B08.02 Attachment A - SOO.pdf

STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES (SOO)

Waste to Energy (WTE) Research

INTRODUCTION: The United States military has an enduring need to both mitigate the waste produced on installations, as well as achieve greater operational energy efficiency. The Engineer Research and Development Center – Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (ERDC-CERL) is researching small scale waste to energy (WTE) technologies with targeted throughput of 1 to 4 tons per day (TPD) of municipal solid waste (MSW), tools and processes to identify the optimal waste recipes, technology engineering and standardizations that will result in the greatest energy efficiency and operational benefits. For the purposes of this research, “small-scale WTE” is defined as less than 10 TPD needed for economic operation.

BACKGROUND: Military installations are like small cities and WTE technologies have the potential to reduce landfill materials while providing energy for operations. The need to deliver highly sustainable, resilient, and efficient technology solutions is reflected in policy for each of the military services.

Utilization of advanced WTE technology at installations is a strategic approach to advancing DoD policy objectives regarding sustainability, resiliency, and cost-effective operations. WTE technology has potential for converting varied-source wastes into a variety of energy products, and WTE technologies offer potential to be an economical solution to waste disposal. As an applied research effort, the objective of this project is to evaluate the potential of proposed WTE technology solutions and the practicality of the associated parameters relative to material reduction and energy for operations on a military installation.

To date, basic and applied research efforts have identified that military installations produce significantly smaller volumes of MSW. Although military installations produce similar MSW streams to large cities, such as food and soiled paper (wet waste), and plastics (dry waste); materials that are unique to military operations are present as well. For example, the Navy generates plastic waste in the form of plastic waste processor disks (PWP), which is an extremely dense compilation of compressed waste materials. This disk, approximately 20” in diameter, weighs between 10-30 lbs, and is composed of various types of plastic, paper, aluminum, cloths, food, and steel. The general needs of a military installation lead us to seek the feasibility of technologies that currently are only known to satisfy the waste to energy production associated with large waste (>10 TPD) areas. Previous research efforts have served to identify capacity constraints and a general sense of the current technology being utilized for waste to energy operations. As such, research objectives have been developed that seek to identify potential technologies that can satisfy the general military need associated with standardizing MSW removal, while also investigating the parameters associated with achieving greater efficiency and economic benefits from that removal.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES: In order to minimally accomplish the required research project objectives, the Government has determined that the following is required:

1. Processing of at least thirteen (13) waste recipes and the subsequent analysis of economic and operational feasibility;

2. Operating parameters for the proposed WTE system:

a. Ability to operate economically at a rate of no more than 10 TPD MSW

b. Ability to process a variety of waste types generated at naval installations, including plastics #1-7, metals, organics, and both wet and dry waste

c. Ability to produce usable output energy

In order to fully achieve the desired research project objectives of an economically and operationally feasible solution at the full range of existing military conditions, the Government has determined that the following are desired operating parameters for the proposed WTE system:

a. Ability to process between 1 and 4 TPD MSW economically

b. Ability to process plastic waste processor disks (PWPs), with the following typical waste characterization: 50% plastic, 28% paper, 4% aluminum, 5% cloths, 5% food, 3% steel, 5% other, and contain a mixture of PET, HDPE, LDPE, PP and PS types of plastics

c. Ability to process hazardous materials, tires, and other industrial wastes

d. Ability to produce electricity as the energy output

e. Ability to handle MSW without pre-processing

PERIOD AND PLACE OF PERFORMANCE: Due to COVID-19 related uncertainties, proposed waste processing for testing military specific waste recipes is assumed to take place at the Contractor’s facility. Proposals shall include a schedule inclusive of all planning, testing, data collection and analysis, and report development/submission. The Government anticipates the testing to represent a fourteen (14) day period.

ASSUMPTIONS/OPERATING CONSTRAINTS: The government will provide the waste stream recipes and compositions. The contractor will be responsible for acquiring the actual MSW and putting together the prescribed waste recipes that will be used for the operational processing. If a solution is proposed that can process the Navy’s plastic processor disks, the government may provide those materials for testing. The contractor will be responsible for all permitting and regulatory compliance required for operation of any WTE system proposed to execute this requirement.

For purposes of this acquisition, a proposed WTE system will be deemed “economic” if the contractor calculates that there is a reasonably justifiable expected Net Present Value (NPV) greater than zero over the life cycle of a production unit using a real discount rate of 3%, in accordance with NIST Handbook 135/ Annual Supplement NISTIR 85-3273-35.

MEETINGS AND REVIEWS: Proposed schedules should account for a kick-off meeting, progress reviews, and a final meeting. Assume all meetings will be virtual.

DELIVERABLES: See CDRLs. Additional contractual deliverables, as applicable, include DD 882 in accordance with DFARS clause 252.227-7039, and Contractor Manpower Reporting.