Burning plastics for energy

valtraman

Member
With all the plastics that are being dumped and piled up all over the place would it not be sensible to build a mass burner that can deal with anything and burn it and the smoke/gasses of it put through some sort of exhaust system to clean it and produce energy. With hopefully only small amount of waste products after that process needing to go into landfill or something. Sounds simple to me .
 

Nearly

Member
Location
North of York
There's a council waste incinerator (with all the smoke scrubbers) by the A1 at Boroughbridge running under capacity while bale wrap taken to local Yorwaste depot goes to landfill. :(
 

Still Farming

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
South Wales UK
Most probably the industrial incinerator already do for years now.
Think years ago the power station by here was burning shredded tyres with varst exhaust gas recircolating and cleaning processes until the green brigade closed it down.
You wait until another "beast from the east ",and they be froze.
 

Hard Graft

Member
BASE UK Member
Location
British Isles
i defently does make sence and alot off the green packing etc has higher emissions
they do do it in the form of rfd refuse derived fuel and it cam be more environmentally friendly as there is less CO2 produced that recycling the plastic and making new
 

valtraman

Member
Also why if we must use so much plastic can we not use more bio degradable plastics like maize plastics , plastic lamb coats , they just perish away , I’m sure a lot of food packaging could be made out if it especially as foods have short shelf life’s. U get the book thrown at u if u were caught having a big tidy up and a bonfire for couple hours , must be seen to be recycling but what’s the point when it ends up in landfill somewhere. Also why are recycled products such as stock board etc so expensive to buy ???
 

renewablejohn

Member
Location
lancs
Virtually nothing is non recyclable given the correct tools for the job. Whether it is commercially viable is another matter. If its genuinely not recyclable then we should not be producing it in the first place. Its like fishing nets upto the advent of plastic all nets were made out of natural materials which would biodegrade within a short period of time. Then along comes plastic and any lost nets which you always get become a permanent problem. Simple solution just ban all plastic from the marine environment. I do like the scheme were fishermen are paid per kg of plastic recovered from the sea in boat fuel made from the recovered plastic.
 

___\0/___

Member
Location
SW Scotland
Not in my back yard.
EFW is in a mess right now Malvern looks like the latest one being mothballed after they failed to get it working properly.

You really don't one in your back yard if they are going to f*ck about with it for a year and still not get it to work, haven't seen any emissions reports but don't think they will be great. Also looking forward to Levenseats report which is late (possibly being held back so not to influence the Scottish government)
 

Exfarmer

Member
Location
Bury St Edmunds
Energy from waste is a very well established technology but subject to the nightmares of Nimbies.
There are numerous plants working across the world.
Historically the suffered issues because of low burning temperatures and poor quality waste feed.
One of the major issues was the presence of bakelite in waste which gave rise to dioxins in the exhaust gases. This is well known to cause all manner of health issues.
 

___\0/___

Member
Location
SW Scotland
Or the other issue is that the incompetent are incharge of build/running them.


Think four including Malvern that are built or in the process of being finished will never be fully commissioned/operate since Derby. Admittedly would need to double check that as I don't follow it as closely as I did.
 

Exfarmer

Member
Location
Bury St Edmunds
Or the other issue is that the incompetent are incharge of build/running them.


Think four including Malvern that are built or in the process of being finished will never be fully commissioned/operate since Derby. Admittedly would need to double check that as I don't follow it as closely as I did.
Think Malvern , which is a very small plant has only bern held up by Covid
 

Alias

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Lancashire
Cement works burns all sorts of stuff for fuel, shredded tyres, meat & bone meal, cemfuel (paints and solvents), and now 1000's tonnes of council waste. Scrubbers in the top of the chimney are supposed to remove any residues. It can smell of burnt plastic sometimes though. Probably gets paid more to burn the waste than it makes on the cement
 

___\0/___

Member
Location
SW Scotland
See Powerhouse Energy

Interesting that is the gasification technology that is very hit and miss. Very few if any investors willing to put money into new gasification projects and several sites with hard to get planning are starting all over again with moving grate technology.

But will be very interesting to see how this one goes as plastic only as that should be perfect feedstock for it.
 

Steevo

Member
Location
Gloucestershire
Seems to me incinerators are a license to print money. Charge people £100/t+ to dispose of waste…..then incinerate it. I get the building costs a lot to build, but I can’t see they cost significant amounts to run.
 

HatsOff

Member
Mixed Farmer
Or the other issue is that the incompetent are incharge of build/running them.


Think four including Malvern that are built or in the process of being finished will never be fully commissioned/operate since Derby. Admittedly would need to double check that as I don't follow it as closely as I did.
The one up the road in Hartlebury doesn't seem to have any problems. But that is an incinerator, not gasification..
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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    Votes: 28 15.9%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.7%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.7%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 4 2.3%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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