| Abstract |
The objective of the Distributed Energy (DE) Programme is to increase the up-take of DE through the development of integrated systems in order to reduce through-life costs, improve ease of installation and increase efficiency in the combined generation of heat and electricity. Within this programme framework the Energy from Waste project seeks to quantify the opportunity for the use of UK Waste arisings as a fuel to be used in the combined generation of heat and electricity.The UK generates around 330 million tonnes of waste per annum, of which around 90 million tonnes is energy bearing. Government legislation seeks to incentivise the diversion of waste from landfill through the existing landfill tax and landfill diversion targets. In parallel the UK is committed to reducing its GHG emissions by 80% by 2050 and supplying 15% of its energy demands from renewable sources by 2020. These drivers lead to a requirement for technology solutions which enable wastes to be used as a cost effective, low carbon and indigenous energy resource for the UK. The Energy from Waste FRP was commissioned to address these requirements and identify potential opportunities for a large scale demonstration project in this area.
This overview summarises the key findings from the work packages (Waste Assessment, Technology Assessment, Technology Performance Monitoring and Assessment, and UK Benefits Case) and recommends the next steps.
To achieve the benefits described, considerable technical development and demonstration is required, particularly around the end-to-end waste to power generation system integration of advanced thermal conversion technologies. The collaborative structure and ability to bring together a range of cross disciplinary skills would uniquely positionthe ETI to enable the successful development and demonstration of an advanced thermal conversion process with integrated gas clean up.
It should be noted that the scope of the Energy from Waste FRP is focused on the generation of heat and power from waste, looking outside this scope the consortium identified a number of additional areas that could add value in the future. These are: - Low cost heat networks
- The use of syn-gas generated from EfW technologies to create fuels / chemicals
- The use of pyrolysis to create transport fuels
- The injection of bio-gas and syn-gas from EfW technologies into the gas grid
- The injection of bio-gas and syn-gas from EfW technologies into the gas grid with CCS
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