Lübeck Waste Treatment Facility
Encyclopedia
Mechanical biological treatment
A mechanical biological treatment system is a type of waste processing facility that combines a sorting facility with a form of biological treatment such as composting or anaerobic digestion...
plant located near the city of Lübeck
Lübeck
The Hanseatic City of Lübeck is the second-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany, and one of the major ports of Germany. It was for several centuries the "capital" of the Hanseatic League and, because of its Brick Gothic architectural heritage, is listed by UNESCO as a World...
in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. The facility treats the entire municipality's waste stream utilising a municipal waste treatment process consisting of mechanical sorting
Materials recovery facility
A materials recovery facility or materials reclamation facility or materials recycling facility is a specialized plant that receives, separates and prepares recyclable materials for marketing to end-user manufacturers...
and anaerobic digestion
Anaerobic digestion
Anaerobic digestion is a series of processes in which microorganisms break down biodegradable material in the absence of oxygen. It is used for industrial or domestic purposes to manage waste and/or to release energy....
. The facility has the ability to process up to 150,000 tpa of mixed waste. This facility was constructed in 2005 at Luebeck-Niemark and utilises the Haase MBT+WAD process.
The waste treatment facility also includes a separate composting facility for green waste
Green waste
Green waste is biodegradable waste that can be composed of garden or park waste, such as grass or flower cuttings and hedge trimmings, as well as domestic and commercial food waste...
.
The first component of the process recovers metals and recyclable
Recycling
Recycling is processing used materials into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution and water pollution by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower greenhouse...
elements from the incoming waste. It also produces a refuse-derived fuel
Refuse-derived fuel
Refuse-derived fuel or solid recovered fuel/ specified recovered fuel is a fuel produced by shredding and dehydrating solid waste with a Waste converter technology. RDF consists largely of combustible components of municipal waste such as plastics and biodegradable waste...
which is sent to a dedicated combustion facility to supply domestic heat and electricity to the town of Neumünster
Neumünster
Neumünster is an independent town in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, which has a total of four independent towns.-Current Situation:Neumünster station is major railway junction with lines running in six directions, including the important Hamburg-Altona–Kiel and Neumünster–Flensburg lines.Near...
.
The system design at Lubeck has been the inspiration for three facilities planned for construction by Viridor
Viridor
Viridor is a waste management company in the United Kingdom, owned by Pennon Group, a FTSE 250 based plc focused on the water and waste management industries.Viridor was formed in 1993, by purchasing companies in the landfill market...
as part of the Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...
waste PFI
Private Finance Initiative
The private finance initiative is a way of creating "public–private partnerships" by funding public infrastructure projects with private capital...
project.
The anaerobic digestion plant produces biogas
Biogas
Biogas typically refers to a gas produced by the biological breakdown of organic matter in the absence of oxygen. Organic waste such as dead plant and animal material, animal dung, and kitchen waste can be converted into a gaseous fuel called biogas...
that in turn is used to generate renewable energy
Renewable energy
Renewable energy is energy which comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat, which are renewable . About 16% of global final energy consumption comes from renewables, with 10% coming from traditional biomass, which is mainly used for heating, and 3.4% from...
in a combined heat and power
Combined Heat and Power
Combined Heat and Power may refer to:* Cogeneration* Combined Heat and Power Solar...
module.
See also
- Anaerobic digestionAnaerobic digestionAnaerobic digestion is a series of processes in which microorganisms break down biodegradable material in the absence of oxygen. It is used for industrial or domestic purposes to manage waste and/or to release energy....
- Greater Manchester Waste Disposal AuthorityGreater Manchester Waste Disposal AuthorityThe Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority is a waste disposal authority created under the Local Government Act 1985 to carry out the waste management functions and duties of the Greater Manchester County Council after its abolition in 1986....
- Mechanical biological treatmentMechanical biological treatmentA mechanical biological treatment system is a type of waste processing facility that combines a sorting facility with a form of biological treatment such as composting or anaerobic digestion...