AREA METROPOLITANA (BARCELONA, ES)
RESOURCE RECOVERY FACTORY
This installation was constructed within the LIFE project INFUSION. INFUSION’s main goal is to demonstrate a resource recovery-based innovative treatment scheme to obtain biogas, nutrients, and reclaimed water from liquid digestate from organic fraction municipal solid waste (OFMSW) in a first stage, and landfill leachate in a second stage. With a near zero-discharge process, following circular economy principles, the main goal is to close the loop between waste and resources in landfills and waste management plants and reduce the social, economic and environmental impacts. This project is active from September 2020 to August 2024.
PLANT INFO
EBESA (ECOPARC 2)
Avenida Torre d’en Mateu, s/n
Polígon Industrial Can Salvatella
08110 MONTCADA I REIXAC (BARCELONA), SPAIN
AREA METROPOLITANA (BARCELONA, ES)
RESOURCE RECOVERY FACTORY
INTRODUCTION
This installation was constructed within the LIFE project INFUSION. INFUSION’s main goal is to demonstrate a resource recovery-based innovative treatment scheme to obtain biogas, nutrients, and reclaimed water from liquid digestate from organic fraction municipal solid waste (OFMSW) in a first stage, and landfill leachate in a second stage. With a near zero-discharge process, following circular economy principles, the main goal is to close the loop between waste and resources in landfills and waste management plants and reduce the social, economic and environmental impacts. This project is active from September 2020 to August 2024.
SPECIFICATIONS
The installation will work at two different waste management centres: in a first stage in Ecoparc 2 in Barcelona (Spain) and in a second stage in COGERSA in Gijón (Spain).
ECOPARC 2, BARCELONA, SPAIN
Ecoparc 2 is a waste management facility owned by AMB and operated by EBESA. It treats annually ca. 100,000 tons of Organic Fraction Municipal Solid Waste (OFMSW) by mesophilic Anaerobic Digestion (AD). The solid fraction of the digestate is composted, while the liquid fraction is currently treated by a biological Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) with nitrification-denitrification. In the project, the liquid fraction is the subject to resource recovery.
COGERSA, GIJÓN, SPAIN
The Waste Management Centre operated by COGERSA receives up to 900,000 tons of waste per year, out of which 380,000 tons of Municipal Mixed Waste (MMW) are sent to landfills, producing more than 200,000 m³ of leachate. In addition to landfilling, Anaerobic Digestion (AD) of the OFMSW is also performed. The leachate produced and OFMSW liquid digestate are treated by a biological nitrification-denitrification system, followed by ultrafiltration. In the project, both the liquid fraction of digestate and the leachate will be treated by stripping-scrubbing.
RESULTS
The installation currently treats 6 m³/day of liquid digestate from organic fraction municipal solid waste, representing 6% of the produced effluent of Ecoparc 2. In the first stage it produced an ammonium nitrate solution (18%N), and now produces an ammonium sulphate solution (8%N).
Besides producing these ammonium salt solutions, stripping-scrubbing is much needed to lower the ammonia content of the liquid stream (3400mg NH4-N/L) , and avoid ammonia poisoning of the reactor, which was observed in the lab-scale experiments prior to piloting.
PLANT INFO
Ebesa (Ecoparc 2)
Avenida Torre d’en Mateu, s/n
Polígon Industrial Can Salvatella
08110 Montcada i Reixac (Barcelona), Spain