ANAEROBIC DIGESTION OF MSW OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES

Faria T., Vieira M.,Rosa V., Moura I. EFACEC Engenharia e Sistema, S.A., tiago.faria@efacec.com Schulte S. BTA International GmbH, s.schulte@bta-international.de

EXTENDED ABSTRACT
Introduction
The construction of Anaerobic Digestion (AD) Plants in Portugal comes within the scope of the Decree-Law 178/2006 establishing the PERSU II and Decree-Law n. 152/2002 of 23 May, which in Art.7. sets targets for the reduction of biodegradable municipal waste disposed in landfill. The Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) Plants in study include a Mechanical Pre-treatment, a Wet Pre-treatment and Anaerobic Digestion based on the BTA Process, and Composting with recyclable separation and high quality of biogas and compost production. In the proposed presentation the opportunities and challenges associated to AD systems will be discussed, based on the experience of construction and start-up operation of this type of plants in Portugal.

Projects
In 2006, when the MBT projects in study were designed, the main goal was to reduce biodegradable municipal waste disposal in landfill and the plants were designed to process Source Separated Organic (SSO). However, the plants received from the beginning Municipal Solid Waste (MSW). The pretreatment for the recyclables fraction consisted of a bag opener, a sieve, a manual sorting line, a magnetic separator, and a container press for the rejected material. Now, aiming to increase the efficiency of recovery of recyclables and organic matter to answer to the actual concerns and goals of the normative European and Portuguese documents, the plants are being upgraded with ballistic and optical separators that will improve the recyclables recovery rate and will be able also to recover more organic matter to the Wet Pre-treatment (Pulpers, GRS, Thickners, Suspension Buffer, Digestion). More than 10% of the total input to the plant will additionally be diverted from landfill disposal. Anaerobic Digestion Biogas Production and Quality The Anaerobic Digestion systems of the studied plants have some interesting features, including: Very fast response of the system to any changes (feeding, temperature, addition of O2 or FeCl3) High specific biogas production - The high rate of biogas production is much higher than initially predicted. High reduction of Volatile Solids in Digesters High content of CH4 and low concentration of H2S in the Biogas without chemical or external desulphurization processes The efficient removal of the impurities upfront the anaerobic digestion allows to obtain good quality compost (Class IIA can be used in permanent crops).

The high efficiency of biogas production and quality, high reduction of volatile solids and other important factors like chemical consumption, etc, low down the costs per ton of MSW input initially predicted.

Anaerobic Digestion Challenges

The main challenges of the AD Systems that can be highlighted are: The time range between the tender and the project conclusion the waste characterization can change The quantity and definition of the organic matter in the waste (waste characterization) is very important and should be standardized, regardless of the treatment technology in use Selling of Compost. Despite the low compost production (5% of the total input (t/year)) and its good quality, the selling of compost derived from MSW is not easy and the technical specifications of the quality and utilization of the compost in the normative documents is deficient. So, it should be interesting to find an application to the compost, in liquid or solid form that can turn this type of treatment solution even more desirable.

Main Costs and Main Profits of MBT Plants in study

For cost analysis, the main profits are: Electrical Energy Production, reduction of landfill deposition and the Gate fee and the main costs are: Electrical Energy consumption, Rejected Material (landfill deposition), Maintenance Costs, Labor Costs and Financial Costs. In order to increase the profit and decrease landfill production, an upgrade of the waste treatment with an automatic sorting after the pre-treatment with ballistic and optical separators can be constructed. This upgrade can lead to decrease the costs of landfill deposition (more recyclables and Organic Matter Recovery) and increase the profit of reduction of landfill deposition. The upgrade can also increase the profit of recyclables selling and energy production. Considering all the financial, labor, consumptions, landfill deposition and maintenance costs and all the profits (gate fee, energy selling, reduction of landfill deposition) of a MBT Plants with AD treatment with an automatic sorting upgrade, its possible to calculate an equilibrium gate fee.

CONCLUSIONS
The MBT plants described in this study are working in Portugal with MSW and are in industrial operation. They are now both producing high quality biogas and compost as well as recovering recyclables. The upgrades of the pre-treatment systems to an automatic sorting with ballistic and optical separation are in development. Even though these solutions are an asset in the environment protection, with proven results of landfill disposal reduction and energy production, further study of its economically viability shall be done. Its important to refer that the economic viability of a MBT plant with AD treatment and biogas production is completely sustained in the gate fees, the landfill deposition cost and the energy and recyclables selling market price.

REFERENCES
PERSU II, Plano Estratgico para os Resduos Slidos Urbanos, 2007-2016,MAORT,,2007,ISBN 978-989-8097-01-9 Report of Guarantees Verification Period in a MBT Plant in Portugal, 2013 Mass Balance of MBT Plant Automatic Sorting upgrade of an MBT Plant, 2013, EFACEC Engenharia e Sistemas SA