Turn Garbage into Clean Energy

---A visit to Jevnaker HRA waste process plant outside Oslo

While talking about waste process plant, people can’t help thinking about smelly gas.
But to our astonishment, when arriving at Jevnaker HRA, we smelt a pleasant odour
of wine instead.

Mr. Bjorn Rydtun, the chief supervisor of technology in Biotek CO, which is part of
the plant, told us in his introduction speech: “The plant is designed for both domestic
and industrial organic waste. Usually the receiving container is closed unless the
garbage is transported and poured in directly. No bad smell comes out. That is
because it is absorbed through the built-in pipe in the container before it is disposed.

Entering the operation hall where earlier garbage processing was undertaken, we, the
journalists saw that all the equipment was sealed, the platform was just cleaned and
the floor was moist. Rydtun said: “The key technology of the plant is the screening
and separation of objects by weight. Firstly, the garbage is transported by the twist
pump from the receiver into separator, cut into 2-3mm granules, and then mixed with
water. The machine won’t cut the hard objects like metals, but will automatically
separate them through another hatch, to protect the equipment. Secondly, more water
will be filled in so as to dissolve the remains. The floating plastic will be separated
from the top hatch during this stage. Meanwhile, the sedimentary solids will be taken
away by the twist pump beneath. This separator is a patent technology of Biotek CO.

We were told that there used to be a dunghill plant nearby where waste was mixed
with cortex, but there was a problem with this. It was hard to dispel the unpleasant
smell out of the plant. As a result, there was a strong odour. Nowadays they mix the
organic waste in the middle part, pump in fresh air from the bottom and ferment the
substance naturally. The waste now will give off methane instead of any bad smell
after it is processed with the new techniques and equipment. The duration of
zymolysis is set in 15-20 days with a temperature of 55C (in order to kill all the
parasites). That is the period when “a pleasant odor of wine” is let out.

Jevnaker HRA plans to generate electricity by burning methane and selling it for 0.5
Nok/kilowatt-hour to the national grid. The heat from fermenting can be used for
heating in nearby plants, and enterprises such as food processing factories. Dried
fermented substance will be sold to farmers as manure. They could, therefore “kill
two birds with one stone.”

Now, the plant is newly established and currently in the trial operational phase of
water testing and garbage processing. Methane and energy will be produced in
about one month. It is expected that the plant will process as much as 1500t per-year,
namely it has the capacity of processing waste from a community of 120.000 people.
With no waste created during the process, it fulfils the sanitary standards.

The total investment in the equipment is 12 million NoK. The plant could achieve
economic returns from producing and selling green energy and the return period for
the investment will be 4 to 5 years.

Rydtun said that “After <Kyoto Protocol> comes into effect, the process can be sold
as futures in the futures market, and it can also get financial aid from the government
so that the return period will be shorter. Relevant negotiation is now ongoing and
there is a promising future.”