Industry leaders are stepping up to ensure a unified approach to Australia’s emerging Incinerator Bottom Ash market.
Australia is at a critical step-off point as it starts its energy-from-waste (EfW) journey, says Ian Lynass, Blue Phoenix Australia Managing Director.
Ian says the industry is gaining momentum with the country’s first EfW plant under construction in Kwinana, Western Australia, and the first Incinerator Bottom Ash (IBA) plant ready to fire up.
He’s drawing on decades of experience and best practice to ensure that momentum is matched by an industry united in developing a platform for recapturing resources that, until now, have gone to landfill.
Ian has established the Manufacturers of Incinerator Bottom Ash Aggregate of Australia (MIBAAA) Association, to bring together industry players to ensure sustainable and responsible pathways for the reuse of incinerator bottom ash.
The association will be supported by Manufacturers of IBA Aggregates Association (MIBAAA) in the United Kingdom, which has worked with regulators and industry to set standards for the reuse of more than 2.5 million tonnes of ash each year.
“Energy-from-waste is one of many key strategies for a population the size of Australia to deal with the waste it generates,” Ian says.
“IBA is a resource that has not previously been recovered in Australia. This is an exciting time to really tap into recycled materials that we didn’t even know were there.”
Aggregate gains
Residual waste treated in EfW plants contains inert materials such as metals, glass, stones, masonry and slag. This material remains after combustion and is called incinerator bottom ash or IBA. The IBA is then treated in a secondary treatment plant to recover all ferrous and non-ferrous metals, screen and size aggregates and remove any unburnt materials.
Blue Phoenix will process 100 per cent of the IBA – about 80,000 tonnes per annum – from the Australian EfW plant. Ian says the process seeks to liberate agglomerated slags and metals to allow for further refinement and valorisation, but importantly, the residual minerals are recovered to provide a proven aggregate for reuse in the civil construction industry.
For the past 20 years, Blue Phoenix Group in Europe has recovered and safely reintroduced 15-million tonnes of aggregates, predominantly into road base, with no detrimental environmental effects. It’s those learnings Ian and MIBAAA members will draw on to map Australia’s regulations.
“Every Australian state will require some form of regulatory pathway but there is nothing currently in place,” Ian says.
“We’re leveraging off 20 years’ experience in the UK where there’s a similar regulatory environment and the material is not dissimilar to what will be used in Australia. We’ll stay with what we know works but be focused on what works within Australia.
“It’s important for us as an industry to provide a platform to share knowledge so we can ensure the way we develop and use IBA is uniform.”
The way forward
MIBAAA was established two years ago and is chaired by Ian. Inaugural membership of the association and committee include Allan Jones, Operations Director, and Brian Lloyd, Project Manager for Ash Projects, both of Avertas Energy; Jason Pugh, Chief Executive Officer, and Andrew Steers, Chief Financial Officer, both of the East Rockingham Regional Recovery Project; and Wally Lukic, General Manager, and Roger Stevens, Environmental Technical Manager, both of WA Limestone.
All members of the association provide equal funding which, to date, has been used to develop Australian standards for the burgeoning IBA industry.
Ian has spent the past two years presenting a universal voice for the association. He’s expecting the association to grow as EfW projects that are being approved and constructed around Australia come online.
“It’s a critical step-off point in terms of having an industry-focused body that’s solely looking at responsible development of pathways with regulators and authorities,” Ian says.
“We’ve taken a proactive stance as an industry to provide self-governance to ensure the material is used appropriately and is at a standard that is able to be responsibly and sustainably reused.
“Australia can sometimes struggle with the harmonisation of laws but if industry can come together and create unity in the way we manage sustainable and recoverable outputs, and build the knowledge base of the Australian aggregate industry, that’s pretty exciting.”
Ian believes Australia is at the forefront of a generation of difference and IBA will play a role in road and civil construction. But, he says, there’s a lot of work to ensure it’s done properly.
While there’s a willingness to look at recycled material for road building, there is still an entrenched perspective that recycled material must be the same as virgin material.
Ian says a different approach needs to be taken. He agrees you can’t just throw anything in to build roads, but IBA has been proven in civil and road construction for the past 20 years.
“We want people to understand that this aggregate is a direct replacement for virgin materials,” Ian says. “It’s no longer a waste but is transformed and has a valuable use in the market.”
Long-term, MIBAAA will look at what else IBA can be used for, such as a replacement for concrete, filler, or clinker. Ian says there’s opportunity for IBA to be used in bound and unbound applications.
“When you think about all the materials we’re trying to recover and reuse in Australia, you have to ask what else can this technology be used for,” he says.
“Long-term it will be interesting to see where it goes. It’s an exciting platform to be part of. As Australia transitions to a low waste circular economy, there is no better example than IBA reuse, which is a product with proven uses in civil applications that saves the mining of virgin aggregates.”
For more information, visit: www.bluephoenix-group.com
