German containerboard producer Hamburger Rieger has officially started operations at its new secondary recovered fuels (SRF) combined heat and power plant in the Spremberg industrial park last week. The single-line grate-fired plant has a total capacity of 110 MW of thermal energy und will use up to 255,000 tonnes of SRF a year to generate the energy required by Hamburger Rieger’s Spremberg paper mill. In addition, it will feed 17 MW of electricity into the public grid.
The paper producer invested around €140m into the project, which was launched in 2009. The fuel used by the plant will consist of about 45,000 tonnes of papermaking residues and 210,000 tonnes of SRF produced from commercial and municipal waste. This amount is secured and will be delivered by more than 60 external SRF suppliers. The plant's energy efficiency is more than 60 per cent, according to its operator Spreerecycling GmbH & Co. KG, a subsidiary of Hamburger Rieger.