MARSS - Material Advanced Recovery Sustainable Systems LIFE11 ENV/DE/000343

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1 MARSS - Material Advanced Recovery Sustainable Systems LIFE11 ENV/DE/ Project description Environmental issues Beneficiaries Administrative data Read more Contact details: Contact person: Thomas PRETZ Tel: Fax: pretz@ifa.rwth-aachen.de Project description: Background The EU Landfill Directive identifies untreated Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) in landfills as one of the main sources of the greenhouse gas methane (CH4). Germany in the early 1990s chose expensive high-tech incineration as a solution. Other countries have now the option to adopt more sustainable and environmentally-friendly treatment technologies. Results from field tests prior to this LIFE project with Mechanical-Biological Treatment (MBT) and plastic recycling indicate that Material Advanced Recovery Sustainable Systems (MARSS) could be a waste material recovery process that is robust, economic and quick to implement. Objectives The main objective of the MARSS project was to build a demonstration plant in Trier (Germany) to prove that there is an effective way to separate and reuse the biogenic fraction of MSW (up to 60% of total) into a renewable energy fuel. MARSS aimed to convert an existing low-tech MBT plant into an innovative processing and recycling plant for producing biomass fuel. The project s specific objectives included: separating the organic fraction and turning it into a renewable energy fuel via several treatment steps; separating ferrous and non-ferrous metals and other fractions including batteries; demonstrating

2 sustainable recovery of materials and carbon-neutral heat and fuel; assessing material and energy flows; and assessing the replication potential of the technology in Italy, Spain, Greece, UK, Czech Republic and Serbia. Results The MARSS project demonstrated an "add on technology" for existing Mechanical-Biological Treatment (MBT) plants. The project set up a Material Advanced Recovery Sustainable System (MARSS), involving a chain of mechanical separation steps, to gain a fraction of high caloric value from Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), suitable for making into fuel, and a low-organic residual fraction suitable for landfill. The project built a demonstration plant as extension of an existing MBT plant in Trier (Germany). In the plant, the new technology enhanced the separation of the organic fraction (fine particles less than 40 mm) in order to turn it into a renewable solid energy fuel. This Refined Renewable Biomass Fuel (RRBF) is fine grained and suitable for the use in fluidised bed combustioners. The targeted yield and calorific value of kj/kg for RRBF were reached. The fuel passed combustion tests and it has been declared a suitable biomass fuel for Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plants by UMSICHT (Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety, and Energy Technology). The demonstration plant also recovered 290 kg/h pure ferrous and some 60 kg/h non-ferrous metals (much more than the foreseen total of 200 kg/h) with high market value. As a result of using the organic fraction as fuel, the landfilling of the organic content of MSW was avoided by nearly 100%, thus reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 0.5 tonne CO2 equivalents/tonne MSW. The technology therefore has the potential to significantly reduce the need of MSW landfilling as well as its negative environmental impacts. The project team analysed all the material and energy flows (e.g. mass balance, EIA, LCA, CO2/energy balances) and found total GHG emission savings of 0.83 tonne CO2 equivalents/tonne MSW (the above-mentioned 0.5 tonne CO2 equivalents/tonne MSW treated due to landfill avoidance, plus tonne CO2 equivalents due to metal recovery and tonne CO2 equivalents due to RRBF conversion (electricity and heat). Potential environmental benefits arise from the production of RRBF from MSW with a zero carbon footprint; the reduction of biodegradable fractions going to landfill reducing methane (CH4) emissions (20% GHG reduction); and the recycling instead of incineration of non-ferrous metals. Phosphorus was also recovered from the fly ash (11.1 g/kg) and the project team noted that this was worthy of further investigation. In terms of policy, the project helps implement the EU Landfill Directive (1999/31/EC), particularly the objective of avoiding biodegradable municipal waste; the revised Waste Framework Directive (WFD, 2008/98/EC); and the Renewable Energy Directive (2009/28/EC). The potential for the project s MARSS technology was investigated in six countries: Italy, Spain, Greece, UK, Czech Republic and Serbia. For Naples (Italy), a detailed case study was carried out, for which a set of tools was developed to calculate and simulate the socio-economic effects of the complex material and value flows in waste management systems.

