Redwave to help power Norske Skog plant

The Austrian recycling technology company Redwave has supplied a waste-to-energy processing plant for Norske Skog, a paper company based in Norway.

Norske Skog says it is investing in a 50-megawatt, wide-range energy boiler powered by refuse-derived fuel (RDF) and paper production residuals. Residue from recyclable material sorting will be burned as a substitute fuel in the new facility in Bruck, Austria.

The group invested 72 million euros ($70.3 million) in the plant, which has been designed to cover two-thirds of the site’s heat demand and one-third of its electrical energy demand.

Redwave says it supported Norske Skog on the project by helping to plan, deliver and commission the waste-to-energy (WTE) processing plant, including electrical measurement, control and regulation technology. 

“The cooperation with Redwave was very professional and flexible from planning to the assembly phase to commissioning,” says Bernhard Pichler, project manager of fuel storage for the K9 Project at Bruck.

The RDF being used primarily comes from industrial, bulky and commercial waste or sorted residues. The use of regional substitute fuels and residues at the WTE plant will reduce the consumption of natural gas at the paper mill by up to 75 percent, Norske Skog spokesperson Gert Pfleger says.

The substitute fuel material is processed in a new Redwave Qi before combustion to obtain high levels of quality and purity. This allows for efficient use of the energy content contained in the waste, says the company. The Redwave Qi system analyzes the substitute fuel, ensuring the required material quality.

Based on the material surface, the sensor-supported Redwave Qi system can provide calorific values or information about the material’s moisture. This data output takes place online via accompanying Redwave software. The material composition data also includes the chlorine levels in the substitute fuel, as well as statements about the quality of the input material.

“Norske Skog Bruck is looking forward to further cooperation with Redwave to jointly develop the new Redwave Qi quality analysis and control system in the field of fuel analysis,” says Pichler.

The Redwave Qi system can, as it is at Norske Skog, be independent and is available as a mobile or stationary unit. It can be integrated into an existing sorting system, says Redwave.