100 Years of Waste Incineration in Denmark

By Heron Kleis, Babcock & Wilcox Vølund and Søren Dalager, Rambøll 100 YEARS OF WASTE INCINERATION IN DENMARK From Refuse Destruction Plants to High-technology Energy Works 100 Years of Waste Incineration in Denmark From Refuse Destruction Plants to High-technology Energy Works By Heron Kleis, Babcock & Wilcox Vølund and Søren Dalager, Rambøll Reprinted 2007 3 100 Years of Waste Incineration in Denmark Preface Contents Preface 1. THE BEGINNING 1930 - 1962 3. FROM DIS T RIC T HEA T ING T O IT BE G an in Frederiksber G ............ P A G E 4 COM B INE D HEA T AN D POWER 1990 - 2003 In September 2003 the Municipality of Frederiksberg Gentofte Incineration PL ant .......... P A G E 7 CHP AG ain ....................... P A G E 34 celebrated its centenary as the first municipality in TH E New PL ant in Frederiksber G ....... P A G E 9 Ener G Y 2000...................... P A G E 35 Denmark ever to supply its inhabitants with district Aar HU S Incineration PL ant ........... P A G E 11 TA X es and SUbsidies ................. P A G E 36 heating. VØLU nd – an Estab L is H ed SUPPL ier ...... P A G E 14 TH E PL ants of Today ................ P A G E 37 WH atever HA PP ened to CO P en H A G en ? .... P A G E 16 The heat was produced on the basis of waste collected TH E German Occ UP ation 4. THE FU T URE Aft ER 2003 in the municipality. The original district heating plant 1940-45 And TH E Post -war Era .......... P A G E 17 Best Avai L ab L E Tec H ni QU E (BAT) ....... P A G E 40 was therefore also Denmark’s first incineration plant, and waste has in fact been incinerated in at least one TH E CH A LL en G es of Tomorrow ......... P A G E 44 plant in Denmark throughout the period of 1903 to 2. THE BREAK -T HROUGH 1963 - 1989 2003. Incineration RE-emer G es in T H E 1960S ... P A G E 20 Postscri P T ....................... P A G E 46 TH E PO LLU tion Board and MU nici P A L Waste Incineration PL ants in Waste incineration therefore also celebrated its centen- T H E Environmenta L Protection Act ..... P A G E 27 Denmark and TH E Faroe IS L ands ....... P A G E 47 ary in 2003. Initially, there were only a few plants, but TH E Ener G Y Crises of 1973 and 1979.... P A G E 29 Literat U re ........................ P A G E 48 approximately 40 years ago the situation changed. It TH E DioXin Debate ................. P A G E 30 became more and more common to exploit the energy content of the waste for the production of heat, and today the technology and pollution control methods applied are so highly developed that incineration has become the officially prescribed method for the treat- ment of incinerable waste in Denmark. Consequently, Denmark has achieved a leading posi- tion regarding the percentage of waste incinerated and know-how in the area. During this 100-year period the Danish society has undergone tremendous developments – in terms of national income as well as technology – and the way of life significantly differs from what it used to be 100 years ago. These changes have had an impact on the incineration plants too. The waste composition and the way in which the waste is collected and transported have changed. The plants have become more compli- cated because of increasingly stringent environmental standards. They are now however operated by a lot less staff. The authors of this book have been involved with incineration for 50 and almost 40 years, respectively. They are both approaching retirement and therefore feel The bottom ash from both the first and the second called upon to look back on the first 100 years of waste incineration plants in the municipality of Frederiksberg incineration in Denmark. was taken to a crushing plant in front of the old stack. After crushing, the bottom ash was brought by tippers to the area in the front where it was allowed to age prior The authors hope that this book will preserve a corner to being sold. of Danish history, and naturally they also hope that the readers will find it interesting. 4 5 100 Years of Waste Incineration in Denmark 1. TH E BE G innin G from the incineration of municipal solid British company of Hughes & Stirling plant was commissioned in September waste to supply steam, hot water and and steam boilers… from Babcock 1903’. 