MoreThanWaste.com - Barrow favourite for MBT plant with gasification (04/12/2006)

Earlier, in November, the Shanks Group won preferred bidder status to deal with Cumbria’s waste in a 25 years PFI deal on the basis of a strategy including mechanical biological treatment (MBT). The contract value will be in the region of £400m in value and was the subject of a previous MoreThanWaste article.

Potential sites could include Park Road or Ramsden Dock in Barrow-in-Furness for the construction of mechanical biological treament plants (MBT) likely to be coupled to gasifiers.

Gasifiers involve heat treatment of residual wastes in a limited supply of oxygen, and such plants are claimed to have reduced emissions and enable maximisation of recycling and composting as part of an integrated waste management strategy in a particular area.

The present plan is to construct the 'new technology' MBT Plants, in Barrow, Carlisle and Workington to treat the residual wastes in Cumbria after other wastes have been removed for recycling and composting.

Outputs from the plant will be shredded, dried, further recyclables removed and the remainder turned into refuse derived fuel pellets.

The fuel, if it can’t be sold to a third party, will be burnt in a gasification plant located in Barrow.

The Shanks MBT Process

The MBT plant will use Ecodeco's "intelligent transfer system" which involves the shredding and homogenisation of residual wastes before they are subject to forced aeration as essentially a partial composting and drying process. This stabilisation process is described by Shanks as "aerobic fermentation". The resultant material is further processed by some additional shredding and sorting into various fractions including metals, soil and stones and a potential fuel with a calorific value between 15 and 18 MJ kg^-1. This "fuel" fraction represents about 50% of the original waste quantity.

Pressure Groups

Environmental pressure groups are uncertain as to how to view Gasifiers as they feel that there is a lack of information. It has been suggested by one group that the energy input into an MBT/Gasifier system may be more than can be obtained from the resultant refuse derived fuel (rdf). However it should be acknowledged that there are often other recyclate and compost outputs that need to be taken into account with these plants.


	Barrow favourite for MBT plant with gasification (04/12/2006) Earlier, in November, the Shanks Group won preferred bidder status to deal with Cumbria’s waste in a 25 years PFI deal on the basis of a strategy including mechanical biological treatment (MBT). The contract value will be in the region of £400m in value and was the subject of a previous MoreThanWaste article. Potential sites could include Park Road or Ramsden Dock in Barrow-in-Furness for the construction of mechanical biological treament plants (MBT) likely to be coupled to gasifiers. Gasifiers involve heat treatment of residual wastes in a limited supply of oxygen, and such plants are claimed to have reduced emissions and enable maximisation of recycling and composting as part of an integrated waste management strategy in a particular area. The present plan is to construct the 'new technology' MBT Plants, in Barrow, Carlisle and Workington to treat the residual wastes in Cumbria after other wastes have been removed for recycling and composting. Outputs from the plant will be shredded, dried, further recyclables removed and the remainder turned into refuse derived fuel pellets. The fuel, if it can’t be sold to a third party, will be burnt in a gasification plant located in Barrow. The Shanks MBT Process The MBT plant will use Ecodeco's "intelligent transfer system" which involves the shredding and homogenisation of residual wastes before they are subject to forced aeration as essentially a partial composting and drying process. This stabilisation process is described by Shanks as "aerobic fermentation". The resultant material is further processed by some additional shredding and sorting into various fractions including metals, soil and stones and a potential fuel with a calorific value between 15 and 18 MJ kg^-1. This "fuel" fraction represents about 50% of the original waste quantity. Pressure Groups Environmental pressure groups are uncertain as to how to view Gasifiers as they feel that there is a lack of information. It has been suggested by one group that the energy input into an MBT/Gasifier system may be more than can be obtained from the resultant refuse derived fuel (rdf). However it should be acknowledged that there are often other recyclate and compost outputs that need to be taken into account with these plants.