On the 1st of October, after successfully passing the load operation tests, a new processing line at the Manises waste treatment facilities, which is owned by the ‘Entitat de Tractament de Residus del Àrea Metropolitana de València’ (EMTRE), operated by the UTE Sociedad de Agricultores de la Vega / Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas (UTE SFS Installation 3) came into operation.
The functional entry of this new line will make the material recovery values indicated in the PIR of the Valencian Community possible to reach, at the Manises plant, enabling the reduction of waste destined to the landfill.
There are three benefits expected with the beginning of this new treatment line:
- Improvement of the stabilization process of the organic fraction and the biostabilized material obtained.
- The increase of recovery from gray container waste:GLASS, FERRIC containers and materials and ALUMINUM.
- Recovery of a fraction of high calorific value that, after its subsequent conditioning, may allow obtaining RSE for its use as an alternative fuel (to replace fossil fuels), always within the use of parameters indicated in the PIR.
The new line owes its novel character, not only for the introduction of the best techniques currently available but also to the choice of its location, in the middle of the biostabilization process of the organic fraction. In summary and in a simplified way, this location allows screening and pneumatic separations that would be practically impossible before the biostabilization process. On the other hand, the glass obtained at this point has a high quality that it would not be possible to achieve either at the beginning or at the end of that biostabilization process.
The beginning of this new line has been considerably delayed due to the negative consequences derived from the Covid pandemic and it is the result of more than five years of tests, studies and laboratory work, including the assembly of pilot plants and semi-industrial scale plants . All of this led into a final project in 2018 and the construction and commissioning of the facility. It should be noted at this point that all this could not have reached a successful conclusion without the support and collaboration of EMTRE and its complicity.
The proposed technology included in the project is presented to ECOVIDRIO, which shows a very good initial acceptance of the technical solution and its innovative nature. After the dense study of the project and motivated by its innovative nature, a negotiated contract is processed, according to which, UTE SFS Facility 3, undertakes to recover, in the new line, a percentage of the glass present in the waste equivalent to more than 4,000 tons per year which, together with the glass recovered manually at the headend, represents a total recovery of glass at the Manises Plant of 5,500 tons per year. All of this with the appropriate degree of quality to be reused by recyclers in the sector.
After the reached agreement with ECOVIDRIO, the project was formally presented in December 2018 to the EMTRE for approval.
The proposal supposes an economic saving to the EMTRE,as well as an increase in the recycling rate, going in the direction of meeting the objectives of the PIR. On the other hand, clear environmental improvements are achieved, such as the reduction of both transport and landfill dumping and the environmental pollution that it entails, lengthening its useful life.
The total investment required has reached 4,400,000 € . Given the innovative nature of the project and the consequent lack of references, the investment has been assumed by the UTE at its own risk and chance. For this reason, an agreement has been reached with the EMTRE so that, for the recovery of the investment, a compensation system per ton is established based on the yields achieved, a system that will not damage the economy of the management.