Participation of 51 municipalities
Ecopro General Manager, Odin Krogstad, tells us that the plant can accept many different types of organic waste and will be able to offer an environmentally focused and future-orientated final treatment from both municipal and private players. Ecopro AS is owned by 51 municipalities in the mid-region of Norway, from Rennebu in the south to Rana in the north and Trondheim Energi Fjernvarme AS. The inter-municipal waste companies Helgeland Avfallsforedling IKS, Søndre Helgeland Miljøverk IKS, Midtre Namdal Avfallselskap IKS, Steinkjer Kommune and Innherred Renovasjon IKS were behind the establishment in 2003. HAMOS Forvaltning IKS and Trondheim Energi Fjernvarme AS became shareholders in 2007. Ecopro AS is a unique example of the fact that many municipalities together can participate in finding future-orientated, environmentally focused and not least, financially buoyant solutions to general waste problems. Few municipalities are of a size that would make it possible to do this alone under their own auspices, it requires 25,000 – 30,000 tonnes per year of organic waste to protect investment in a high technology and environmentally focused plant. Ecopro’s owner municipalities supply 17,500 tonnes per year of sourcesorted food waste and 12,500 tonnes per year of sewage sludge, in addition, the plant can currently accept approximately 5,000 tonnes per year of other organic waste from municipal or private players. Expensive sorting errors
Owing to sorting errors incoming food waste contains 15 – 20 % inorganic (mainly plastic and sand) or refractory organic matter (twigs, textiles, etc.). The plant sorts approximately 15 tonnes of this on a daily basis, and consequently there is great potential for improvement in sorting at source. ‘If households had sorted 100% correctly our operating income would have been at least 600.000 Euro higher than today, constituting approximately 15 % of the turnover,’says Odin Krogstad and hopes that there will be improvements in the future and continues ‘We treat municipal waste at cost price and households will themselves make significant savings by improved sorting at source’. 99 % of the waste is recycled
The capacity of the plant is approximately 35,000 tonnes per year, which can be expanded to approximately 60,000 tonnes per year with additional investment. The plant accepts food waste in plastic bags, paper bags and biobags. Paper bags are preferable as they easily break down in the process. The food waste is gently size reduced and screened in an autogenous drum screen at approx 25% consistency, is mixed with water and heated to approximately 70oC. Light rejects are then floated (plastic, twigs, textiles, cork etc.) whilst heavy rejects (sand, stone, glass, metal, bone etc.) are sedimented and removed from the process. In total, approximately 3,000 tonnes is rejected annually. Over 90% of these rejects go to energy recycling, only the heavy reject (240 tonnes per year) from sedimentation is disposed of. |
Biogas and biofertiliser
The plant uses thermal hydrolysis as an infection barrier and anaerobic digestion for biogas production. 30 GWh per year of biogas and approximately 12,000 tonnes per year of nutritious bio fertiliser are produced. The biogas is used in a cogeneration plant where 12 GWh of electricity and 12 GWh steam heat is produced. The biogas can be upgraded to biofuel for the transport sector. The biofertiliser produced meets the requirements of class 1 of the Fertiliser Regulations and is rich in Nitrogen, Phosphor and Potassium and necessary trace elements/minerals. The biofertiliser can be used directly in agriculture or in soil mixtures for consumers and the professional market. Ecopro’s plant accepts most types of organic waste, e.g.: - Source-sorted food waste from households, catering establishments etc.
- Food waste from shops, grocery chains, the wholesale sector etc.
- Sludge from waste water treatment plants
- Fish waste from fish farming and fish processing
- Organic waste from meat processing industry, dairies, bakeries etc.
- Waste from vegetable and fruit production
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