Two years after Zwentendorf/Dürnrohr went on stream, AVN is already busy planning an extension. A third line is to be added to the two existing processing lines. The pronounced growth in the volume of garbage to be disposed of domestically, now that German waste disposal regulations have come into effect which ban cross-border waste transports, and the rising calorific value of the garbage currently supplied, which decelerates the throughput rate, make it necessary to provide for additional capacity at the most exacting technological standards. What's more, the Austrian Federal Waste Management Plan finds that existing waste incineration capacities will not suffice to ensure full-scale disposal within Austria, even when including the capacities scheduled to be added up to 2008.

Accordingly, the AVN plant is to be extended from its current 120 MW to an output of 210 MW. Same as the two existing lines, the new line will be used to incinerate waste and generate steam to be fed to the Dürnrohr power station where it is transformed into electricity and district heat, and to the Agrana bioethanol plant for use as process steam. With this, AVN will not only make another weighty contribution to environmentally friendly waste disposal, but also produce more energy and achieve further savings in CO₂ through its combined-cycle process at Dürnrohr.

Another ecological pillar of AVN is its insistence that fully 90% of the waste and residuals be transported by rail. This innovative logistic concept will naturally be applied to the third line as well. After all, environmental protection cannot be confined just to waste disposal but must encompass the entire logistics.

The new third line will emulate the existing design. As can be seen from the computer animation, the current entrance area will be relocated further northwest to make way for the new line.

Constructed in parallel with the two existing lines, the new line will be made up of a grate, boiler and a three-stage flue gas cleaning system in the form of a dry stage (fabric filter) and two wet scrubbers (acid and gypsum), followed by a (catalyst) deNOx plant.

A new feature is the so-called “initial bunker”, an extension of the current bunker to accommodate the additional garbage. It is added to the south of the plant bridging the automated container unloading crane station painted in red. This bunker will be fitted with three tipping points and a bulk garbage shredder. A travelling crane will transfer the waste from the new bunker into the existing one.

The project has reached the stage where the application is filed for an environmental impact analysis scheduled for late May 2006. All environmental aspects have been investigated by the experts commissioned by AVN and are set out in altogether 22 expert opinions enclosed with the environmental impact statement. This was presented to the Office of the Lower Austrian Government for inclusion in the analysis. AVN expects to receive the requisite permit by the spring of 2007, so that construction should start in the summer of 2007. Construction and start-up will take some three years, so that the third line will be ready for operation in 2010.

Facts and figures