Climate Action 2011-2012

fredericia municipality
special feature
From garbage to gas – making
a business out of a problem
It all began with a radical idea: to turn the perception of
waste water and household garbage from being a costly
problem to a valuable resource for local energy production.
The plan is to turn Fredericia Wastewater Treatment Plant
into a refinery that utilises waste water and municipal solid
waste as biomass that can be used for biogas production,
with subsequent upgrading to natural gas quality, so that the
gas can be distributed through the existing natural gas grid
and used for heating and transport.
By boosting the ongoing biogas production in Fredericia
Wastewater Treatment Plant using ground-breaking
technology with waste as fuel, the municipality can earn a
profit in a market with ever-rising energy prices and waste
management costs. As a bonus, the municipality’s need for
manpower for its own waste and recycling management is
minimised. In addition, there is an environmental gain from
lower emissions of particulate matter and CO 2
, and less
residual waste has to go to landfill or incineration.
Future waste cycle.
renescience – separaTing
wasTe wiTh enzymes
In the REnescience process, mixed municipal solid waste
(MSW) is separated through an enzyme treatment which
liquefies biodegradable material. This allows for a second
step which separates the resulting ‘bio-liquid’ from the
remaining solid fraction. The bio-liquid is perfect for biogas
production, both on a stand-alone basis and as a booster
material for less potent biogas feedstocks such as waste water
sludge and animal manure. The solid fraction comprising
plastics, metals, glass etc. can now be more or less extensively
recycled depending on local requirements. Alternatively,
a storable fuel for high-efficiency electricity and heat
production can be produced from the solid fraction.
A pilot plant (pictured) has
been operating in Copenhagen
since 2009 and the Scandinavian
company expects the first
commercial demonstration plant
to come online by 2013.
Back To The fuTure
Together with DONG Energy, Fredericia Municipality is
planning to change from diesel fuel for the city buses and refuse
trucks, replacing it with biogas made from sewage and waste. In
that way greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced by more than
100 per cent. Soon the garbage trucks will run on garbage, like
Doc Brown’s reactor in Back to the Future. In Fredericia, we have
not invented the time machine, but we are forward-looking and
determined to do our share in creating a better world.
The full picTure
The full potential is reached when the whole value chain
becomes involved. Fredericia Municipality is facing problems
of expensive garbage disposal, waste water treatment, water
purification, pollution from city traffic, access to phosphates
for fertilisers – and last but not least, climate change. The
public-private-innovation partnership with DONG Energy’s
biotechnology company REnescience seems to be the ‘silver
bullet’ that can offer solutions to all those problems.
Preben Birr-Pedersen, M.Sc, MBA, began his
career in UNDP as a climate change consultant 15
years ago. He has since then worked in the field of
energy and climate change, both in a private energy
company and at the Danish Transmission System
Operator as project investment manager and strategic planner.
Fredericia Municipality has 50,000 inhabitants and is located in
the centre of Denmark. The city lies by the deep and narrow Little
Belt strait, which is one of the main arteries for shipping traffic in
Danish waters. Fredericia has formed an innovation partnership with
REnescience as part of ‘Fredericia Forming the Future’ strategy that
is aimed at drastically transforming the public sector.
Web: www.fredericia.dk; www.renescience.com
157 climateactionprogramme.org