In the scope of the Green Industry MBA studies for students from India, Sri Lanka and Albania, ICPE on 5 April 2011 organized the Second Study Tour in Celje and Krško, Slovenia.

KIV, a Slovenian company, was founded in 1947. The factory is located in the small town  of Vransko in the centre of the country with  excellent road links. Fossil fuelled boilers used to be the mainstay  of production, then in the early 1980’s KIV commenced the design and manufacturing of biomass boilers, supplementing existing  product portfolio. Increasing demand for higher output biomass  boilers has now displaced the manufacture of fossil fuelled boilers. This long biomass experience has given KIV over thirty years of operational knowledge and experience for continuous improvement in fuel handling, air cooled step grates and ash handling.

Pilot Gasification Plant for testing wastes / fuels at Vransk

In the first part of visit Mr Andi Čoha, Area Sales Manager presented students the KIV Group, about their products, which are related to biomass, waste and industry. He explained that nearly twenty years ago, KIV commenced R&D into gasification and oxidation, starting with several pilot test plants.  The first five years of pure R&D into gasification led to successful commercial bespoke EfW plants being designed  and built for clients with specific fuel/waste requests. Through the use of graphics he have also explained the operation of the Gasification Plant. In the second part, after presentation, students could actually see the Plant itself and the operation thereof.

Control Room                                   On the top of the 2MWth Biomass boiler

The Celje Regional Waste Management Centre (RWMC Celje) is a project aimed at providing a modern and environmentally friendly waste management solution. It is the first comprehensive waste management project in Slovenia.

The project includes 24 municipalities of the Savinjska region, which amounts to a total of 210,000 inhabitants. The facilities are dimensioned for 250.000 inhabitants. The main investor of the RWMC Celje project is the City Municipality of Celje while the other 23 municipalities are the co-investors. In addition to the included municipalities, the construction of the regional centre was financially supported by the European Union through the Cohesion Fund along with the Republic of Slovenia.The regional centre’s facilities affect the environment by observing all legislative standards. Constructing the Regional Waste Management Centre Celje allows to realise multiple objectives related to environmental protection: increase the reuse of waste and ensure its treatment, reduce the amount of emissions into the ground and underground water and the amount of greenhouse gas emissions, protect surface and underground water, and prevent water pollution. But most of all, strive to preserve, protect and improve the environment, and to protect public health.

Its representative Mr Jure Svetičič showed students the composting plant for biodegradable waste, the sorting plant for separately collected fractions of waste, the bulky waste dismantling facility and the landfill for rest of waste.

Firstly, students have seen the landfill for rest of waste. Mr Svetičič explaind that the landfill’s surface is divided into four landfill cells with separate drainage systems for pure meteoric water and leachate.

Landfill for Rest of Waste

It was explained that the sorting plant allows separately collected raw materials, such as plastic, paper, cardboard and metals, to  be additionally sorted, in line with the primary objective of the technological procedure – to produce the best quality fractions of plastic, e.g. polypropene (PEHD, LDPE), polyethylene (PET) and polystyrene (PES), and paper, cardboard and other secondary raw materials intended for further processing.

Sorting Plant

The composting plant performs composting of separately collected biodegradable waste. The processes of the in-vessel type of composting run in an enclosed hall, separately from the employees and the environment. The procedure is fully automated and controlled from the control room. The prepared composting mixture is handled only by the overhead bridge crane.

Exterior of the Composting Plant                       Control Room

Nuclear Power Plant Krško (NPP Krško) has been in operation for twenty years and will continue to operate for roughly another twenty. Over the course of the past two decades they have witnessed a great many social changes and technological upgrades which have affected the work. All of these changes, and in particular people’s increased environmental awareness, are reflected in their everyday operation and in NPP’s long-term strategy. They are reflected in the high level of nuclear safety they guarantee, in the stability and competitiveness of their electricity production in comparison to other energy sources.

Firstly, students have seen 15 min presentation film on the NPP. After that the NPP’s representative explained also some more basics information, introduced the operation of the reactor coolant system, reactor vessel and nuclear fuel assembly, showed students the full scope simulator, which enables the training of all operator activities that are performed from the main control room and from local shutdown panels. Then followed by a guided tour of the NPP's building. Students were in the area where is located the Turbine Generator as well as in the main control room, which is the information centre for control of technological parameters data and functioning of the equipment, from which the operators monitor the technological process and maintain the desired power plant condition.

Main Control Room                                         Turbine Generator

At the end of the afternoon, students made ​​a short stop for a break in the castle Otočec, which is a jewel rising from the mists of the Krka River and is the only water castle in Slovenia and far around. Its earliest foundations were built in the Middle Ages, and its present appearance was created during the Renaissance when it became the property of Baron Ivan Lenkovič, the chief commander of the Croatia-Slavonia march. Otočec is the scene of two well-known stories by the Slovene author Ivan Tavčar, "Otok and Struga" and "Janez Sonce."