Camden Green Intitative

Reworld™ Camden has begun permitting new air emissions controls for the Waste-to-Energy facility as a part of our Camden Green Initiative (CGI). Despite already operating in full compliance with the State’s high standards, this state-of-the-art equipment will dramatically reduce emissions. The upgrade is an investment of $60 million and will include:

• Installation of a state-of-the-art fabric filter baghouse
• Higher efficiency of acid gas removal with a dry recirculating ash system
• Enhancements to the existing selective noncatalytic reduction system for NOx control

The new air emission control system will significantly reduce emissions, including particulates, lead, mercury, dioxin and acid gases, enabling Reworld™ to propose lower emission limits.

The project also includes equipment to enable the facility to receive and process nonhazardous liquid washwater waste streams. Additionally, the project outlines the creation of the Reworld™ Camden Community Benefits Agreement (CCCBA) with Camden residents.

Even though we currently operate well below the federal and state limits, air quality control technology for waste-to-energy (WTE) facilities has advanced since the Camden facility was originally developed in the late 1980s. The CGI project will install an advanced air quality control retrofit that will substantially reduce emissions of some pollutants by as much as 95%.

The new Air Quality Control system will significantly reduce emissions, including particulates, lead, mercury, dioxin and acid gases, which will allow Reworld™ to propose lower emission limits. The CGI also equips the facility to receive and process liquid washwater waste streams and creates the Reworld™ Camden Community Benefits Agreement (CCCBA) with Camden residents.

The cost breakdown is $57 million for the structural installation and engineering costs for the fabric filter baghouses and dry recirculating scrubber systems. The remaining $2 million is for the optimization of the NOx control system and finally, the liquid washwater processing system cost is approximately $1 million.

Reworld™ is funding this upgrade to the air emissions system at the facility in part through revenue from the operation of the proposed liquid washwater processing system. No public funds will be used.

The project is demonstrative of the company's commitment to continuous improvement and reducing emissions in Environmental Justice communities such as the cities of Newark and Camden.

The new Air Quality Control system at Reworld™ Camden will consist of a circulating dry scrubber and a baghouse for each of the facility's boilers. Lime is added in the scrubbers to neutralize acidic gases and activated carbon is injected to adsorb mercury and dioxins in the flue gas. The scrubbers will provide more effective removal of acids, mercury and dioxin from the combustion gases, while the state-of-the-art baghouses operate like very efficient vacuum cleaners. Each baghouse will deploy 3,600 fabric filter bags designed to remove more than 99.5 percent of particulate matter, and dust monitors for early detection of any broken bags. A portion of the fly ash collected in the baghouses will be recirculated back to the scrubber reactors to maximize the effectiveness of the lime and carbon reagents.

Circulating dry scrubbers are typically installed in brand new facilities. Installation of the circulating dry scrubber at Camden would be the first time this technology would be installed on an existing facility. Overall, this system will result in significant reductions in emissions, for some substances up to 95 percent lower than the current levels which are already well below the federal limits.

A scrubber is an air pollution control technology that mitigates various exhaust emissions and help control temperature. The proposed system will split the two functions of cooling flue gas and mitigating emissions. Separating the functions allows for fine tuning of each process.

At Camden, we will convert the existing spray dryers into evaporative coolers that will use only water rather than a lime slurry. In these evaporative coolers, we can set the flue gas temperature by adjusting the water injection rate. With the temperature regulated, the flue gas from the evaporator will go through a circulating dry scrubber reactor where hydrated lime and activated carbon will be injected to neutralize acid gases and reduce mercury and dioxin emissions, respectively.

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A baghouse is similar to a very efficient vacuum cleaner, removing over 99.5 percent of the particulate matter from the flue gas. There will be a separate baghouse for each boiler at the Camden facility, following a circulating dry scrubber system. Six (6) modules will make up each baghouse, and each module will contain 600 bags (10 feet long each), which amounts to 3,600 bags total in each baghouse.

For more information, click here.

Discussions about installing a baghouse at Camden have been heard in the community for several years. We’d have hoped to have started the project sooner, but we faced delays due to the global pandemic and a change in ownership. The good news is that Reworld™ is now including advanced scrubbing technology in addition to the baghouses for the project and has submitted our application to upgrade the facility to NJDEP on July 8, 2022. A copy of the permit application can be found here.

