Energy from Waste and more…

Do you know what happens to your black bin rubbish? Well, 20 WW U3A members do, following a visit to Lincolnshire County Council’s Energy from Waste Centre at North Hykeham Lincoln. Rubbish is no longer (since 2013) used as landfill, but as a fuel to generate electricity.
Lincolnshire, according to our very informative guide at the visitors’ centre, produces 365,000 Tonnes of rubbish annually.About half of this total is recyclable and compost-able. The remaining 170,000 Tonnes is used for conversion into energy. Street collection vehicles in West Lindsey deposit their black bin rubbish at one of 5 Waste Stations in the county ( probably at Gainsborough). From there, very large special vehicles take the rubbish to North Hykeham. On arrival as part of the closely monitored process the vehicles are weighed. After this these vehicles with a moving floor system deposit the rubbish into a deep pit and are then weighed empty on the way out.
The rubbish is then loaded by skilful operators using giant grabs, into a hopper which feeds by gravity into the furnace running at 900 C. This is a continuous process where the rubbish is the fuel. The hot gases produced pass through boiler tubes to raise water in a closed system to superheated steam which expands through a turbine to drive the electrical generator in the normal way to supply 300+MW into the National Grid, (enough for 26,000 houses).
There is some waste in this whole process.The furnace has a shaking action which deposits ash and ferrous metal below it. The ash is used as an aggregate in road building and the metal is recovered for recycling. The flue gases are neutralised and particulates are removed, before being released up a 75 m chimney. Environmental control of the gases is a major part of the final process. Any solids removed are in the form of a fine powder which goes to make building blocks. There is scope in the plant design to use low grade heat presently released via fans, in a district heating scheme when funds permit.
Following our visit we drove to the nearby Pride of Lincoln pub for some R&R. Our next engagement was with the Lincolnshire Vintage Vehicle Society. A green 1940 Leyland Titan double-decker bus came from the Society’s Museum to the pub. We embarked, there followed some rearrangement of seating, as our volunteer driver was worried that most were upstairs and the centre of gravity needed lowering for stability.Reseated more evenly we set off for a tour of Lincoln. Tickets were issued by our volunteer conductor whilst the driver wrestled the bus through the narrow streets to stop outside the Cathedral for photos. We changed seating to give everyone a share of the topdeck and set off for the Road Transport Museum also in North Hykeham.
At the Museum we had time to wander amongst the collection of mostly buses, cars, motor-cycles and memorabilia displayed there. All these vehicles were functional; but behind the display area in the workshop it was a different story. There was much work in progress to be seen. One could not but admire the optimism of some of the Society’s members in tackling the restoration tasks they had set themselves. We did however see the outcome of much past effort and money spent, when the owner of an immaculate 1930’s SS model “Jaguar” proudly showed us his car.
All too soon our day out came to a close. We were delivered back to the pub car park in an ex Co-op single decker. Thanks to Brian Ward for making all the arrangements which led to a different and most interesting day out with not too far to travel.