A serious problem because in the case of urban waste management, the main system in Spain that exists is the landfill, which also represents 4% of GHG emissions (Greenhouse Gases).
Solutions must be sought that achieve community objectives, and the most promising is the generation of biogas with these residues.
Econward: “A large market niche opens up for the energy industry with biogas from urban organic waste”
The Spanish
Optimize the process
“In our company, Econward, we are convinced that the sustainability of the planet goes through the transition to a circular economy, but it is also a business opportunity for the energy sector, always much more active than waste,” he explains to Invertia , Julián Soler, CEO of the company.
Its flagship product is Biomak, a system of pipes connected to three heights that treats urban organic waste and “cooks” it to increase the quantity and quality of the resulting biogas. This, in turn, is suitable to be transformed into biomethane, with the economic potential of this gas as it is capable of being injected into the network.
“We can double the biomethane production at least. We manage to optimize up to 8 tons per year of urban organic waste in our demonstration plant that is in operation in Rivas-Vaciamadrid, next to Valdemingómez”, continues Soler.
“We have validated the process that we developed in the laboratory during the last five years and now we collect the organic waste (those from the brown or gray container) that are brought to us from the city of Madrid so that after passing through our plant, we condition the waste and place it. We send to a biodigester that is in the Technological Center of Puertollano (Ciudad Real) “.
Econward Biomak Plant
The Spanish
Plant operation
A team is applied thermal and pressure hydrolysis with steam that achieves an efficient and sustainable, semi-continuous process, which in sequences of 20 minutes, is capable of treating 6 tons of waste per hour.
The anaerobic digestion process transforms the bio-waste into a new material, a homogeneous, sanitized and bio-thermo-stabilized biomass, which allows increasing the quantity and quality of the resulting biogas.
“The problem we face with urban organic waste is that they are very heterogeneous, with amounts of inappropriate materials, and with different pathogens, bacteria that can affect the recovery of this waste”, explains Alberto Turón, Commercial Director by Econward.
With this system, those impurities that make current treatments so inefficient to generate biomethane in waste plants in Spain are eliminated.
Urban Solid Waste Screening
The Spanish
Biogas roadmap
In Spain we are 20 years behind what other European countries did: get the most value out of the waste that is generated and avoid putting it in a landfill.
Besides the need for a Waste Treatment Plan to achieve these objectives, the Government has just presented the biogas roadmap, a strategy that includes the waste sector, landfills, wastewater treatment and leaks from biogas plants.
There are currently some 146 biogas facilities and their estimated production, according to data from the Ministry for Ecological Transition, was about 2.74 TWh in 2020, but they are mainly slurry management plants.
Regarding the biometano, Spain it only has one production plant, from the purification of biogas, which is injected into the natural gas network. It is located in the Valdemingómez Technology Park, in Madrid, generating biogas from municipal waste with a production capacity close to 97 GWh / year.
Econward control room
The Spanish
Waste management
“Our Biomak plant would improve these ratios by up to 90%. It is a technology that is ready to be installed in Madrid, but also in any municipality of any size. In the end, the big stakeholders are the municipalities, because it will be cheaper than they pay us to collect their MSW rather than to take them to landfills, “adds Tuñón.
But the business is not really there for Econward. “What city councils can pay us for taking care of their MSW is really not our goal, but to sell the biogas we generate to the gas network “.
“For energy companies it is a business niche that will have to be developed in the coming years, and the more efficient the production of biogas, the more profitable it will be. And that is what we offer”, concludes the commercial director .
“We want the world of waste to be the new sex symbol of sustainability”, concludes Soler.
The European Union has launched a series of legislative measures so that the waste generated by Europeans is up to the challenges of the future. It is part of the general community policy regarding circular economy.
Follow the topics that interest you
Reference-www.elespanol.com