1. THE BEGINNING electricity to the new hospital. & Wilcox as well as two coal-fired steam boilers, a hot water system and This is the introduction of a descrip- Consequently, in February 1902, it an electricity generator so that the tion from 1948 of the – at the time was decided to establish an incinera- incineration plant in effect became a existing – second plant for the incin- tion plant… with three units from the combined heat and power plant… The eration of municipal solid waste in Frederiksberg. The plant from 1903 was not only Denmark’s first waste incineration plant, but also Denmark’s first district heating plant, even in the form of a combined heat and power plant. The 1903-1962 plant was located on a site opposite to what is today Frederiksberg Hospital. Vølund was there too The district heating contract was assigned to Vølund, which was a young company at the time. In the company’s 25th anniversary book from 1923, it reads that: ‘A large contract… worthy of a mention was the IT BE G an in Frederiksber G district heating plant located at the incineration plant of Frederiksberg. The piping work was the most com- In September 1903 incineration was a view to examining the combustibility prehensive work of its kind ever per- introduced as a method for the treat- etc. of the municipal solid waste gen- formed, and it had to be concluded in ment of waste in Denmark. erated in Frederiksberg, a sample was just four months. It consisted of high- sent by rail to the waste incineration pressure steam pipes, hot water pipes Even before a municipal reform in plant in Hamburg where the waste and return water pipes installed in tun- 1970, Frederiksberg – an enclave was incinerated on a test basis. The nels from the boiler system of the plant located in the middle of the capital of result of the test was that the waste to all the buildings at Frederiksberg Copenhagen – was one of the smallest was combustible, and much heat was Hospital and an Old People’s Home, municipalities by area in Denmark. produced so that steam could be gen- and was later extended by hot water On the other hand, it was the most erated in steam boilers. Moreover, the pipes… leading to the public baths of densely populated one. It is therefore quality of the bottom ash was good and the municipality of Frederiksberg. A not surprising that this municipality could be applied for various technical total of 8500 m of pipes were installed ‘… realised in 1897 that soon it would purposes. and approximately 800 valves and taps not be possible to identify sites suit- were applied. For this work Vølund able for the landfilling of municipal At the same time… in August 1898 it received due recognition, not just solid waste within the boundaries of had been decided to build a complex of because of the good workmanship, but Frederiksberg municipal culture and sports centre, The Boiler Hall. The buildings, which Frederiksberg… which is why the pos- buildings nearby for a new municipal also because of the tight time schedule One of the furnaces at Frederiksberg’s were erected in 1903 on the basis of drawings prepared by the chief architect of the Danish sibility of establishing a waste incin- hospital in Frederiksberg… An obvious first incineration plant. state-owned railway company, Heinrich Wenck, housed Denmark’s first incineration plant within which the comprehensive work eration plant was investigated… With solution was to exploit the heat produced Source: Frederiksberg Forsyning. until 1934. From 1934 to 2000 the buildings were used as a steam heating plant. had been performed’. 6 7 100 Years of Waste Incineration in Denmark 1. TH E BE G innin G A new plant was planned By the 1920s the plant had become too small, and in the summer of 1925 the technical department of the Munici- pality of Frederiksberg had prepared a proposal for a new plant. The 1948 description continues: ‘At that time, however, Vølund had brought it to the Municipality’s attention that the machine works of “Aktiebolaget Landsverk” in Lands- krona, Sweden [Vølund’s licensee] was testing the incineration of municipal solid waste in a rotary kiln… The proposal for the new plant… was therefore dropped, and the tested rotary kiln was installed by Vølund at the old incineration plant of Frederiks- berg. A number of tests were then carried out until January 1929… The tests convinced the Municipality that the rotary kiln was perfectly suited for the incineration of municipal solid waste – and even better than other well-known furnaces – which is why Vølund was requested to prepare a proposal for a new incineration plant based on such rotary kilns’. A couple of years passed before a final decision was made. Gentofte incineration plant was inagurated in 1931.

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