Selective noncatalytic reduction (SNCR) is a post combustion emissions control technology for reducing nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions without the presence of a catalyst. Reagent (ammonia or urea) is injected directly into the flue gas and reacts with NOx resulting in nitrogen (N2) and Water (H2O).

Almost all Reworld™ Waste-to-Energy facilities are equipped with selective noncatalytic reduction systems (SNCR). The technology is the basis for federal and state NOx emission standards and has effectively reduced NOx emission levels from our facilities.

Processing liquids must be approved in both the state air and solid waste permits. Processing liquids will have no impact on emissions, odors or truck traffic.

Tanker trucks will transport liquid waste to the facility where their paperwork will be checked and their liquids will be sampled prior to unloading the delivery vehicle. The non-hazardous liquid washwater waste streams are then unloaded into tanks and sprayed directly into the combustion zone of the boiler.

Reworld™ has extensive experience in processing liquid waste without any increase in emissions, odors, noise, truck traffic or increase in permitted waste throughput. It’s the same process that we have used at other plants including in our Indianapolis, IN, and Niagara, NY, facilities.

These non-hazardous liquids are typically washwater streams generated by cleaning equipment used in pharmaceutical, food, or other industrial or manufacturing operations and are typically at least 95% water.

For example, processing tanks at a latex paint facility may require periodic cleaning and will be rinsed with water to remove the product. This rinse water would be a suitable liquid for processing at our plant. This liquid would be similar to the washwater from rinsing your paint brush after painting at your home.

The CGI includes the installation of an upgraded air emissions controls, which includes a state-of-the-art fabric filter baghouse, a dry recirculating scrubber and enhancements to the NOx control system. Collectively, this upgrade has been estimated to cost approximately $60 million. Processing liquids is a mechanism to help pay for the upgrades without any negative effects on the community as well as fund the Reworld™ Camden Community Benefits Agreement (CCCBA).

No, Reworld™ would only process liquids once a dry recirculating scrubber system and baghouse have been installed on the first boiler. Similarly, liquids would only start to be processed in the second and third boilers after each boiler has been equipped with a dry recirculating scrubber and baghouse.

No. Landfill leachate will not be processed at the Camden facility.

No, truck traffic will not increase with the processing of liquids since liquid trucks will replace trash trucks. We expect truck traffic to go down since the average trash truck load only weighs about half of the weight of the contents of a 5,000-gallon tanker truck. The weight of the liquid processed, including the water content, will count toward the permitted capacity of the facility and therefore displace deliveries and processing of municipal solid waste.

No, Reworld™ will not accept PFAS containing liquids.

Since purchasing the Camden facility, Reworld™ has heavily invested in the community. In the last year alone, we invested $50,000 to support programs in the community. We are committed to continuing those efforts and that is why the project includes the creation of the Reworld™ Camden Community Benefits Agreement (CCCBA).

This is a long-term contractual commitment with groups representing the people in the neighborhoods of Waterfront South and Morgan Village. Through the agreement a committee of local representatives and one Reworld™ representative, will decide what local projects receive funding, providing meaningful involvement and financial resources to our community.

Yes, Reworld™ pays taxes and host fees every year. In 2021, Reworld™ Camden made two (2) payments to the City of Camden. The first payment was approximately $1.87 million annually according to our Host Community Agreement. In addition, Reworld™ Camden paid approximately $603 thousand in property taxes.

Updates on the permitting process and significant permitting documents will be posted on the project’s webpage: https://info.reworldwaste.com/cgi

The air permit application for the upgrade project was submitted to the NJDEP on July 8, 2022. The solid waste permit application will be submitted to the NJDEP in September 2022.

It is anticipated that the upgrade of the first unit will be completed in or about January 2025, completion of the upgrade of the second unit will occur in or about January 2026 and that the third and final unit will be completed in or about the first quarter of 2027. The major pieces of equipment are modular in nature which will minimize necessary vehicle trips during construction of the project. Measures will be also implemented to control dust, stormwater runoff, and noise during construction of the project.