Veterinary Laboratories Agency
The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) operates on behalf of DEFRA Estates this Clinical Incinerator with a focus on hazardous clinical waste and animal waste. Only waste generated on site or at other DEFRA locations is incinerated on site via two machines[1].
| Veterinary Laboratories Agency | |
 See HT & Clin → page for a larger UK Wide map. | |
| Waste Licence | AP3039SD |
| Operator | DEFRA |
| Operational Capacity | 3,614tpa |
| Number of Lines | 2 |
| Region | South East |
Annual Report Data
| Year | Total In | Total Clinical | IBA Out | ACP Out | Op Hours
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 1048 | 646 | 90 | 65 | 2873 |
| 2018 | 1140 | 803 | 101 | 69 | 2007 |
| 2017 | 1254 | 840 | |||
| 2020 | 940 | 574 | 89 | 94 | 2873 |
| 2021 | 1063 | 664 | 99 | 68 | 3542 |
| 2022 | 957 | 670 | 97 | 76 | 3316 |
Summary
The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) operates on behalf of DEFRA Estates this Clinical Incinerator with a focus on hazardous clinical waste and animal waste. Only waste generated on site or at other DEFRA locations is incinerated on site via two machines.
Plant Description[1]
Waste Reception & Storage
Waste is collected around the site in bins. These are transported to the incinerator where a bin lift loads the waste in to the incinerator by rotating the bins 180 degrees, this ensures all the contents fall out of the bin in to the waste feed hopper. The waste is injected into the furnace by a ram. Once inside the combustion chamber, rams move the waste through the grate at approximately 900°C thus promoting continuous mixing of the waste with the combustion air introduced from beneath the grate into the heart of the fire. In the secondary chamber the gas temperature is maintained above 850°C for 2 seconds. Ash from the grate is discharged into a bespoke skip.
The project to build two modern units to replace the end of life existing units has been delayed from 2022 to 2024 and permission is to be sought to continue to run beyond the implementation of the new BREF[2].
Energy Recovery
Hot gases from the combustion of waste pass through a waste heat steam boiler. The temperature of the gases are reduced from over 850°C to around 160°C. The gases heat up the water in the boiler and produce steam at 4.5barG. This steam is fed to the site Energy Centre which distributes thermal energy around the site.
Gas Cleaning
Downstream of the boiler bicarbonate soda is injected to neutralise acid gases. Activated carbon is injected to adsorb any remaining dioxins, furans and heavy metals. Prior to release into the atmosphere the gases pass through a fabric filter where the air pollution control (APC) residues are removed from the gas stream; these are disposed of at a hazardous waste landfill. Once the gases have been cleaned they are discharged into the atmosphere via a stack.