Energy recovery
Although almost 57,000 tonnes of waste have been used less than the previous year, the energy replacement of fossil fuels in Catalan cement factories has reached 31% (in terms of heat) in 2018. This percentage is still very much far from countries like Germany, Holland or Sweden, with more than twice the task of replacing Catalonia.
This apparent contradiction is explained by the contribution of heat from the tires used (a waste that has doubled with respect to 2017) in front of the vegetal biomasses, that they have reduced in 85% in number of tonnes, but their calorie intake is barely one third of that of NFU, weight by weight.
| WASTE TYPE | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | Var. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plant biomass (industrial of agricultural origin, pineapple, olive bones, industrial of agricultural origin, shell, energy crops, untreated wood) | 0 | 76.424 | 11.470 | -85% |
| RDF-MSW | 129.521 | 135.307 | 131.582 | -3% |
| Animal meal | 23.226 | 35.840 | 36.165 | 1% |
| Urban wastewater sludge | 8.274 | 7.344 | 7.563 | 3% |
| Wood (wood processing cuts, bulky waste, packaging, construction and demolition waste, sleepers, urban and landscape elements) | 18.151 | 19.951 | 20.395 | 2% |
| Waste from the paper industry | 4.980 | 0 | 0 | - |
| TDF | 10.256 | 10.103 | 100% | |
| Total | 184.153 | 274.866 | 217.278 | -21% |
| % energy substitution | 29% | 29% | 31% | 5% |
| Avoided t of fossil CO2 | 199.604 | 255.080 | 252.028 | -1% |
Note: Quantities in tons.
Source: Oficemen
