Veolia Industrial Site Services recently undertook a project at SELCHP ERF, in South London, to clean the plant to improve its efficiency to its clients.
South East London Combined Heat & Power (SELCHP) energy recovery facility (ERF) takes collected waste from the surrounding boroughs of London and converts it into heat and electricity through a series of processes. The facility is capable of handling 440,000 tonnes of waste a year, powering approximately 60,600 homes. Following these principles of a circular economy, SELCHP plays a significant role in London’s low-carbon energy infrastructure.
In converting the waste into energy, waste makes its way from the bunker through to a feed hopper and a series of chutes that lead to a sloped grate where, under high temperatures, the materials are continually turned to allow full combustion. In the burning process, a large amount of ash is created. Whilst much of this is sent for reprocessing into recycled materials for the likes of construction, the build-up of material in the plant’s chutes, baghouse and boilers can be detrimental to the efficiency of the ERF. Poor efficiency means more energy is used to complete the process and due to requiring an extended period of time to get the desired results. It also allows room for mistakes and malfunctions that can cause significant downtime.
That is why for energy recovery facilities, annual outages are required to clean the plant to improve their efficiency and maintain facility standards. This is where Veolia Industrial Site Services came in for SELCHP.
Veolia Industrial Site Services have unique expertise in completing annual ERF outages to deadlines and to budgets. With 10 energy from waste plants of our own, we understand the challenges that come with outages, as well as understanding the standards and regulations required regarding efficiency levels, compliance and health and safety.
SELCHP collaborated with Veolia Industrial Site Services, as well as other functions like Mechanical Services in the one-month outage on their plant. Veolia’s Industrial Site Services team were responsible for cleaning the chutes, boilers and baghouses. Thomas Folliard, General Manager at SELCHP, said “Veolia Industrial (site) Services are a key partner for us ensuring we hit the correct efficiency and maintenance levels of the facility during our annual shutdowns. They work to the correct industry standards and the experience they gain from supporting other ERFs and similar industries, they bring that experience to us and we get that reassurance that they will hit the standards we require at SELCHP and give us the confidence that we will return to service on time and to budget.”
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