The activities of the ČAObH energy cluster have recently focused primarily on finding pragmatic solutions to the problem of energy recovery of waste that is no longer materially usable, both in the context of the planned diversion of waste from landfills and the increasing rate of required recycling of municipal waste in particular, and as a partial contribution to increasing the diversity of domestic sources for energy recovery.
The Energy Cluster prepared a framework proposal for a decree setting out the conditions under which solid fuel from waste ceases to be a fuel and then initiated a joint negotiation on the content of the decree with the most important stakeholders - the Czech Waste Management Association, the Heating Association of the Czech Republic, the Confederation of Industry and Transport of the Czech Republic, the Confederation of Cement Producers of the Czech Republic and subsequently submitted this proposal to the Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic for final discussion. The draft decree was drafted on the basis of ČSN EN ISO 216 40 Solid Alternative Fuels - Specifications and Classes of 1 June 2022 and successfully followed up on the first intention to issue an analogous decree in 2018. On 25 April 2023, a two-round settlement of comments on the content of the draft decree was completed by the MoEF of the Czech Republic and the Minister of the Environment, Mr Petr Hladik, sent the draft decree to the Legislative Council of the Government of the Czech Republic. It can now be assumed that by the end of the second quarter of 2023, the Decree will be published in the Collection of Laws and the energy use of solid alternative fuels produced from waste will reach a new, qualitatively higher level in the Czech Republic.
Another objective of the Energy Cluster is an environmental and economic "modus vivendi" for so-called energy by-products. A meaningful solution to the issue of solid alternative fuels has its integral "B-side" in finding an optimal solution also for the aforementioned energy by-products, which are generated by the combustion of solid fuels in the production of electricity and heat and also during flue gas desulphurisation. The aim is to exploit the potential of energy by-products within the circular economy and to set the conditions for their material application without negative effects on the environment and human health.
ČAObH has emphasized its activity in this field by supporting and expressing its interest in the results of the project "Products of fluid combustion of solid alternative fuels and their use in construction" of SG Geotechnika a.s., and the technical concept "Use of slag from waste-to-energy plants as a secondary raw material to replace primary raw materials in defined construction applications".
Last but not least, it is also necessary to mention a new activity of the Energy Cluster, where in cooperation with CZ Biom - Czech Association for Biomass, work has been started on the preparation of theses for the considered decree on waste wood, which would systematically address the material and energy use of waste wood mass on the basis of analogous decrees that operate in Austria or Germany, the so-called "Altholzverordnung" - decree on waste wood.
Ing. Michal Kříž, Chairman of the Energy Cluster of the Czech Association of Circular Economy
