AVR Supplies Horticultural Greenhouse with Carbon Dioxide from Waste Incineration : Greenhouse Helps Dutch Waste to Energy Facility Cut CO2 Emissions by 15%

Dutch waste to energy firm AVR has cut the GHG emissions from its facility in Duiven by supplying a local horticultural greenhouse with CO2 to promote plant growth.

According to the company, it is the first waste energy firm in Europe that is able to capture CO2 on such a large scale, having emitted around 7500 fewer tonnes of carbon dioxide than usual in the past month.

In a statement in Dutch, AVR Manager Robert Hageman explained that flue gases from incineration are fed to the installation via a pipe. The CO2 is removed from the smoke by means of a liquid, which is then heated to release pure CO2 which can be cooled and compressed into a liquid for storage in one of four barrels.

French industrial gas specialist, Air Liquide, transports the CO2 to the greenhouses where a lot of CO2 is used to make crops such as tomatoes, fruit and flowers grow faster. Traditionally this has been produced by burning natural gas, but that is no longer necessary.

The Duiven waste to energy plant processes waste from 1.5 million households, releasing around 400,000 tonnes of CO2. With the new process AVR can now reuse 60,000 tonnes of this.

The company’s goal is to ultimately become CO2 neutral. In the future its hope to be able to capture and deliver all the CO2 that it emits to interested parties.

"Waste burners all over Europe are now looking at us," said Timmerije. “We notice that there is a lot of interest from Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark and Germany. They have already visited and are closely following our new installation. And we are more than willing to share our knowledge."

The construction of the CO2 capture installation took more than a year and cost €20 million euros. The work was completed in a little over a year with a strong support from technical engineering firm TPI.

AVR is currently looking at whether a similar installation will also be possible at its location in Rotterdam.

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