Chemicals company Solvay has partnered with Veolia to construct a new plant that aims to replace coal with refuse-derived fuel for the production of clean and competitive energy.
Credit: Solvay
The project, designed for the historical Dombasle-sur-Meurthe soda ash production plant in France, will ensure the plant's competitiveness and reduce CO2 emissions by 50%. A first in France, Dombasle Énergie will create a circular economy loop.
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The project consists of replacing three coal-fired boilers with a boiler room equipped with two furnaces running on RDF, produced from waste that cannot be recycled, allowing to halve the carbon footprint of the industrial activity and stop importing 200,000 tonnes of coal annually.
The Dombasle-sur-Meurthe site will have a cogeneration unit that uses 350,000 tonnes of RDF per year, supplied by Veolia as of 2024.
The new facility, to be built by Solvay and operated by Veolia, will have a capacity of 181 megawatts (MW) thermal power and 17.5 MW electrical power, which will be reused for the industrial process. The project will require an investment of €225 million and is scheduled to come on stream in 2024.
“A pioneer of industrial ecology, Veolia is once again positioning itself as a major partner for the industry players to help them achieve their carbon emission reduction targets”, said Antoine Frérot, chairman and CEO of Veolia. “We are glad to take part in this project with a partner like Solvay and contribute to the decarbonisation of industry as part of the ecological transformation approach.”
“This major project secures the future of our historic site and confirms Solvay's determination to transform the European soda ash industry, to make it more sustainable and competitive, and better serve our customers in the long term,” stressed Philippe Kehren, president of Solvay Soda Ash & Derivatives. “It is driven by the same momentum as the green energy transition project developed at our Rheinberg, Germany site."
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The conversion of the plant offers a real advantage in the context of volatile fossil fuel prices and the taxes imposed by European regulations on the use of coal. This allows the site to be sustained and the employment pool to be preserved with 1,000 direct and indirect jobs.
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