LOMELLINA WASTE-TO-ENERGY PLANT

1. Introduction

European Union Directives ask for Member States to encourage the recovery of waste by means of recycling and the use of waste as a source of energy. An integrated facility for recovery of recyclable materials, production of Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF), composting and electricity generation meets such directive very well. Modern Waste-To-Energy (WTE) plants are very different from the old incinerators thanks to the technological progress of the last decades. They have two priorities: respect for the environment and the efficient generation of electricity. An important improvement can be achieved converting Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) into a real fuel that can be easily stored, transported and efficiently burned. From the combustible fraction of MSW it is easy to obtain a product that is much more homogeneous and stable than MSW. This material is known as RDF and is a mix of particles of paper, paperboard, rubber, plastic, textile, leather and wood. RDF has a good heating value, a controlled chemical composition and no smell. Having available such a good fuel, it is worth choosing a clean and efficient combustion process. CFB technology is the cleanest and most efficient combustion technology that is available today. The RDF production is accompanied by the separation of the humid organic fraction of MSW, and also of metals and glass. The organic fraction is composted. It becomes an inert product that is less that 50% of the original organic material thanks to the water evaporation. From sourceseparated food wastes, mixed with yard trimmings, it is possible to produce a compost of very good quality. When the curbside recycling of glass, metals and organics is active, it is particularly easy to convert the remaining waste constituted by combustible materials into RDF.

2.

Overview

The Lomellina Energia Recycling WTE facility is located in Parona, a village in Pavia Province, 30 km from Milan. Lomellina Energia is a special purpose company, owned by Foster Wheeler Italiana (FWI), incorporated in Italy for the development, construction and operation of the facility. The plant, which began operation on July 2000, required an investment of Euro 130 million and was financed by 24% of equity and 76% of debt. Construction was carried out by FWI under a fixed price Engineering, Procurement & Construction contract. The first installation of its kind in Europe, Lomellina Energia is an integrated facility for: recyclable materials recovery & Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) production composting electricity generation Fig.1 shows the flow diagram of the facility. The plant is designed to recover material and energy from 200.000 tons per year of MSW. Some 60% of the MSW is converted into RDF. The balance yields reusable aluminium, ferrous materials, glass and compost. The sorting process is attractive from the point of view both of recycling and of the production of RDF, a fuel that can be easily burned producing very low quantities of bottom ash. The net power output is about 17 MW. The electricity is sold to ENEL under a 15 years PPA. For the first 8 years of operation the electricity tariff includes an incentive since energy from waste is

considered a renewable source of energy. In addition to electricity sales, the MSW is a source of revenues as well. A Framework Agreement has been signed with the Province of Pavia, which appoints Lomellina as the designated plant for a total of 96 municipalities in the Province. This agreement ensures that the municipalities have to deliver all their waste to Lomellina at an inflation adjustable gate-fee. Separate waste delivery agreements have been signed with (consortia of) municipalities in order to detail the specific terms and conditions for waste delivery. The contracts have a put-or-pay character, which means that even if the municipalities deliver less than the agreed committed quantity they will have to pay an amount based on the agreed gate-fee and committed quantity.

3.

The recyclables recovery and fuel preparation system

The system was started up in December 1999, seven months prior to the power plant start up. This was necessary in order to guarantee the disposal of MSW in a district which was suffering from a serious emergency due to the closure of landfill facilities. The MSW composition is the following:
Material Food waste Paper and cardboard Plastic Textiles Metals Wood Yard waste Glass Screenings Other LHV % by wt 20,0 27,5 13,5 3,5 3,5 3,5 7,5 8,0 5,0 8,0 2200 kcal/kg

