Netherlands Deputy Minister Berend J. Odink of Agriculture, Nature Management and Fisheries opens a unique installation at E.ON Benelux
Voorburg/Maasvlakte, 11 November 2002. On Thursday 14 November 2002 Netherlands Deputy Minister Berend J. Odink is scheduled to open the "Omnivoor" installation at E.ON Benelux's electricity power station on the Maasvlakte near Rotterdam.
The Omnivoor installation (units 1-4) is a unique system of storage silos in which animal meal is blown in directly from bulk trucks, via a sealed circuit, and then pulverized for use in the power station's furnaces for the generation of sustainable steam. Total investment for construction of the four silos in the Omnivoor installation is worth in excess of € 12 million.
E.ON Benelux is the first and only electricity generating company to also burn animal meal on a large scale. E.ON Benelux has been conducting tests with animal meal for several years. When the product was banned as animal feed due to the BSE crisis, E.ON Benelux was the first company to respond to government requests for help in solving this problem impacting across society - i.e. safe disposal of stocks of animal meal. At the same time, by adding animal meal the fuel burned at the coal-fired generators on the Maasvlakte E.ON also ensures a reduction in CO2 emissions around production of sustainable power (electricity).
E.ON Benelux currently uses some 150,000 tons of animal meal as a supplementary fuel for its furnaces. E.ON Benelux's Omnivoor installation has an annual capacity of 240,000 tons. Together with a number of electricity generating stations in Germany E.ON Benelux is the only electricity company in Europe to make a large-scale contribution to this problem impacting society as a whole. To date E.ON Benelux has only used Dutch animal meal. Given the same problem of storage elsewhere in Europe the company also expects to use animal meal from other European countries in the future. Using alternative fuels meshes with the sustainable fuel policy at E.ON Benelux.
Before commencing use of animal meal in its furnaces E.ON commissioned extensive studies by expert bodies including the Netherlands quality control institute KEMA to identify any hazards for employees or the surroundings. All materials in the furnaces are totally incinerated, within 3 seconds, at a temperature between 1200 and 1300 degrees Celsius.