By Colton Eva
Cogeneration plants are set up with the purpose of waste management at the core. Resource recovery is an important part of waste management because, without recovery of energy from the resources that are used for a purpose, waste management will be a failure.
Since all materials cannot be recycled, they need to be segregated and waste materials that cannot be recycled need to be combusted so that energy embodied in the waste can be released and resources can be recovered from the waste.
The Botany cogeneration plant NSW sources fuel from waste by removing the recyclable material before fuel is extracted from waste for the plant. The heat generated from burning the waste material produces heat that in turn is used to boil water to create steam and power turbines to create electricity.
Resource recovery ensures that energy trapped in waste materials is captured and put to best use instead of allowing it to be lost in the air. Resource recovery at SUEZ is not only essential for the protection of the environment but turns out to be a major booster for local industry and for the reduction of carbon emissions in Australia.
How does resource recovery help in the reduction of carbon emissions?
Most cogeneration power plants work on waste collected by the municipal corporation of the area. Most of the waste collected is usually segregated and requires less segregation. Recyclable waste is used to make different products, but the non-recyclable waste products are transferred to landfills.
These landfills have become a nuisance all over the globe and new technologies are being created and tested to reduce waste in these landfills. One of the best techniques for resource recovery at SUEZ is to burn the non-recyclable waste and create heat energy from it to be utilized for many other purposes, thereby extracting the energy from the waste and simultaneously reducing waste going into landfills.
The energy produced from combusting such waste produces much lesser carbon emissions than burning fossil fuels.
How is resource recovery a cheaper option than using fuel?
Resource recovery is essentially a part of waste management which many countries use for the dual purpose of generating cheap electricity and effective waste management program. But, since fuel has become very expensive, resource recovery and biofuels have become a very cheap and green option to produce heat and electricity.
It is estimated that the cost of electricity produced through resource recovery is around 20% cheaper than fossil fuels. Experts also believe that using resource recovery also allows better production capabilities as the heat generated from burning hard waste along with natural gas provides heat generation that can be used for boilers to heat and generate electricity at a much faster and better rate than other items.
Visiting the website of Suez Energy will allow you to get deeper and better insights on how resource recovery can be a boon to the plant and for people around the place.
It also offers a great understanding of how green energy can be produced by saving the environment in one place and by making land a better place for people to live in.
