Leirvik waste-to-energy plant increased their capacity by 50%
In Leirvik on the Faroe Islands, they have chosen to upgrade and adapt an existing plant to deal with the increasing amounts of waste. This resulted in a significant improvement in capacity and efficiency at the plant. What is more, this was a quarter of the price of a new plant.
Increasing amounts of waste and inadequate capacity?
- several improvement possibilities for existing plants
For several years, the Faroese have been battling with the same waste problems as e.g. the Danish municipalities: increasing amounts of waste from households, industry and other refuse collection services as well as inadequate capacity to transform waste to energy and heat via combustion. By working closely with the Danish company, Babcock & Wilcox Vølund, the Faroese have become aware of the improvement possibilities present at the existing waste-to-energy plant. In Leirvik, they have dealt with the inadequate capacity by upgrading a long-established waste-to-energy plant.
50% capacity increase and 10 years extended life span
"By updating and changing a number of central technologies at the Leirvik plant, we have managed to significantly improve the plant's performance, capacity and efficiency for a number of essential parameters. We have done this without needing to expand the existing building, and the costs run at a quarter of the price it would cost to build a new waste-to-energy plant at today's prices. After the upgrade, the plant meets all current environment regulations and now has a 50% higher capacity than before. Furthermore, the plant's life span has been extended with a minimum of 10 years", explains Ken Larsen, Service Manager at Babcock & Wilcox Vølund.
Danish advantage
"It would be advantageous for a lot of the Danish municipalities to utilise upgrading possibilities at their existing waste-to-energy plants by employing the new technologies; this could solve problems caused by increasing amounts of waste. Today, there are several plants in Denmark that can achieve significant capacity improvements by upgrading their plants as a supplement to building new plants", explains Ken Larsen.
”Babcock & Wilcox Vølund is already behind 90% of the combustion technologies at Danish waste-to-energy plants. The project at Leirvik has given us a case that clearly documents the possibilities and advantages gained by upgrading the older smaller, decentralised waste-to-energy plants", explains Ken Larsen.
Strengthens the basis of valuation
All waste-to-energy plants are uniquely designed and adapted to various legislative requirements and specific local conditions. The advantages gained by an upgrade are dependent on an individual analysis of the specific plant in relation to current environment regulations, technical installations and the actual setup of the building. Even though it is not possible to transfer the Leirvik Plant Model directly to Danish plants, the preliminary results are so positive that combustion experts at Babcock & Wilcox Vølund have no doubts whatsoever that it would be advantageous for basically all the older established plants in Denmark to focus on an upgrade.
Technical insight and advanced calculation tools
"Based on our technical insight, experience and advanced calculation tools, we can give the Danish decision makers a detailed picture of the physical and thermal capacity improvements, they can expect by upgrading a local plant. In this way, they can obtain the most qualified basis from which they can make a decision on how to solve the problems caused by increasing amounts of waste", Ken Larsen explains.
Increasing amounts of waste and inadequate capacity
These days, increasing amounts of waste and inadequate capacity at older established waste-to-energy plants are putting pressure on many Danish municipalities as they are finding it difficult to dispose of the waste. A number of municipalities will benefit from employing the technologies developed by Danish Babcock & Wilcox Vølund, a leading international company when it comes to expertise and technologies within environmentally friendly and efficient energy production - including waste-based production. In that context, Danish municipalities can look to the Faroe Islands for inspiration in solving the challenge of inadequate capacity.
The Leirvik plant was originally designed for 2.5 ton waste per hour at 8.4 MJ/kg, but in order to cope with the increasing amount of waste, the plant has been upgraded to 3 ton per hour at 11 MJ/kg.
