Airline KLM in Waste-to-Electricity Conversion Project

Dutch airline group KLM is proposing to create electricity out of leftover food and other waste, it emerged on August 21st 2009.  This electricity will partly be used as a source of energy-efficient and cost-saving heat for Schiphol Airport – the dominant hub in Holland and the 3rd busiest in the world, with close to 48 million passengers passing through it in 2007. 

KLM’s present daily total of waste food and associated containers, etc, presently runs to approximately 20 tonnes.  Its plan sees it collaborating with three other companies to carry out waste-to-fuel conversions, drawing on turbines to generate electricity from the fuels.

The airline, according to representative Monique Matze – commenting to a German news organisation - envisages processing “20 tonnes of waste per day, primarily garbage from the airplane meals, into oil and gas.”  A trial scheme will get underway in 2010, in order to assess both its cost-effectiveness and what kind of impact it can have on the environment. 

Waste2Energy

The project’s name is Waste2Energy and it involves KLM working in tandem with GGI (Global Green International), Altran and EECT (Efficient Energy Conversion Technologies), who will figure thus:

• KLM will supply the waste itself
• CGI will carry out the waste-to-fuel conversions
• EECT will carry out the fuel-to-electricity conversions

As well as acting as a source of heat for Schiphol, the energy can/will be drawn upon for nearby greenhouses, too. 

“It sounds as if a major installation is required, but that is not the case”, EECT’s Ruud van Arent stated, adding: “The entire installation, which comprises our Heron 2 turbine and GGI's waste conversion plant, is the size of approximately three freight containers.  It will be placed on the premises of Schiphol Airport.”

Waste to Energy Technologies

The forecast financial savings see KLM’s waste processing costs reduce by 100 euros for each ton as a result of the waste to energy technologies and the tie-up.   An initial date of August 2010 has been slated for the project’s official inception and, as far as GGI and EECT are concerned, the technology could be taken to areas beyond Holland, such as developing nations. 

KLM may also enter into future waste-processing alliances with other airlines, first and foremost Air France, which whom it merged five years ago.