Incinerators
In Germany, the German Waste Landfill Ordinance (Abfallablagerungsverordnung; AbfAbIV) has required the pre-treatment of waste entering landfills since March 1, 2001. Exceptions exist for a transition period. For example, untreated waste can be landfilled until May 31, 2005 with an exceptional license if public interest is not endangered and other treatment facilities do not exist. After June 1, 2005, the ban on landfilling of BMW is binding, and all waste must be pre-treated by one of the following methods:
waste incineration
mechanical-biological processes, including the generation of a high calorific fraction and its thermal treatment using state-of-the-art technology
mechanical-biological and mechanical-physical stabilization (drying of the organic fraction of the residual waste), with most of the derived waste requiring thermal processing
production of refuse-derived fuel (RDF) for co-incineration in industrial plants.
Figure 1 gives the prognosis forecast for the national capacities of waste incinerators and mechanical-biological treatment facilities for the years 2006 and 2012 compared with 2001. In 2006, treatment capacity is expected to be around 22.4 million tonnes with a slight increase to 22.8 million tonnes by 2012.
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FIGURE 1 Waste Treatment Capacity and Plant Numbers in Germany |
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2000 |
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2006 |
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2012 |
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Number of |
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Number of |
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Number of |
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Plants |
tonnes/year |
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Plants |
tonnes/year |
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Plants |
tonnes/year |
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Thermal Treatment |
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60 |
13,977,400 |
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72 |
17,294,000 |
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74 |
17,724,000 |
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Mechanical-Biological Treatment |
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36 |
2,112,830 |
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55 |
5,114,500 |
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55 |
5,114,500 |
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TOTAL |
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96 |
16,090,230 |
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127 |
22,408,500 |
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34 |
22,838,500 |
As of 2004 around 2000 agriculture biogas plants are in operation with an installed capacity of 250 MW. Around 7000 new jobs were created with this technology so far. But, in the year 2003 the increase in new installations was less than a quarter than it could be expected from the previous years. The reasons are not only a severe cut in investment grants, but also increasingly difficult approval conditions for the digestion of industrial biowastes, higher prices for professional technology and low waste disposal fees. Additional production costs for energy production from field crops have to be calculated. Therefore an economic operation from energy crops is difficult under present frame conditions the improvement of the feed in tariffs is urgently expected for a renewed growth.