Research Plan
Work Plan
We plan to continue researching the current state of the art of anaerobic digestion, bioethanol production and incineration to provide the basis for evaluating the optimum solution additionally data collection and analysis will be ongoing throughout. Meetings have been arranged to discuss the project with the Scottish Government, local councils and Waste Aware Scotland which will raise awareness and create contacts for the project. Finally time has been scheduled for writing of interim reports and the final report with revision and editing time also allocated. This is summarised in the chart below.
Meetings
Meetings with officials from the Scottish Government, Local Council and Waste Aware Scotland have been organised to discuss:
· Plans and aspirations for waste management
· Costs of current and proposed systems
· Activities to implement the EfW targets set out in the National Waste Strategy2003 report and reiterated by the Rural Affairs and Environment Minister Richard Lochhead on 24 Jan 2008 [1]
· Attitudes towards Efw, public and governmental
· Changes in Infrastructure
· Reasons for selecting a particular system eg Dundee EfW incinerator
· New ideas and fresh angles of investigation
· Developing contacts for further enquiry
Site Visits
Further to the meetings, site visits to the EfW incinerator facility in Dundee are planned and should gather further information on
· Efficiency of the facility
· More information on the output
· Why an CHP system was not selected
Ongoing Research
Research of the technologies involved is ongoing and will continue throughout it is our aim to develop further understanding of
· Plant dimensions, designs, materials, resource use, energy consumption and efficiency
· Land development issues eg are existing sites an option
· Separation of waste required and methods
· Skilled workers required
· Demand for product
· Value of energy
· Cost benefit
It is hoped that further literature study, industrial contacts and if possible case studies will yield this information.
References
1- Rural Affairs and Environment Minister Richard Lochheads speach on 24th Jan 2008 "Visions for Waste" can be seen at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/This-Week/Speeches/Greener/vision-for-waste/
Pictures courtesy of
