Frankfurt's waste-to-energy plant (MHKW) in Nordweststadt has put new hydrogen-capable burners into operation. The previous burners could only be operated with fuel oil. This means that the city's central infrastructure for thermal waste recycling, heat and power generation will in future run without fossil fuels.
At the waste-to-energy plant in Frankfurt am Main, each of the four waste incineration lines has two burners. These burners are a kind of ignition aid that are only needed to restart the plant (after a malfunction, for example). In continuous operation - after reaching the target temperature of 850°C - the waste burns by itself. So that when sufficient hot steam is generated in the boiler to operate the power turbine, the burners can be switched off again and the fuel supply stopped.
3 million for CO2 reduction
The new burners can be operated with both natural gas and hydrogen. In the future, CO2 emissions from the burners could thus be avoided entirely by using hydrogen. However, this will require further investment in the network infrastructure.
The operating company of the waste-to-energy plant, MHKW GmbH, is owned in equal parts by the waste disposal company FES and the energy service provider Mainova. The operating company says it has planned investments of around €3 million for restructuring this year and next.
The MHKW in Frankfurt's Nordweststadt recycles residual waste, as well as non-recyclable commercial waste from Frankfurt and the surrounding region. The annual volume is around 525,000 tons. From this, the plant generates around 500,000 MWh of heat per year, supplying around 30,000 households. The power plant also feeds around 200,000 MWh of electricity into the public grid each year. Which, according to the operator, powers Germany's largest fleet of e-waste vehicles.
