behalf of Surrey County Council and will supply baseload renewable power to the local distribution network while at the same time providing an alternative to landfill in the form of anaerobic digestion. In addition to the anaerobic digestion and CHP plant, the Eco Park also includes a 55,000-tons-per-year gasification facility with pretreatment, a recyclables bulking facility and a new visitors’ center. The gasification system will be installed separately and will process municipal waste into a partially renewable combustible gas for additional power production.

For the new project, GE’s scope of work will also include Re:Sep separation technology, the hydrolysis pasteurization digestion for full biological treatment of the waste, high chemical oxygen demand/volatile solids conversion to biogas and AmmCycle for the treatment of high-strength ammonia liquor.

BioHiTech Global launches new solid recovered fuel subsidiary

BioHiTech Global Inc., a Chestnut Ridge, New York-based company that produces data-driven solutions for food waste disposal, has launched its new subsidiary, Entsorga North America, that the company says expands its value proposition to include organic and inorganic waste streams and provides enterprise solutions to the residential and municipal marketplaces.

Entsorga North America will manage Apple Valley Waste Conversions LLC, an Entsorga North America part-owned subsidiary in Kearneysville, West Virginia. It holds an exclusive license to deploy the proprietary Entstorga HEBioT mechanical biological treatment (MBT) technology throughout the northeastern U.S. The facility was financed with a $25 million tax-exempt bond issued by the West Virginia Economic Development Authority and is expected to be operational in the spring of 2017.

The HEBioT MBT system converts food waste, plastics and other carbon-based materials from the mixed municipal solid waste (MSW) stream into an U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognized alternative fuel source.

The waste received at a facility is converted to a clean burning alternative fuel called solid recovered fuel or SRF, which will be used as an alternative or supplement to fossil fuels. SRF is optimal for co-processing plants such as cement kilns and steel mills, as well as coal-fired power plants, as a source for the production of renewable energy, the company says.

The Entsorga MBT technology creates an EPA-recognized engineered fuel. This means that facilities using this specific SRF, as an alternative fuel, will not be subject to the EPA incinerator rule (Commercial/Industrial Solid Waste Incinerator Rule) and that the SRF meets certain standards that other fuels cannot meet.

“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to introduce this proven technology to the United States and to convert food and mixed solid waste into an EPA-recognized alternative fuel source,” says Frank E. Celli, CEO of BioHiTech Global. “The addition of the Entsorga technology is consistent with the company’s objective of providing disruptive technologies to deal with the growing issue of food waste diversion and zero waste initiatives.”

He continues, “We now have the ability to expand our solutions to provide economically feasible alternatives for organic and inorganic waste disposal to all generators, including businesses and municipalities. We will deploy this exciting technology along with our Eco-Safe digesters throughout the United States, providing a one-stop solution to our customers and solving the increasing problem of the lack of infrastructure capable of dealing with our country’s zero-landfill initiatives.”