FossilEye - detection and quantitative analysis of plastics in waste

Tekniska verken i Linköping AB, Umeå Energi AB and Vattenfall AB seek to purchase a test-plant (pilot) for analysis of- and quanitification of plastics in incomming waste used as fuel in combined heat and power plants in respective organisation.

Tekniska verken i Linköping AB, Umeå Energi AB and Vattenfall AB seek to purchase a test-plant (pilot) for analysis of- and quanitification of plastics in incomming waste used as fuel in combined heat and power plants in respective organisation.

Background

WtE is a substantial heat source for district heating, particularly in the Nordic countries. In Sweden WtE accounts for one quarter of the entire production of district heating. However, poor performance in sorting and recycling accounts for a large share of the fossil content in incoming waste. The lack of fast and efficient methods for determining the fossil content makes it impossible to communicate to the individual waste treatment customer (i.e. municipality or waste treatment company) their contribution to the emission of fossil CO2 from the plastics they send for incineration.

Purpose & Objectives

A substantial share of the emissions of fossil carbon dioxide in the flue gas from waste-to-energy plants originates from plastic packaging erroneously included in residual waste. This project aims at the development of an on-site sensor solution capable of quantifying the plastic content in a single load of incoming solid waste.