Scottish firm starts $60-M waste management facility in Lubao

MANILA, Philippines - MacKay Green Energy (MGE), a subsidiary of the MacKay Group of Scotland, has started the construction of a 22-megawatt (MW) integrated waste management facility worth $60 million in Lubao, Pampanga.

In a statement, MGE president and CEO Terry Brown said if they would be able to get all the necessary permits and approvals from the government by next month, the plant would be ready for commercial operation by June 2012.

The project would be jointly undertaken by MGE with the Pampanga provincial government with an end goal of finally easing the perennial problem of waste management in the province, and even bringing up another source of renewable energy. The town of Lubao has agreed to partner in the venture.

Based on the plan, MGE will develop the initial stage of the joint venture by installing its leading edge waste-to-renewable energy technology.

Specifically, the plant will use the MacKay Energy Waste Processing System, operational in Germany for 30 years. The process enables raw waste to be classified into component parts, recyclables and refuse derived fuel (RDF).

The ferrous and non-ferrous metals are recovered and refined back to almost purity by the process. Any usable metals are also recovered and purified for sale. The MacKay Energy system can also be expanded to allow the processing of e-Waste.

Another Mackay-controlled technology that processes used tires to produce shipping diesel, carbon black and steel, may also be installed at the facility.

The fuel (RDF) that is recovered during the waste processing is then used to produce renewable energy by processing it in the MacKay Indirectly Fired Gas Turbine (IFGT). This technology is a world first and has been developed in Australia.

The major advantage that the IFGT offers over conventional renewable energy processes is the conversion efficiency of energy fuel to electricity. The IFGT uses almost half the fuel that would be required to produce the same amount of electricity using a boiler steam turbine system.

“On raw fuel usage, it is 45 percent more efficient in this respect. The IFGT system also allows substantially more opportunity for co-generation of further electricity without burning any more fuel,” Brown said.

The other major advantage of the IFGT system is that the temperature of combustion is between1200-1800 degrees centigrade. At these temperatures, combustion is almost total and emissions are undetectable. This removes the problems associated with the incineration of raw garbage, as the temperature of combustion is much lower (700-9000 C) and combustion is less complete. At these levels toxic by-products can be created and emitted to the atmosphere.

It was noted that the IFGT system removes this problem and clearly satisfies all requirements of the Clean Air Act.

The facility will be established at no cost to the government.

“We address the ever-growing problem of landfills by removing the need for them. All components of the MSW are recovered and sold or converted to electricity,” the official said.

The Mackay Group is a private corporation founded and headed by its chairman James Ronaldson Mackay. It is engaged in acquiring new and innovative technologies across national borders and multiple industries, including real estate and development, smartcards, biotechnology, third generation technologies of renewable energy and healthcare.