FCC Environment releases time-lapse footage showing the inner workings of the Kent power plant
FCC Environment, which owns and operates the Allington Energy from Waste plant in Kent, has released footage of the recent planned maintenance at the plant to show how the essentials works undertaken at the plant each year during its shutdown ensures the plant operates exceptionally for the rest of the year generating energy from non-recyclable waste that would otherwise be landfilled.
“The outage film shows some of the work done during the annual shutdowns, which are completed every 18 months” says FCC Environment Maintenance Manager Paul Heathcote. “This particular year included the replacement of our boiler Superheater 3 tube bundles with a new design which cost £3.5M across the 3 lines – it should triple the life span of the tubes but needed a very big crane to lift them! The footage also shows the automatic Inconel welding to the boiler tubes which welds a protective coating of Inconel on the tubes, so they don’t have to be replaced. To access the tubes there is a huge scaffold up the inside of the boiler which is installed in 36 hours.”
“We also carried out major concrete repairs to the bottom of our MSW bunker with an improved material, to ensure its integrity for the next 10 years. Oh, and the ice cream van we used to celebrate getting past the halfway point of the outage!”
The Allington Integrated Waste Management Facility recovers energy from non-recyclable, non-hazardous waste streams and the plant began operating in late December 2008. The facility sorts separated materials for recycling and recovers energy from non-hazardous waste. The facility is able to process up to 550,000 tonnes a year of mixed waste for energy recovery and a further 65,000 tonnes of separated materials suitable for recycling.
£150 million has been invested in the facility and the facility generates up to 43MW of power, 34MW of which goes into the local electricity supply network to reduce reliance on fossil fuels. Any surplus power generated goes back into the system to assist in powering the facility.
The Energy from Waste plant uses circulating fluidised bed technology to burn the waste, which then generates usable energy. The facility is designed and operated to ensure that all emissions are in line with requirements set by the Environmental Permit (BR4551).
You can view the footage here