Composting Plant

PAL plans to start the treatment lines of the Tufino plant in December

In 2021 the Regional Council of Campania ordered PAL S.r.l. to construct a plant for the aerobic treatment of the organic fraction from sorted solid urban waste (Composting plant). Today, its construction, inside the STIR warehouse of the Municipality of Tufino (NA), is heading to completion.

The revamping of existing buildings, the modification of the existing biofilter to enable the treatment of a greater amount of air at working sites were considered to be the most important works for the proper execution of the plant.

The project provides for the construction of a complete composting plant:

• Pre-treatment and mixing stage
• ACT stage inside the biocells
• First maturation, followed by refining
• Integration of air treatment plant with the existing one

The refining line is made up of a loading hopper constructed by PAL. This machine has a large loading volume of 18 cubic metres and allows the process to be dosed with a system of rollers that create the rejection layer on subsequent belts. Correct dosing is crucial for the smooth operation of the refining line and, in addition, the large-diameter rollers prevent the twisting of any plastic filaments that may be inside the waste. The other technology used in the subsequent part of the process are as follows:

• disc screen that separates the over-screening material (waste) from the under-screening material (stabilizing agent + compost)
• an iron remover
• a series of conveyor belts
• the vibrating screen that separates the fine fraction (compost) from the coarse fraction (stabilizing agent)

The plant stands out for its important air-suction line, with a comb distribution along the beams and with the main backbone outside the warehouse. The suctioned air is treated using a two-stage scrubber system and with the possibility of using acid-base reagents. After the scrubbing process, the air passes to a biofilter system designed to guarantee the optimum distribution of the pipes conveying air to the biofilter plenum, thanks to simulations with specialised programmes.