Project Objective

The objective of the LIFE HaloSep project is to demonstrate and evaluate the HaloSep technology on a large scale and to plan for the exploitation and replication of the results. The project is building a demonstration plant for co-treatment of flue gas waste and scrubber liquid at Vestforbrænding, Denmark’s largest waste-to-energy plant, which services the inhabitants of the Copenhagen area.

Project Overview

Producing heat and electricity through waste incineration is a climate-sound solution for materials that cannot be recycled. Throughout the waste treatment process there is a strong focus on the best use of the resources in the waste. The current EU goal is that at least 50% of household waste is recycled as materials and that the remainder is used as energy resource in waste to energy plants. However, incineration of waste generates flue gas waste – fly ash – which contains chlorides and heavy metals and is classified as hazardous waste.

In most cases, flue gas waste in Denmark and Sweden fails to meet the EU limits for leaching of salts and heavy metals and has to be exported to specific landfill sites for hazardous waste within Europe. In Sweden alone, around 150,000 tonnes of ash per year are transported a great distance for special storage in a disused limestone quarry in Norway. We believe that the Stena Metall Group’s patented HaloSep technology can provide a sustainable solution for treatment of flue gas waste.

The project is enabled by funding from the European Commission’s LIFE Programme, a financial instrument supporting environmental, nature conservation and climate action projects.

The project reference number is LIFE15 ENV/SE/000265-HALOSEP.

Expected Benefits

Environmental Benefits

• Neutralizing two hazardous wastes
• Leaching stable, inorganic residue; fulfills EU-legislation.
• Local treatment of gas cleaning waste
• No export – eliminating long-distance transports with local landfill and reduced landfill fees
• Moving up the waste hierarchy
• Increased metal recycling
• Salt for de-icing purposes
• Ash to be used as a product in concrete production

Operational Benefits for Waste Incineration Plants

• Local treatment of gas cleaning waste
• 20% reduced cost for gas cleaning waste
• 80% reduced consumption of cleaning additives
• Construction in existing facilities
• Implementation with little disturbance of daily operations
• Sustainable profile of the brand and daily operation