Harnessing energy from waste

Managing waste to produce energy or as a resource for new processes is a key element in securing efficiency and sustainability for industries in the future. Mikko Ahokas, consultant and expert for environmental energy and waste management issues in consultancy company WSP Finland, aims to bring ICT solutions and industrial processes closer to each other.

A future of zero waste might not be a utopia after all. According to Mikko Ahokas recycling has its natural limits, but waste-to-energy solutions provide a logical next step in current trends of waste management.

“Although the waste hierarchy is always aiming to utilize and recycle as much as possible, there is always a remaining combustible part, which can only be turned into energy. Waste to energy applications will be even more relevant in the future. There are already a few European countries, where no waste ends up at a dump. This change is also promoted by the new EU directives, which are to take place from 2016 to 2017. We are not only talking about biomass, but all industry waste streams must be processed somehow”, Ahokas argues.

In one case burning waste to energy has also provided unexpected environmental benefits.

“In waste incinerators, the emission restrictions are much more strict than in coal plants. One case in the city of Oulu in Finland showed that the quality of air improved significantly after the city started using a waste incinerator. In total the emissions of the city will be smaller, because of the eco power plant, since it will replace for example oil-produced energy. Methane emissions from the dump are estimated to reduce by 100,000 tonnes during the next five years and CO2 emissions from a local industrial area will be cut to half.”

Digitalization proceeds firmly in waste management and in waste-to-energy solutions. As well as in other industries, it is spearheaded with data produced by sensor technology.

“Robots can be used for sorting waste thanks to sensors. Streams of waste mass can also be monitored in detail, the source of waste generation and the amounts and types of waste, which can be found. This data can be gathered and utilized in the waste-to-energy process. Applications like these will become more common, and when applied also to logistics, they help to optimize the complete supply chain.”

Cost and efficiency are important factors in the new technology becoming more widely used in the waste management industry.

“Cost is certainly a driver in all of this. There is clear evidence that if a waste management company empties a container at the right time, when it is full, 20–25% can be saved in logistics costs. Traffic schedules can then be optimised according to the fullness of the containers.”

Ahokas views that the traditional industries and the ICT industry are still in the process of solidifying a shared language and a model for working together. He attributes a lot of value to companies taking technological innovation forward in traditional industries.

”Those, who start taking advantage of these systems, will have a head start compared to companies, that don’t. In my opinion, companies, which utilise the industrial internet, will be on top.”

The big picture: Industrial symbiosis

A central point of view into the future of recycling and waste-to-energy processes is to examine industrial ecosystems, which have found a state of industrial symbiosis. Ahokas describes this as a process, which takes advantage of a neighbouring industrial plant’s waste as raw material or energy source.

“There might be a paper factory next to a chemical plant producing fatty acids, and all actors in the immediate area utilising the energy of their neighbours in some way. In terms of material management, this could include a crane lifting waste over a wall separating two plants. A close proximity would eliminate the need for trucks to transport the waste materials.”

Circulating recycled energy inside vast industrial ecosystems sounds like an ideal solution for the future to increase productivity and reduce environmental impacts of industrial processes. According to Ahokas, we are still in starting phase.

“Situations such as these have come about in some occasions, because mutual interests have met. But in terms of complete industrial areas being built on the basis of this thinking, there are not many examples. There are some of it in use in waste management plants, mainly thinking what kind of waste is expected and, how it should be utilized.”

Mikko Ahokas works as Industry Specialist in WSP Finland