3 Prerequisites for replication are the existence of MBTs (MARSS is an extension for MBTs), a market for the produced RRBF fuel (e.g. in CHP plants), and landfill prices above around 45/tonne. The MARSS module was shown to be only profitable in the countries with significant landfill costs, such as Italy and the UK. The number and capacity of MBTs in Europe is forecast to rise, as are the costs of landfilling, over the next decade. Therefore, although no large-scale plant was planned at project end, the potential for replication is good. The MARSS process enables easier waste collection: it requires no separate bins and separation can take place centrally at the treatment plant. Combined waste collection is easier for both the public and waste collector, and cheaper than separate collection. Flexible technology can be utilised for sorting selected fractions that have a market value, and this can be adapted to changing market conditions. In addition, landfill costs are reduced and, depending on legislation and the fuel market, the RRBF may achieve an income. Therefore, waste charges could be lowered. The project s economic analysis calculated full MARSS treatment costs of 24-26/tonne of waste, with investments of 1 million for the building, 3 million for the machinery and equipment, and annual operating costs, for a plant with a throughput of tonnes of waste per year. Further information on the project can be found in the project's layman report and After-LIFE Communication Plan (see "Read more" section). Environmental issues addressed: Themes Waste - Municipal waste (including household and commercial) Keywords use of waste as energy source waste recycling waste treatment municipal waste biomass energy incineration of waste Target EU Legislation Waste Directive 1999/31 - Landfill of waste ( ) Directive 2008/98 - Waste and repealing certain Directives (Waste Framework Directive) ( Climate Change & Energy efficicency Directive 2009/28 - Promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources ( )

4 Natura 2000 sites Not applicable Beneficiaries: Coordinator Type of organisation Description Partners RHEINISCH-WESTFAELISCHE TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE AACHEN University RWTH Aachen, a renowned technical university, has significant experience in the development of high-end technologies. The IAR, Department of Processing & Recycling of Solid Waste, is one of Europe s leading research departments specialising in the development of sustainable waste management, processing technologies and recycling systems. Using mobile equipment the beneficiary can carry out the investigations onsite at the waste treatment plant. IAR tested a pilot plant for Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) processing prior to making this proposal in collaboration with RegEnt. Regionale Entsorgungsgesellschaft mbh (RegEnt), Germany pbo GmbH, Germany Naples University "Parthenope", Italy Independent University of Barcelona, Spain Administrative data: Project reference LIFE11 ENV/DE/ Duration 03-SEP-2012 to 31-DEC Total budget 4,154, EU contribution 2,073, Project location Rheinland-Pfalz(Deutschland) Read more:

5 Leaflet Project web site Publication: After-LIFE Communication Plan Publication: Feasibility study Publication: Layman report Publication: Management plan Publication: Technical report Title: Project's leaflet (815 KB) Editor: I.A.R. RWTH Aachen No of pages: 2 Project's website Title: After-LIFE Communication Plan Editor: RWTH Aachen No of pages: 16 Title: "Feasibility report on acceptance of the Marss RRBF" (1.58 MB) Editor: I.A.R. RWTH Aachen No of pages: 62 Title: Layman report Author: C. Hornsby Editor: RWTH Aachen No of pages: 32 Title: "Action C3 - Monitoring of socio-economic impacts: Deliverable D17 Metaprotocol of Analysis" (3.22 MB) No of pages: 82 Title: "MARSS: D12 Report on construction of plant and D13 Bringing into operation report" (1.53 MB) Author: H. Giani Year: 2015 Editor: RWTH Aachen No of pages: 18 Project description Environmental issues Beneficiaries Administrative data Read more