Swiss paper producer uses steam from Waste-to-Energy

Switzerland has definitely been one of the front runners in European waste management in the last years and their new plant in Lucerne just proves how innovative Waste-to-Energy technologies can be. It lit its first fire back in January 2015 and has the capacity to treat 220,000 tonnes of municipal waste per year, enough to cover the electricity demand of approximately 38,000 households[1]. The plant is built next to a highway and in direct proximity to a paper factory and district heating connection point. This way minimal traffic noise (traffic across residential areas can be completely avoided) and maximum export of steam and heat are ensured.  The plant’s efficiency is high, up to 70%, as it delivers steam straight to the neighboring paper mill, through an integrated supply network. Further heat is distributed to the entire region of Rontal via a district heating network. Thanks to the Renergia plant, PEPA (the paper mill) is reducing its heating oil consumption by 40 million liters annually and lowering its CO₂ emissions by 90,000 tonnes[2]. Steam is a highly valuable product for the paper industry, needed to either dry the incoming sorted paper or to boil the paper mix in order to make paper paste, the very first step in paper manufacturing. [1] Renergia factsheet [2] Lucerne (Perlen) / Switzerland Energy-from-Waste plant by Hitachi Zosen INOVA

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