Yet staggeringly when they ARE chosen, even the councils picking them will NOT know exactly what will be going on them! In this special report, Liam Hoden looks at the various projects that might just end up on YOUR doorstep.

THE most controversial choice remains that of an incinerator – an option that has raised the blood pressure of many members of the public at consultation meetings over the past year.

INCINERATOR

What it does:

The main task of an incineration plant is to burn waste and turn this into energy, in the form of electricity or heat.

Power can be easily distributed and sold via the national grid. This is by far the most common form of energy recovery.

Anyone wanting to buy the heat generated would of course have to be close by to the facility and a dedicated distribution facility would also be required.

Unless ALL the available heat can be used, the generating facility will not always be operating at optimum efficiency. Combining heat and power helps increase the overall energy efficiency.

Regulations:

The Waste Incineration Directive (WID) has the most stringent controls in the EU, and aims to minimise the impact from emissions to air, soil, surface and ground water on the environment and human health.

All incineration plants in the UK must comply with the WID. Combustion conditions are required to ensure the waste is completely burned.

What is needed:

Incineration plants will typically require the following elements to function:

• Waste reception and handling – generally untreated municipal waste will be delivered by waste collection vehicles and tipped into a bunker. However, pre-treated waste that has been dried, and has had recyclable objects removed can also be used.


• Combustion chamber – four main combustion technologies are available, with the most common being moving grate which sees waste slowly moved in one side and ash discharged at the other.


• Energy recovery plant – the standard approach is to use a boiler to generate steam, either to generate power through turbines or to be used for heating.


• Emissions clean-up for combustion gases – to comply with regulations, combustion processes have to be correctly controlled, and flue gases cleaned, prior to final release. Chemicals are injected


• to neutralise many harmful


• emissions.


• Bottom ash and air pollution


• control residue handling – processes are required to deal with the side products of emission cleaning and combustion. For example, there will likely be metals suitable for recycling among the ash.


• A staff of between six-18 are needed to operate a facility dealing with 50,000 tonnes per year.

Examples:

Sheffield's incineration plant near Park Square deals with 225,000 tonnes each year and is both an energy and heat producing facility.
Marchwood incinerator in Hampshire is sized to accept 165,000 tonnes per annum and exports 14MW to the local grid to power up to 14,000 homes. The facility is clad in a 36m high aluminium dome with a chimney stack 65m high.

Key issues:

Incinerator emissions have reduced substantially over the past two decades and most are less than 10 per cent of the level of 20 years ago. Yet a facility dealing with 230,000 tonnes of waste per year will produce the following equivalent emissions:

• Nitrogen oxides and articulate matter equivalent to a four miles-plus (7km) stretch of motorway


• Dioxides and furans ( toxic and cancer-causing compounds) equivalent to accidental fires in a town the size of Milton Keynes


• About one 20th of the cadmium produced by a medium sized coal fired power station.


• Incinerators are not normally sources of dust and smell.


• Noise is likely, from vehicles, mechanical processes such as waste preparation, ventilation systems, steam turbines and condenser units.


• Up to 20 HGVs per day can be expected at a plant dealing with 50,000 tonnes per year.

Local likelihood:

Rotherham, Barnsley and Doncaster Councils are together looking for three sites estimated at dealing with 250,000 tonnes a year and any incineration facility would likely be a moving grate plant of around four hectares, with a 70m high chimney.

Up to 100 heavy goods vehicles could be expected each day, and a staff of 30-90 would be required.