WASTE MANAGEMENT IN ACTION – ENERGY FROM WASTE
Rise of the Phoenix BLUE PHOENIX IS MAINTAINING ITS PROMISE TO DEVELOP NEW RE-USE MARKETS, OFF THE BACK OF AUSTRALIA’S FIRST DEDICATED INCINERATOR BOTTOM ASH TREATMENT FACILITY.
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ncreasing municipal waste levels, combined with a growing population in Australia, have contributed to the continued innovation of waste treatment technologies. As conventional waste treatment methods are slowly being passed over for more sustainable processes, including Waste to Energy (WtE), companies such as Blue Phoenix Group are implementing proven European technology into the Australian market. Blue Phoenix does not see landfill as the one and only solution to residue ash. Rather, it focuses on ensuring that these commodities can be re-used instead of being sent to landfill. With its Incinerator Bottom Ash (IBA) facility in Kwinana, Western Australia, Blue Phoenix Group is aiming to contribute to landfill diversion and the prioritisation of sustainable recycling processes. Ian Lynass, Managing Director Australia, and Asia, says that embracing WtE and proven IBA treatment technology is a responsible and sustainable circular economic strategy that delivers valuable recycled products into a developed market. “We are working on many fronts across Australia and in Asia as we continue to work with customers and regulators to develop a sound knowledge base of responsible treatment and sustainable re-use of
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aggregates and metals.” IBA installations help to process the ash that is discharged from municipal waste incinerators. Following combustion, the remaining material can contain minerals and ferrous and non-ferrous metals. Minerals can be refined into an aggregate, which is appropriate for use in construction materials, such as road construction and concrete. Ferrous and non-ferrous metals can be refined for reuse in automobile manufacturing or electronic device creation. Ian says the refined material can contribute value to existing markets in Australia, as well as overseas, supporting a truly circular economic outcome for the community. “Diverting materials away from landfill is great, but we then also need to look at how we recover the materials and then repatriate them back into value adding commercial markets,” he says.
“The first element of this process is understanding the materials, so we can process both ferrous and nonferrous metals in different sizes and fractions and commodities. We then take that material and through our other locations across the globe we clean it, enrich it, upgrade it and sell it into refineries who require that material to include in products such as motor vehicles and electronic goods.” Ian says the domestic reuse and refining of such materials will be key to the future of WtE and IBA treatment in Australia over the medium term.
Blue Phoenix’s IBA processing facility will be operated as part of a 25-year agreement with Avertas Energy.
