ENERGY RECOVERY FROM WASTE: CLEAN AND NEAR-LIMITLESS ENERGY
Waste-to-energy has become a crucial environmental, societal and urban issue. It offers a sustainable, cost-effective solution to the challenges posed by waste generation.
As a source of renewable energy (electricity, heat, cold, hydrogen), waste – when recovered – becomes an almost inexhaustible energy resource. It contributes to the decarbonisation of industry and local regions.
MASTERY OF CIVIL ENGINEERING AND PROCESSES: A UNIQUE ASSET FOR YOUR PROJECTS
The only company in the sector to offer turnkey design-build services, with our own in-house civil engineering activities, we are a key player in French and international markets through our VINCI Environment subsidiary.
The energy recovery unit (ERU) in Ivry-sur-Seine will treat 350,000 tonnes of household waste each year, while improving its environmental performance. It will serve as a European benchmark.
With more than a hundred energy recovery units (ERU) plants designed and built over the past 30 years, both in France and abroad, we offer solutions tailored to the specific needs of local regions and communities to guarantee reliable and efficient facilities from a technical, environmental and economic point of view, and easy operation.
Modernisation – revamping – of the Charleroi ERU (Belgium)
We are building infrastructure with a processing capacity of up to 250,000 tonnes/year. We also renovate and modernise existing plants (revamping) to optimise their energy and environmental performance, increase their capacity and bring them into compliance with current regulatory frameworks.We offer our clients tailor-made solutions throughout the entire life cycle of their projects, from design to commissioning and training of operating teams.
We also offer our know-how to our clients for the development of biomass unit projects. This carbon-neutral solution is intended to replace fossil fuels and can be used as a fuel for the production of clean energy. Our technologies can transform biomass combustion into electrical, thermal or combined energy.
A FRENCH LEADER IN ANAEROBIC DIGESTION AND GREEN GAS PRODUCTION
Anaerobic digestion, a natural process of degradation of organic matter by the action of bacteria, is a virtuous way of producing energy and a responsible alternative to chemical fertilisers.
With about thirty anaerobic digestion units designed and built, we are a leader in the French market and offer proven global and modular solutions for the design and construction of infrastructure with a treatment capacity of 5,000 to 270,000 tonnes/year.
This enables us to offer our clients sustainable and economical solutions for the production of biogas (methane and carbon dioxide) and the residue that can be used as agricultural compost (digestate).
Our expertise also ensures a significant reduction in the amount of final waste and improves the quality of air and agricultural soils by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and providing a natural fertiliser.
Methanisation contributes to energy transition and makes it possible to supply industries as well as surrounding districts with green gas injected into the distribution networks.
MASTERY OF TECHNOLOGIES FOR AN INNOVATIVE AND COMPETITIVE OFFER
As pioneers, our mastery of all the technologies and processes available on the market underpins our ability to respond to the constraints and requirements of our clients.
We rely on proprietary and partnered technologies through a policy of partnerships with innovative players in the sector.
Our energy recovery activity benefits from our know-how in combustion processes and thermodynamic cycles (thermal treatment and different types of furnaces) and in flue gas treatment (acid pollutants, nitrogen oxides, heavy metals, etc.).
Our methanisation activity also draws upon recognised expertise (BRS for the preparation of household waste before its biological processing, Ecotunnel or Siloda for accelerated composting, etc.).
ENVIRONMENTAL INNOVATIONS AT THE CORE OF OUR BUSINESS
This wide range of services allows us to offer sustainable and environmentally friendly solutions, meeting or exceeding the most stringent standards.
For example, our extensive engineering capabilities have enabled us to develop a solution that allows the production of green hydrogen from the steam from our ERUs, delivering an efficiency improvement of 30%.
The future Saint-Ouen ERU
The waste energy recovery system we are proposing at the Saint-Ouen ERU, in the Paris region, will guarantee an optimised energy performance. The “dry” treatment of incineration flue gases allows better capture of pollutants, a considerable reduction in the plume at the chimney outlet and better recovery of heat from the flue gases by condensation, thus ensuring a significant improvement in energy recovery.
We are also exploring future innovations with our partners, such as hydrothermal gasification for the final treatment of sludge, and we are using our know-how in the treatment business to offer our clients our expertise as an integrator of energy production facilities (power plants, pumped-storage power stations, etc.).