Trucks deliver the waste to the tipping building. The waste is dumped in the waste pit which is 38,5 meters long, 15,3 meters wide and 4,7 meters deep, large enough to hold nearly 3 days of standard deliveries. Two bridge cranes, one operating and one stand-by, equipped with a 6 m3 grapple, handle incoming MSW for feeding the sorting unit. The recyclables recovery and fuel preparation system consists of 3 lines, each designed to process 25 t/h of MSW. The operation is on 2 shifts, 7 hours per shift, 6 days per week. One line is spare and maybe dedicated to the processing of source-sorted organic material in order to obtain a quality product after composting. The operator from a cabin operates the crane and loads the waste onto the hoppers of the processing lines. Shown schematically in Figure 2, each processing line is composed of a low velocity shredder, a primary trommel, a secondary trommel, magnetic separators and a hammer mill. MSW, after the first shredding, is sent to the two stages primary trommel for separation into 3 streams: an organic rich fraction ( <60mm) a metals rich fraction (60-120 mm) a combustible rich fraction (>120 mm)

The combustible rich fraction, after the removal of ferrous material through magnetic separators, is directly conveyed to the hammer mills. The metals rich fraction is conveyed to

magnetic separators for recovery of ferrous metals and to Eddy current separators for recovery of aluminium cans. The remaining material is mixed to the combustible rich fraction and conveyed to the hammer mills. In the hammer mills the material is shredded to a particle size of 9 cm or less. The hammer mills are installed inside reinforced concrete bunkers, located outside the processing building, that have a fire protection and suppression system as well as provisions for explosion venting through the roof and relief panels. After the hammer mill the RDF, that passes through the last magnetic separator, is conveyed to the RDF storage building which is designed to store enough material for 3 days of boiler operation at full capacity. By compressing the RDF this capacity can be increased to 6 days. The RDF has the following characteristics: - Organic content (putrescible material): - Particle size: - Inerts: 15% wt. max. 98% lower than 90 mm. 2% wt. max.

The organic rich fraction is conveyed to the composting hall where it is stabilized using an aerobic fermentation process. The stabilization process takes about one month. The process air for composting is partially taken from the MSW receiving and sorting building. This causes a slight negative pressure that results in a steady flow of fresh outside air through these areas. A biofilter treats the air from composting and from MSW processing buildings. The stabilised product is sent to the secondary trommel where materials over 2 cm in size, consisting mainly of paper and plastic, are recovered and conveyed to the RDF stream. The remaining organic fraction can be refined using an air classifier for the separation of glass and other solid inerts. The low quality compost derived from stabilization of the MSW organic fraction can be directed to compost storage or to the RDF stream. The composting hall is divided into two sections in order to have two separate areas: one for compost from green waste and the other for compost from MSW. The stabilised and cleaned product coming from the source-sorted organic fraction becomes quality compost after 2 months of the composting process performed in the dedicated area. To minimize dust in the RDF storage areas, combustion air for the boiler is drawn from this section of the facility. The plant is designed for zero water discharge; leachates from compost are recycled in the compost process itself. A control room dedicated to sorting and composting is located in the sorting building. 4. 4.1 The power plant The CFB boiler

The heart of the Waste-To-Energy power plant is the Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB) boiler. The CFB technology was selected to burn RDF and to produce steam for the generation of electricity because of its inherent environmental performances. Fig.3 shows schematically the CFB boiler followed by the flue gas cleaning system. The single CFB boiler is top supported and is comprised of four sections: the furnace, the cyclone, the idle pass and the heat recovery area. The steam circuit is designed for natural circulation and includes a single drum arrangement. Water-cooled Foster Wheeler MONO-WALLR panels are used to construct the furnace, the cyclone, the vestibule and the heat recovery area walls. The allwelded MONO-WALLR design eliminates gas leakage and greatly reduces corrosion. Since fuel-feed systems and ash-handling equipment are external to the boiler, maintenance can be performed on these systems while the boiler is operating at full capacity. There are no moving parts within the boiler, which should result in higher availability compared with

conventional grate boilers. To combat corrosion and erosion the furnace is lined with silicon carbide refractory. The lining provides an excellent resistance to abrasion and chemical attack with a relatively high thermal conductivity. Superheaters are constructed with Inconel 625. The nominal capacity of the boiler is 19 t/h of RDF with a LHV of 3.050 Kcal/Kg. The plant is capable of handling RDF with a LHV range of 2.500-4.000 Kcal/Kg.

