One step closer to reach circularity in waste incineration by-products
The Swedish environmental company Ragn-Sells is taking a significant step to achieve circularity in the Waste-to-Energy sector by constructing a new facility where commercial salts will be extracted from waste incineration ashes that so far are landfilled.
One of the by-products generated during the waste-to-energy (WtE) process is fly ash. Fly ash results from the cleaning of the exhausted from the WtE plants. The fly ash is captured after making the flue gas passing through scrubbers and filters. Due to the high level of pollutants that it contains, it is classified as hazardous waste. However, fly ash contains compounds that can be recovered in the form of salts contributing to the re-use of valuable resources.
New facility for treatment of incineration fly ashes
Ragn-Sells is building a new facility for treatment of incineration fly ashes that will allow to recover valuable resources from this waste stream and facilitate the transition of the WtE sector towards circular material recycling. The new plant will use the patented two-steps technology developed by Rang-sells Ash2Salt® able to extract commercial salts from high chloride fly ashes. In the first step, fly ash will be washed with water generating two outlet streams: washed water and a solution containing salt and metals. Then the metals are removed with sulphides remaining only dissolved salts in the stream. The second step is the salt separation itself in which three commercial salts CaCl2, NaCK and KCl are produced. The purified water is sent to the first step in a closed system.
This plant is being built in Högbytorp, northwest of Stockholm (Sweden) and will have the capacity of handling 130 kton of fly ash per year and it is expected that in three years it will be possible to treat half of the all fly ashes generated in Sweden The investment budget is over 55 million EUR and the plant is expected to be in operational in 2021.
Read more Ash2Salt® and the new facility here:
