Incineration blasted over gas emissions

07 February 2008

Mechanical biological treatment (MBT) with anaerobic digestion (AD) delivers the least green- house gas emissions of all residual waste-management scenarios, a study published by the Greater London Authority reveals.

But waste-management scenarios using incineration were among the worst performing of the 24 different combinations, with landfill the worst performing scenario.

The study ranked a range of scenarios with regard to their performance on greenhouse gas emissions, using a traditional lifecycle analysis (LCA) approach. The two best-performing, in terms of greenhouse gas impact, were those based on either MBT using AD or on gasification preceded by autoclave, coupled with hydrogen fuel-cell technologies.

An MBT (AD) facility is in operation by Biffa on behalf of Leicester City Council, and another is planned in Lancashire to be developed and operated by Global Renewables Ltd (GRL). Adam Baddeley, senior consultant for Eunomia, which contributed to the study, said he was confident further facilities would be developed, ‘but the PFI system being promoted by the Government does not favour the use of new technologies, which have greater technical risk than incineration’.

Cllr Tony Martin, Lancashire’s cabinet member of sustainable development, said MBT was often overlooked because ‘the Government’s agenda drives people to incineration’.

He said current regulations prevented the compost to be produced from Lancashire’s MBT facility from being sold on for agricultural purposes, so it ended up being put on landfill and taxed, even though it did not produce methane.

But Steve Lee, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Wastes Management, said ‘it would not be appropriate’ to assume MBT plants would always be the best environmental option, ‘because MBT is not a technology in and of itself, but a term used to describe many different technology combinations’.

‘What is important is that we make decisions that are environmentally and financially sound, and appropriate to local circumstances. Where MBT solutions meet these criteria, they will have a role to play,’ he added. The study, Greenhouse gas balances of waste management scenarios, calls on the GLA to build on the results of the study and promote developments of MBT (AD with maturation) facilities across London.

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