The plant of the Danish Cement producer Aalborg Portland in Aalborg, Denmark, has been using Solid Recovered Fuel for many years. The SRF is burnt in the pre-calciner on the grey cement kiln. Substitution rates have grown over the years, and are currently at approx. 45%. 65.000 tons/year of the Alternative Fuel is baled and wrapped as SRF. As Aalborg Portland is conveniently situated on dockside, almost all the baled SRF finds its way to Aalborg via sea.

Until now the opening of the SRF bales and pre-processing was facing some challenges. The inherent method was using a “robotic” machine that would cut up the bale and remove the wrapping by a robotic arm. But for various reasons, this solution was not optimal, and often the contractor ended up opening the bales one by one with a front-loader.

In the fall of 2016, ReTec was brought into the picture and did a demonstration of the ReTec bale-opener. The result was immediate and showed significant improvements:

1. By the function of the bale-opener, the bales are ripped open by the bale-opener ripperdrum. It is a simple and reliable mechanical function.
2. The SRF comes out very loose and in a consistent, continuous flow. This gives huge improvements downstream, for example in the critical screening.
3. Capacity has almost doubled to 40 tph (the maximum of the fuel plant, the bale-opener can deliver higher capacities)
4. No break downs or any operational issues. The contractor is feeding the bales onto the in-feed conveyor of the bale-opener, and that’s it.
5. The bale-opener is universal regarding size and shape of the bales.
6. Good quality fuel and reliable operation, makes a good ROI, and satisfied the production staff on the plant!