WHERE: Cremona, Rodengo Saiano (Italy)
WHEN: 2014 – present
WASTE MANAGEMENT HIERARCHY: Other recovery: energy recovery
TYPE OF INSTRUMENT: Voluntary/promotional
WASTE STREAMS: Wood Waste

About: Linea Energia builds plants for exploiting energy from wood biomasses using the best technology available. Through LGH Rinnovabili (held 100%) and Franciacorta Rinnovabili (strategic holding 48%), Linea Energia has built and runs two biomass plants, in Cremona and Rodengo Saiano (Brescia), which are expected to produce around 14 GWh a year. These plants are also designed to be educational, places where anyone can learn about how wood waste is recovered and used to produce energy.

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Objectives

Linea Gestioni Group Holding -LGH (The LGH Group is an industrial multi-utility operating in environmental services, in the production, distribution and sale of energy (electricity and gas) and heat and in ICT services.

To make the entire operating cycle more effective, LGH has decidedly focused on the system of separate waste collection, favoring the recovery of materials and energy, reducing landfill disposal and water, air and soil pollution. The wood waste is given directly or through its own selection plant with sorting and volumetric reduction at the woody biomasses plant that converts it into thermal energy.

Resources

Material resources: wood waste is divided into: wood from municipal recycling centers, from gardening companies and also from woodworking, from urban and industrial waste treatment plants and waste materials from composting plants, remaining prunings for maintenance of public parks, parks and private gardens.
Energy produced by the waste-to-energy plant is added in the district heating network of the city of Cremona.

Results

Woody Biomass Facilities
• Type of installation – CHP ORC Cycle
• Year of installation – 2012
• Operating hours- 7.800h/y
• Electrical installed power- 999 kw
• Cogenerated Thermal power -5.650 kW
• Incoming waste – 22000 t/y

Benchmarks –UoM- 2014
• Incoming waste (t) – 14.964
• Gross production (kWh)- 5.843.133
• Net production (kWh)- 4.824.357
• Heat transferred TLR Cremona (TLR= CREMONA District heat)-MWh -12.991

Benchmarks –UoM- 2015
• Incoming waste (t) -17.248
• Gross production (kWh) -7.455.935
• Net production (kWh) – 5.347.986
• Heat transferred TLR Cremona (TLR= CREMONA District heat)-MWh-14.695

Benchmarks –UoM- 2016
• Incoming waste (t) – 15.718
• Gross production (kWh) – 6.988.805
• Net production (kWh) – 4.951.240
• Heat transferred TLR Cremona (TLR= CREMONA District heat)-MWh-16.761

Urban metabolism relevance

The plant is powered only by wood waste and not from virgin timber, it produces renewable energy using innovative technologies to ensure air quality. The treatment of the fumes produced by combustion reaches concentrations of pollutants well below the limits imposed by the current national legislation. The plant is equipped with a continuous monitoring system capable of measuring the actual concentration of pollutants present in the outlet fumes. The architectural structure also reserves routes dedicated to visitors for educational purposes. The plant is qualified IAFR (plant powered by renewable sources). Therefore, it is widely inserted in the actions aimed at the reduction of greenhouse gases, in the reduction of the use of natural resources and waste destined for landfill.

So, wood waste has a positive balance in terms of emissions. The presence of biomass plants avoids the polluting emissions produced by fossil plants currently in operation (fueled by coal, oil, etc). The systems are equipped with the most modern systems to reduce dust and are respectful of the restrictive limits imposed by legislation. The systems are constantly monitored in order to guarantee full compliance with national and regional regulations.

Innovation

The practice uses the best technology available. The Cremona wood biomass plant is a highly valued structure due to its energetic and environmental characteristics. Getting energy from biomass also helps eliminate waste generated by human activities and reduce dependence on fossil sources such as oil. This plant produces electrical and thermal energy using a vegetable source made entirely by used wood and waste wood (old furniture, fruit boxes, packaging of various kinds, tree parts, garden waste, etc.) coming from the separate collection of all the territory managed by the LGH group. The facility has been designed with a teaching capacity to visitors to illustrate the issues related to energy : sources, production, technologies, debates, sustainability and also the essential link between man and energy. This plant replaces other plants, powered by coal or oil, which would consume 1,500 tons of oil for year to produce the same amount of electricity. Equipped with the most modern pollutants abatement systems, it has been designed to guarantee full compliance with national and regional regulations. The plant produces electricity for 1 megawatt and five times as much heat energy: in both cases, production is fed in city networks, with the result that the civil needs for electricity are completely satisfied by local production. The plant is a significant element, especially for the district heating network with 5 megawatts produced, to supplement the heat deriving from thermo-combustion plant and cogeneration plant.
The plant has a potential of 1 MWelectric and provides 5.5 MW of thermal power in the main backbone of the city’s existing district heating network

Sustainability and replicability

If the separate wood waste collection works properly so as to ensure a constant waste quantity, the plant can easily self-maintain. The existence of similar facilities in many European countries demonstrates that such a facility can be easily replicated in other countries.

Success Factors

• The presence on the territory of Centers for the collection of waste not included in door-to-door collection (eg. for bulky waste) and where private and production companies can deliver their waste
• The production of energy from wood waste that otherwise should be landfilled at high economic and environmental costs
• Investments in innovative technologies for infrastructure and waste management systems
• The promotion and implementation of a satisfactory door-to-door separate collection of waste

Key Challenges

• Adoption of a policy to raise awareness on the reduction and reuse of waste, to promote the separate collection of waste and to improve the process of recovery of collected waste (including through their energy valorisation)

• Using and promoting on the territory the solutions with the lowest environmental impact, with particular reference to air quality: developing high-efficiency district heating and cooling, integrated with the use of renewable sources and cogenerated heat/ energy recovery

Info

For more information, please check the deliverable, or contact the implementing body.

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