4.2

RDF feed system

The RDF auger conveyors deliver the RDF to 3 parallel fuel feed systems placed on the front wall of the furnace. Each fuel feed system is sized for 50% capacity at full load, providing complete redundancy. From the auger conveyors RDF is discharged into the inlet hopper. Through a pneumatic ram RDF is fed to a sloped apron-type feeder that feeds the fuel chute. From the fuel chute RDF drops into the fuel spout where sweep air is used to transport the fuel into the furnace. This air also prevents hot gases back flow. The RDF stored in the inlet hopper also provides a seal against potential furnace pressure. A gate valve is used to isolate the furnace during shut down of the fuel spout. The apron-feeders are supplied with variable speed drivers controlled by superheated steam flow. The feeder ram also responds accordingly.

4.3

Air and gas flow

Primary air is supplied by one centrifugal forced draft fan. Air is initially heated by a steam coil air heater and then introduced into the plenum at the bottom of the furnace. From the plenum, the air enters the fluidized bed through an air distribution grid plate. The grid plate consists of multiple air nozzles inserted through the fins of a water-cooled MONO-WALLR panel grid floor. The orientation and configuration of the nozzles is such that they inject air in a manner so that it transports the heavier bed particles toward the bed drain connected to the stripper-coolers and, at the same time, allows for fluidification of the remaining lighter particles. The airflow suspends the particles of sand and screened bottom ash. Secondary air from a dedicated fan is injected in the furnace at two elevations above the bed to achieve a staged uniform combustion. Inside the Furnace RDF is burnt in this hot, fluid suspension bed, entrained in a substantial upward flow of gas. The combustion temperature is 850900C. The flue gas and the entrained solids exit the furnace through the cyclone where coarse solids are separated from the gas stream, which exits the top of the cyclone. The single cyclone is completely cooled with saturated steam from the drum. This design effectively handles the thermal variations and gives reliable operation and shortens the startup time. The cyclone separates the entrained solids including unburned carbon from the flue gas and returns them to the furnace providing an excellent carbon burn-out. From the cyclone the flue gas flows through the idle pass for lowering their temperature before entering the convection section of the boiler to 650C approximately and then through the vestible over the primary and intermediate superheater sections. From the vestible , flue gas then flows down through the heat recovery area over the evaporator and the economizer and finally flows out through the lower gas exit.

4.4

CFB combustion

The use of CFB combustion technology provides several advantages over conventional gratetype combustors. RDF is burnt in a hot, fluid suspension of material, entrained in an upward flow of gas. Each particle of RDF is completely surrounded by air so that the contact between the fuel and oxygen is very easy. The combustion reaction is very efficient and stable. The CFBs turbulent mixing of hot inert bed particles and air provides an excellent combination of the triple Ts of combustion: time, temperature and turbulence. Temperature, typically in the range 850-900C, is uniform and stable throughout the furnace due to highly turbulent mixing and bed thermal capacity. A lot of heat is absorbed and retained by the bed mass. This gives the furnace a thermal inertia thus maintaining a stable temperature throughout the furnace. The mixing of fuel and air due to turbulence reduces the potential for hot spots or for localized reducing atmosphere. As a consequence of the easiness of the combustion process, excess air requirements (50%) are substantially less than for conventional grate boilers. Despite low excess air needed by the CFB, carbon monoxide emissions are very low. The low and homogeneous furnace temperature provides lower nitrogen oxide emissions than conventional high temperature combustion. In addition the introduction of air in stages suppresses the generation of NOx even further. Another advantage that is related to relatively low combustion temperature is the low potential for ash slagging and tube fouling. A very high boiler efficiency exceeding 86% is achieved. This is due to low air excess (50%) and low unburned carbon (<1%). This results in increased steam and electrical output per ton of waste burned. Auxiliary burners and in-bed lances firing natural gas are used to heat the boiler and the bed during the start-up phases and to provide further security that the temperature of 850C inside the combustion chamber is maintained also in the worst operating conditions.

