The facilities
Access control
After scanning and weighting trucks loaded with MSW, vehicles proceed to the receival hall access door.
Control room
Monitoring, control and information systems related to the various energy recovery, gas scrubbing and electricity production equipments of the facility are located in this room.
Ammonia tank
This tank is used to store the 23% ammonia solution which is injected into the furnace to neutralise nitrogen oxides.
Holding pit
The waste deposited in the pit is mixed in order to ensure homogeneity.
Furnace-Boiler
Heat released from combustion of municipal waste on the grate rack is used to produce steam in the boiler.
Bag house filter
After the initial gas scrubbing in the furnace-boiler and absorption tower, the remaining particles in the gases are filtered and collected for subsequent inertisation.
Absorption towers
The gases from the furnace-boiler are scrubbed to neutralise adidity and remove heavy metals and newly formed dioxins and furans.
Ash output
Fly ash and flue gas scrubbing residues from the furnace-boiler, absorption tower and bag filters are first stored in a silo before being conveyed to an inersitation plant in sealed trucks.
Slag and scrap storage and output
After the combustion process, the slag and scrap are deposited in two small storage pits. Subsequently, the slag is transported to a landfill, and the scrap is transported to a steelworks for recycling.
Chimney
The chimney is a seventy-metre high cyllindrical structure that houses both the incineration line and energy recovery boiler gas evacuation ducts.
Emission control
Sensors that continuously sample the scrubbled gases to be monitored and controlled are located on a platform halfway up the stack.
Heat recovery boiler
Steam from the furnace-boiler at a temperature of 310 ºC is superheated to 540 ºC by the exhaust gases from the gas turbine.
Gas turbine
The turbine is used, on one hand, for the combustion of natural gas and consequent generation of electric power and, on the other hand, harness exhaust gases to provide the necessary heat to the recovery boiler, which overheats the steam produced in the furnace.
Steam turbine
The turbine converts the steam generated in the furnace-boiler and the heat recovery boiler to produce electricity.
RMS Gas supply regulation and metering station
The natural gas supplied to the plant is herein conditioned to meet the gas turbine’s pressure needs.
Electrical complex
Includes the transformers connected to the gas and steam turbines and to the substation itself, and the appropiate protective devices.
Water treatment plant
Conditions the water from the Kadagua river.
Cooling towers
The steam that was produced in the boiler and used in the turbine to produce electricity is here cooled and condensed.
Water tank
Storage facility for water previously conditioned in the treatment plant.
The urban waste reception area and the radioactive materials detection gate are located at the entrance to the industrial facilities. There are two weighbridges, one for trucks delivering the urban waste authorised by the Basque Government Environmental Authority to be deposited at the unloading bay, and the other for vehicles leaving the plant.
The office building is opposite the entrance. The largest part of the plant is located on higher ground behind the offices, which in a row contains the following facilities: the waste reception bay, the holding pit, the control room, the furnace-boiler, the gas scrubbing system, and the power generation facility.
Parallel to this area is the site where the second waste-to-energy facility, or “PLANT B”, is scheduled to be built. This area is surrounded by the cooling towers, the water treatment plant, the electrical substation, and the regulating and metering station (RMS) for the natural gas supply.
In addition to gardens, there is an internal road network beginning at the plant’s entrance and servicing each one of its sections.