The Isle of Wight gasification facility is a
municipal waste
Municipal solid waste (MSW), commonly known as trash or garbage in the United States and rubbish in Britain, is a waste type consisting of everyday items that are discarded by the public. "Garbage" can also refer specifically to food waste, ...
treatment plant in southern
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. It entered the commissioning phase in autumn 2008, and will be replaced by a new moving grate incinerator in 2019
The facility has been funded as part of
Defra DEFRA may refer to:
* Deficit Reduction Act of 1984, United States law
* Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, United Kingdom government department
{{Disambiguation ...
's
New Technologies Demonstrator Programme
The New Technologies Demonstrator Programme is a scheme part of Defra's Waste Implementation Programme, New Technologies Workstream, to demonstrate advanced solid waste processing technologies in England. A pot of £30million was allocated to fu ...
and is one of the first and only facilities in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
to be classed as a gasification system employed for the combustion of
refuse derived fuel
Refuse-derived fuel (RDF) is a fuel produced from various types of waste such as municipal solid waste (MSW), industrial waste or commercial waste.
The World Business Council for Sustainable Development provides a definition:
''"Selected waste ...
originating from municipal waste. The plant is operated by Waste Gas Technology UK Ltd, part of th
ENER·G group and utilises the Energos technology; Energos is also part of the ENER·G group. The Energos system was
retrofitted
Retrofitting is the addition of new technology or features to older systems. Retrofits can happen for a number of reasons, for example with big capital expenditures like naval vessels, military equipment or manufacturing plants, businesses or go ...
into a small conventional incinerator plant and combust an estimated 30,000 tonnes of refuse-derived fuel per year. Originally estimated at £8 million, the retrofit cost £10 million to commission, £2.7 million of which was funded by
DEFRA DEFRA may refer to:
* Deficit Reduction Act of 1984, United States law
* Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, United Kingdom government department
{{Disambiguation ...
.
The plant is sited at Forest Road, Newport.
Temporary suspension of operation, 2010
Due to increased dioxin emission levels detected in March 2010 exceeding 8 times the legal limit, operation was temporarily suspended spring 2010. The
flue gas
Flue gas is the gas exiting to the atmosphere via a flue, which is a pipe or channel for conveying exhaust gases from a fireplace, oven, furnace, boiler or steam generator. Quite often, the flue gas refers to the combustion exhaust gas produc ...
cleaning system of the old incinerator was reused in the retrofit, and ENER·G reported this system to be the cause of the problem. Following modifications and several startup attempts, it has been operating again since October 2010.
In June 2011, the Isle of Wight council decided to make radical efforts to lessen its dependence on the gasification facility with reference to its history of limited reliability. In 2017 it was decided to build a new grate based incinerator to replace the Energos plant by 2019.
Energos technology
The Energos system includes a close coupled combustion stage which, as configured, uses all the
syngas
Syngas, or synthesis gas, is a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, in various ratios. The gas often contains some carbon dioxide and methane. It is principly used for producing ammonia or methanol. Syngas is combustible and can be used as ...
in the combustion stage. It is thus not able to produce syngas for external use and therefore sometimes categorized as two-stage combustion. The process enables improved control of the combustion to minimise the formation of combustion related emissions such as
oxides of nitrogen Nitrogen oxide may refer to a binary compound of oxygen and nitrogen, or a mixture of such compounds:
Charge-neutral
*Nitric oxide (NO), nitrogen(II) oxide, or nitrogen monoxide
*Nitrogen dioxide (), nitrogen(IV) oxide
* Nitrogen trioxide (), or n ...
(NOx), Carbon Monoxide (CO) and Total Organic Carbons (TOC). Operating plants achieve average annual NOx emissions of 25 – 30% of the EU limit using just process control and without the need for either
Selective Non Catalytic Reduction
Selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR) is a method to lessen nitrogen oxide emissions in conventional power plants that burn biomass, waste and coal. The process involves injecting either ammonia or urea into the firebox of the boiler at a loca ...
(SNCR) or
Selective Catalytic Reduction
Selective catalytic reduction (SCR) is a means of converting nitrogen oxides, also referred to as with the aid of a catalyst into diatomic nitrogen (), and water (). A reductant, typically anhydrous ammonia (), aqueous ammonia (), or a urea () ...
(SCR), whilst at the same time achieving very low CO and TOC emissions.
The energy in the combusted syngas is converted into steam. Energos plants produce steam at lower temperature and pressure than modern
waste incinerators, and thus achieve low energy-efficiencies compared to incinerators. As a CHP or heat delivery plant, the cycle efficiency is approaching 85%. One such example is the recently constructed Sarpsborg 2 plant, which provides process steam to the Borregaard Chemical Plant, directly displacing heavy fuel oil.
The Isle of Wight plant debuts a new furnace design for the Energos process aimed at increased combustion efficiency, dust removal and enabling less interruptions and downtime than the earlier design
See also
*
Incineration
Incineration is a waste treatment process that involves the combustion of substances contained in waste materials. Industrial plants for waste incineration are commonly referred to as waste-to-energy facilities. Incineration and other high ...
*
Gasification
Gasification is a process that converts biomass- or fossil fuel-based carbonaceous materials into gases, including as the largest fractions: nitrogen (N2), carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen (H2), and carbon dioxide (). This is achieved by reacting ...
*
Gasifier
Gasification is a process that converts biomass- or fossil fuel-based carbonaceous materials into gases, including as the largest fractions: nitrogen (N2), carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen (H2), and carbon dioxide (). This is achieved by reactin ...
*
Pyrolysis
The pyrolysis (or devolatilization) process is the thermal decomposition of materials at elevated temperatures, often in an inert atmosphere. It involves a change of chemical composition. The word is coined from the Greek-derived elements ''py ...
*
Thermal treatment
Thermal treatment is any waste treatment technology that involves high temperatures in the processing of the waste feedstock. Commonly this involves the combustion of waste materials.
Systems that are generally considered to be thermal treatment ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Isle Of Wight Gasification Facility
Bioenergy in the United Kingdom
Buildings and structures on the Isle of Wight
Thermal treatment
Waste power stations in England