4.5

Water-steam flow

Boiler feedwater enters the unit at the economizer, located at the bottom of the convection heat recovery area, where it is preheated. From the economizer water rises to the steam drum. From the steam drum water is distributed to the lower inlet headers of the furnace walls, the idle pass walls, the heat recovery area enclosure and the evaporator bank. Inside the water walls and the evaporator coil water flows upward and boils while being heated. A steam-water mixture is collected at the upper outlet headers and sent to the steam drum. The steam drum separates the water from the steam-water mixture and directs it back to the drum reservoir for circulation to the water walls and evaporator coils. The steam is dried and sent to superheaters. Superheating is sequentially carried out at cyclone walls, vestibule walls, primary superheater, intermediate superheater and finally at the finishing superheater located in the INTREXTM integrated recycle heat exchanger. The INTREX heat exchanger is a bubbling bed heat exchanger located on the discharge pipe of the cyclone. Heat is recovered from recirculated ash in the INTREX heat exchanger. With this solution, final superheating is carried out using equipment with reduced dimensions, thanks to the very high heat transfer that can be achieved in a bubbling bed, and above all avoiding the risk of corrosion due to HCl at high temperature. Spray attemperators are provided to control the final steam temperature in a smooth way. The steam production is 83 t/h at 443C and 62 Barg. The superheated steam drives a steam turbine, single casing, condensing type, with three extractions feeding the deaerator, the two condensate pre-heaters and the combustion air preheater.

A reducing gear is installed between the turbine and the synchronous electrical generator running at 1500 RPM. A by-pass system routes H.P. steam to the air condenser when the steam turbine is out of service. The electric power production at generator terminals is 19 MW. The exhaust steam from the turbine is sent to an air-cooled condenser. The condensate flow is pumped by means of one of the two 100% capacity condensate pumps from condenser hotwell through a preheater into the deareator. The feed water is pumped by means of one of the two, 100% capacity, feed water pumps from the deareator to the boiler.

4.6

Bottom ashes system

The spent bed material is in the bottom of the furnace in the lower portion of the bed. From the rear wall at the bottom of the furnace the coarser, heavier ash is discharged to the two stripper-coolers through two slightly sloped solid drains. Air is used to facilitate the discharge of the bottom ash. Each stripper-cooler is utilized to strip the fines from the ash, channelling them back to the furnace and to cool the remaining coarser ash. Air is used to strip the fines and to cool the ash. Each stripper-cooler is batch fed. Bed material is admitted into the stripper cooler when the furnace bed level reaches a set value. The bottom ashes, that are about 7% by wt. of the fired RDF, are disposed in a landfill for non-hazardous waste.

4.7

Flue gas cleaning

The flue gas cleaning system is very simple and reflects the philosophy which inspired the design of the unit: an intrinsically clean power plant firing a real fuel instead of an incinerator followed by a complicated chemical plant to clean the flue gases. The system consists of: a conditioning tower to control moisture and temperature levels of flue gas before cleaning a flue gas dry scrubber with injection of lime and active carbon through a Venturi reactor a fabric-filter baghouse The flue gases exiting the boiler economizer enter the external economizer where they are further cooled to some 150C against condensate. Inside the conditioning tower they are further cooled to some 130C by finely dispersed water droplets. The droplets in contact with the hot flue gas vaporize to yield the optimum moisture content for pollutants removal. The bottom of the conditioning tower is equipped with a dust extraction system consisting of a screw extractor and a rotary valve. From the exit of the conditioning tower flue gases are sent to the Venturi dry reactor where hydrated lime and activated carbon are pneumatically injected in the flue gases for the removal of acid components and pollutants. The hydrated lime reacts with sulphur dioxide, hydrochloric and hydrofluoric acid forming the relevant salts, while the volatile heavy metals and organic micropollutants are adsorbed on the surface of the activated carbon. The Venturi dry reactor is vertical and designed to obtain the necessary mixing between reagent and gaseous acid components. Flue gases enter from the bottom and are accelerated through the throat where the reagent is injected. The fly ash, the reaction products, the activated carbon and the unreacted lime are then retained by the bags of the fabric filter and periodically removed from the bag by air jet pulses and collected in the filter hoppers. The baghouse is a four fields fabric filter. The cleaned flue gases are taken by the I.D. fan and then exhausted to the atmosphere via the stack. The height of the stack is 100

