Secure waste disposal, release energy, extract raw materials

Avoid, recycle, dispose of - this is how environmentally friendly waste management works.

Dispose of waste

Every day around 150 garbage trucks tip their freight into the MVR bunker. The crane drivers ensure that the garbage is evenly mixed before it is sent to the boiler for incineration.

Shredded and properly mixed, the delivered garbage usually has the calorific value of lignite. The boiler fire turns waste into slag and combustion gas at temperatures between 900 ° C and 1000 ° C. In this heat, the dangerous dioxins and furans are thermally cracked. The incineration of the garbage results in only a very low environmental impact. Often the pollutant values ​​are not even a tenth of the permitted limit values ​​of the operating license, and these are mostly still well below the legally prescribed values ​​from the Federal Immission Control Act.

Power Generaion

From the energy contained in the waste, MVR simultaneously produces electricity, process steam for steam customers and, since autumn 2004, heating water (district heating) for the Neuwiedenthal district heating system. The steam generated by the MVR is led to the Neuhof industrial area; the inexpensive energy from the MVR helps companies to secure jobs there.

In addition, the steam is used to generate electricity via a steam turbine, which the MVR itself uses. The electricity produced in addition is fed into Hamburg's power grid and replaces electricity generated from fossil fuels.

Energy Balance

For several reasons, the MVR sometimes has to use primary energy (heating oil / natural gas) in addition to waste. Primary energy is used temporarily in the waste boiler in order to ensure compliance with the minimum combustion temperature even under unfavorable conditions. Natural gas is used in the auxiliary steam generators when the energy obtained from the waste is insufficient on cold days to supply MVR's heating customers or when a waste incineration line for steam generation is not available. How much primary energy we have to use is influenced by customer acceptance, the weather and the time and power availability of the waste boiler.

Extract raw materials

When garbage has been incinerated and recycled, many valuable materials are left over: slag, scrap iron, non-ferrous metals such as aluminum, copper, brass as well as hydrochloric acid and gypsum. They can all be fed back into the economic cycle, for example as building materials, in the chemical industry or in metal works.