Refuse-Derived Fuel Becoming Popular in Korea

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--South Korea's first refuse-derived fuel (RDF) pilot plant, operated by Sudokwon Landfill Site Management Corporation, a subsidiary of the country's Ministry of Environment, was brought online in May. Since then, other companies have made their RDF plans public.

RDF plants take in household wastes and sort them into incombustible and combustible categories. Combustible waste is then dried at very high temperatures, crushed, and reformed into pellets. These pellets can be sold to cogeneration power stations as an anthracite (coal) substitute, or burned to produce commercial energy in the form of electricity or heat. The caloric value of anthracite ranges from 4,800 kilocalories per kilogram to 5,000 kilocalories per kilogram. RDF, with a caloric value of 4,800 kilocalories per kilogram, would serve as an economical and more environmentally friendly substitute for anthracite. The cost of RDF is US$27 per ton, a fourth of the cost of anthracite.

In May, the engineering and construction division of KOLON Industries Incorporated (SEO:002020) (Kwachon, South Korea) began construction of a grassroot US$34.5 million RDF plant in Mokpo City, approximately 300 kilometers south of Seoul. If completed during the second quarter of 2012, as expected, ownership will be turned over to Mokpo City Office (Mokpo, South Korea) and the plant will produce 120 metric tons per day of RDF from 230 metric tons per day of refuse from Mokpo City and Sinan District. Next June, Naju City Office (Naju, South Korea) will follow in Mokpo's footsteps and begin construction on a grassroot RDF plant near Naju, approximately 250 kilometers south of Seoul. Naju City Office has yet to select a developer; however, it plans to invest US$20 million to construct a plant capable of producing 70 metric tons per day of RDF, which will used in a RDF-fueled heating and power plant. Construction is scheduled to be finished later in 2012, when the engineering and construction division of Korea Electric Power Corporation (NYSE:KEP) (Seoul) is planning to begin construction on a US$40 million grassroot RDF production plant in Gangneung, about 200 kilometers east of Seoul. When construction is wrapped up during the second quarter of 2014, the plant will produce 200 metric tons per day of RDF from 400 metric tons per day of burnable refuse.

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