Rising wood prices and France’s ambitious target of reducing the amount of waste that ends up in landfills by 50% between 2010 and 2020 are driving innovation in waste-to-energy conversion technology. The VaDéO project will demonstrate the technical and financial feasibility of high-LHV waste sorting and preparation solutions. The goal is to then use gasification to convert the waste into energy for heating, process steam, and combined heat and power (CHP) applications.

French energy agency ADEME estimates potential solid recovered fuel (SRF) production at 3 million tons; production from the co-incineration of waste in cement plants could reach 1 million tons per year. The VaDéO project will develop waste-to-energy conversion solutions to round out the current waste combustion-incineration techniques and to improve both energy and environmental performance.