Filippo Vescovo, Turboden S.p.A., Italy, explores the revolution in the waste-toenergy industry and how Organic Rankine Cycles can help unlock a large potential for smaller, decentralised plants.
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mong the mix of power generation plants, waste-toenergy (WtE) plants are likely the only ones in which the generation of energy is not their main duty. These plants are often considered the last resort for ‘waste’ material that could not be reused, repaired or recycled, thus the waste is disposed and their energy recovered.
Güres: WtE in the Aegean region This is the case for Güres Energy, a WtE plant located in Manisa, not far from the Aegean coast in Turkey. Güres is the biggest egg-integrated plant in the country, with more than 4 million chickens. But more than that, this plant produces an average of 350 - 400 tpd of chicken manure: a big challenge for the company since it was dealing
with very high costs for the sanitation, elimination of smell, and eventually disposal of the manure. In 2017, Güres decided to invest in an integrated WtE plant, an ambitious first-of-a-kind project in which the target was to eliminate the chicken manure through its incineration and then to use the heat from combustion to generate 2.3 MW of electric power. In October 2021, the Güres Energy plant will complete its third year of full activity, being able to eliminate all the manure coming from the company’s chickens and to generate more than 40 GWh of electric power and 150 GWh of useful heat.
A technological innovation Prior to Güres, there were several examples of industrial plants for the chicken manure incineration, most of which were
Figure 1. The Ortadogu plant in Turkey recovers heat from landfill motor gases.
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