MUCKY: The circular solution for the valorisation of mixed municipal waste streams.

Project Information

Mucky

Grant agreement ID: 683997

DOI

10.3030/683997

Project closed

EC signature date 2 June 2015

Start date 1 July 2015

End date 31 December 2015

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Climate action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

BI-ENERGY BV
Netherlands

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Mucky (MUCKY: The circular solution for the valorisation of mixed municipal waste streams.)

Reporting period: 2015-07-01 to 2015-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Context: In Europe, each year 250 Mton of municipal waste streams (MWS) are produced of which about 55% is non-recyclable and currently dumped on landfills or incinerated. Current state of the art does not offer a solution for upgrading these deteriorated, low quality mixed waste streams without the need of intensive (pre)treatment.

Objective: The main objective of the project is to assess the commercial viability and feasibility of a successful market introduction of an installation (The Mucky) which uses well documented thermal - chemical processes to turn mixed waste streams (MWS) into Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) products (oil and gas) and to convert the findings into a detailed market implementation roadmap and business case.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

A feasibility study has been executed into the commercial viability and market introduction of the Mucky. This study consisted of four main tasks:

Task 1
This task consists of a study into the technical feasibility of a market introduction of the Mucky. The following activities have been completed:
•The procedures which are necessary in order to receive a CE-certification for the Mucky installation from a certified body, and if applicable from a notified body, have been identified.
•The Mucky installation has been tested and verified with respect to conformity to EU legislation. Special attention has been given to health and safety and potential environmental impacts. A conformity assessment procedure and a risk assessment have been completed, and the necessary technical documentation including the main outcomes of the assessments is prepared.
•The criteria for selection of locations for the execution of the pilot activities with the Mucky installations have been identified.
•The basic components of the installation have been redesigned, which has resulted in a significant reduction of the building costs for the installation.
•The re-modelling has, where possible, taken into account the use of components and structures that already have EU-wide type-specific certification.

Task 2
Within this task the commercial viability of the Mucky installation has been determined. The focus was on the establishment of an attractive return on investment (ROI) for future buyers. The following activities have been completed:
•As part of the preparation of an EU wide market introduction of the Mucky installation, issues with the national and EU regulation of waste management have been studied.
•We have set up working relationships with relevant governmental and non-governmental organizations at the municipal, regional, national and EU level. This proved to be of significant value in relation to their unfamiliarity with the proposed technology. In practice, such high level of unfamiliarity of the authorities results in unnecessary higher safety categories, and severe licensing bottle-necks.
•A huge database of relevant knowledge and well established large international networks for support, sales and marketing purposes, has been realised.
•Bi-Energy has taken part in many trade events and relevant networking opportunities to present the Mucky.

Task 3
Within this third task, a European consortium has been prepared for the demonstration phase and the market launch of the Mucky installation. The target users for the Mucky that have been identified so far are public and private operators in the waste treatment chain dealing with issues of MSW.

Task 4
An elaborate business plan including a market implementation roadmap has been developed during this project. As part of this project the key figures in the business plan have also been verified

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

"Lower costs resulting in higher margins
The basic components of the Mucky installation have been redesigned, which has resulted in a significant reduction (30%) of the building costs for the installation. The re-modelling has been executed while taking into account the use of components and structures that already have EU-wide type-specific certification.

New prospects/partners
In the waste field, we spoke not only with the ‘usual suspects’, but also with biomass waste collectors, all with a nearby demonstration spot for the Mucky in mind.

In defining our strategies at the output level, we have had interesting talks and presentations at several oil industry stakeholders. Finally, ""De Oliebron"" (www.oliebron.com) has been selected as the most suitable trade organisation for boosting sales of the Mucky products.

In order to preselect the most promising demonstration partners, a smart grid-wise methodology was developed during this phase 1 project for ranking the existing 1452 NUTS areas. The following characteristics were taken into account:
•Number of active memberships in organisations or pacts related to energy transitions, renewable energy, environment, sustainability, climate, zero-waste, etc.;
•Local (lack of) presence and unionization of waste companies, energy agencies, (neighbouring) waste-to-energy plants, experimental energy and/or waste projects;
•National data and reviews, for example OECD, UN, World Bank, WEF, IEA, EEA and indexes as the Environmental Performance Index and the Global Competitiveness Report."

photo of Mucky installation