R1 Recovery Facility

The R1 status of an Energy from Waste (EfW) facility determines whether that facility is regarded as Disposal or classifies it as an Energy Recovery Facility. The EU standard sets a requirement to meet high levels of power conversion efficiency to classify it as an R1 (and may need to be a CHP facility to fully meet the guidance).

To qualify as R1 status the EfW facility must :

• Have or will have an Environmental Permit for a waste incineration installation
• Be capable of incinerating mixed Municipal Solid Waste, including RDF or SRF Waste Derived Fuel
• Not be a co-incinerator

Only R1 facilities can receive WDF from other EU countries for processing – export to other EU countries for Disposal (for example to an Incinerator that does not have R1 status) is illegal.

The formula for calculating the R1 status is given below:

$Pl_{ef}={{O_{exp}-(E_{f}+E_{imp})} \over {(E_{f}+E_{imp}+E_{circ})}}$

all figures as equivalents in accordance to BREF,Chapter 3.5.6

• Pl_ef = Plant Efficiency.
• E_f = annual energy input to the system by fuels with steam production (GJ/y)
• E_imp = annual imported energy (Note: energy from the treated waste (Ew) is not included)
• E_circ = annual energy circulated
• O_exp = annual exported energy (combined total of heat plus electricity as equivalents)

"If the result is higher than 1: This shows that the plant minus imported energy with steam production is exporting (BREF) or producing (ECJ C-228/00) more energy than that which is required to operate the total waste incineration process."