m. The fly ash collected in the filter and in the conditioning tower, together with the ones collected in the boiler hoppers are partially recycled to recover unreacted lime and carbon and partially sent to the storage silos for further processing. Thanks to the quality of the combustion process there is no need for a DeNOx system to meet the NOx emission limit. The table below shows a comparison of the emissions to the permit limits. (Data from Test Report and Daily Report dated 23-11-2000). A continuous monitoring system is used to control and record flue gas temperature, O2, dust, CO, HCl, NOx, SO2 and VOC. Emissions. Limits from Decreto Ministero dellAmbiente 19/11/1997 n.503
Substance Test Results Daily Average 1,2 0,4 152,2 4,6 9,2 <0,1 <0,1 0,01 <0,005 0,041 0,00003 0,0743 Limits Daily Average 10 100 200 20 50 1 10 0,5 0,05 0,05 0,01 0,1

Dust (2) SO2 (2) NOx (2) HCl (2) CO (2) HF VOC (2) Sb+As+Pb+Cr+Co+Cu+Mn+Ni+V+Sn (3) Cd+Tl (3) Hg (3) Aromatic hydrocarbons (3) Dioxins & Furans (4) Notes: 1. 2. 3. 4.

mg/Nm mg/Nm mg/Nm mg/Nm mg/Nm mg/Nm mg/Nm mg/Nm mg/Nm mg/Nm mg/Nm ng/Nm3

Concentrations referred to dry gas, 11% vol O2, 273 K, 1013 mbar. Continuous measurement. 8 hours average. 8 hours average; 2, 3, 7, 8 TCDD equivalent.

4.8

Fly ash inertization system

Fly ash is collected at the boiler and flue gas cleaning system hoppers and stored in a dedicated silo. Fly ash consists of combustion ashes, salts from lime reaction with acid gases, excess of lime, activated carbon and inert dust. It is about 7% by wt. of the fired RDF. Without further treatment fly ash is classified as a hazardous substance. Therefore it is treated in a cold process to meet the requirements for non-hazardous waste landfilling. Fly ash is mixed with cement, blast furnace slag and water and poured in bags with 1 m3 capacity. These bags are temporary stored in a dedicated area up to the concrete solidification. However, from tests on samples of fly ash, it is expected that fly ash from the combustion of RDF can pass the leaching test without any inertization treatment.

5.

Operation and maintenance

The total staff operating the facility consists of 80 employees. MSW can be delivered to the facility 6 days a week, 12 hours a day. The sorting section operates on 2 shifts, 7 hours per shift, 6 days per week. The power plant operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The sorting section is fully automatic, no manual operations are required.

MSW

FLUE GAS CLEANING

CIRCULATING FLUIDIZED BED BOILER RECYCLABLES RECOVERY & RDF PROCESSING

MSW FOOD, GREEN

RDF

STEAM TURBINE

COMPOSTING

Quality compost

Compost Aluminum Glass & inerts & ferrous

Electric power

Fig.1 Flow Diagram

MSW

Shredder

Hammer mill 1st Trommel

Water 21%

>12 cm <6 cm Composting Magn <12 cm 2nd Trommel Air Classifier < 2 cm > 2 cm Magn Alum Sep Magn

Compost

Glass

Aluminum

Ferrous

10 %

6%

1%

2%

RDF 60 %

Fig. 2 Recyclable Materials Recovery & Fuel Preparation

CFB bolier Stack

Venturi reactor
RDF

Cyclone Baghouse filter Furnace

Water

Intrex

Prim. air

Steam

Bottom inerts

Sec. air

Fly ash

Fig.3 CFB Boiler Line