France – As a part of a project called “Dombasle Énergie”, Solvay and Veolia are working on building a cogeneration unit to make clean energy for a soda ash plant in France by replacing coal with waste-based fuel (RDF).
Solvay will be more competitive because of this project. It will also cut CO2 emissions by 50%. The project will replace three coal-fired boilers with a boiler room that has two furnaces that run on RDF, which is made up of waste that was not dangerous. If the boiler works well, it will be the largest RDF cogeneration plant in France and one of the largest in Europe.
Industrial process
For each year, Veolia will send Solvay 350,000 tons of RDF that can be reused and recycled. This will cut Solvay’s carbon footprint in half and avoid having to import 200,000 tons of coal each year. The new cogeneration plant, which makes both heat and electricity at the same time, will be built by Solvay and run by Veolia from 2024. It will make 181 MW of thermal power and 17.5 MW of electricity used in the industrial process.
With volatile fossil fuel prices and taxes in Europe on coal, this RDF cogeneration unit is a real money-maker for the Solvay site, which makes money by making electricity out of the waste. The site’s long-term future is safe because it has become more competitive. It also keeps 1,000 direct and indirect jobs in place.
