On Friday, April 21, the environmental company Ragn-Sells opened the world's first facility for recycling of commercial salts from fly ash generated from waste incineration. The plant, located in Upplands-Bro, Sweden, is based on the innovation company EasyMining's Ash2Salt technology and extracts salts with a 90 per cent lower climate footprint compared to traditional methods of salt production.
Ragn-Sells' new facility is the world's first to recycle commercial salts from fly ash on a large scale. Fly ash is formed when flue gases from waste incineration for cogeneration of heat and power are cleaned. The ash is a hazardous waste but also contains large amounts of valuable raw materials such as potassium, sodium, and calcium in salt form.
- This is the first of hopefully many facilities based on our technology. We see a global trend where more and more people want to increase the utilisation of resources in energy recovery from waste. Our main supplier, Hitachi Zosen Inova, has signed an agreement with us to exclusively sell the Ash2Salt technology in about twelve countries around the world, says Anna Lundbom, Chief Marketing Officer at EasyMining.
Sweden's Climate and Environment Minister Romina Pourmokhtari and Erik Sellberg, the chairman of the board at Ragn-Sells.
With the Ash2Salt technology, as much as 200 kg of salt per tonne of ash can be extracted and used in, among other things, fertiliser, and road salt. The salt's climate footprint is one-tenth compared to traditionally produced salt. At the same time, heavy metals are removed from circulation.
- EasyMining's and Ragn-Sells' solution for extracting valuable salts from fly ash complements our offering to customers very well. We already see great interest, and now with an actual plant up and running more people can come and see how the process works in practice, says Giovanna Chiara, Senior Sales Manager at Hitachi Zosen Inova
Even before the inauguration, Ragn-Sells has experienced strong interest in the new plant, with several ash producers having signed agreements for treating fly ash with the Ash2Salt solution.
For further information, please contact;
Anna Lundbom, Chief Marketing Officer at EasyMining, +46 70 927 28 29, anna.lundbom@easymining.com
Emma Ranerfors, Press Officer at Ragn-Sells, +46 10-723 24 16, press@ragnsells.com
Facts: The Ash2Salt technology
Fly ash is a waste of air pollution control at incineration plants. It is a hazardous waste due to the high contents of heavy metals and chlorides. The Ash2Salt process washes the fly ash, and three commercial grade salts are extracted from the liquid: potassium chloride, sodium chloride, and calcium chloride.
After washing, the remaining ash can be placed on a landfill for non-hazardous waste. Read more here.
Facts: Salts
The salts sodium chloride (table salt), potassium chloride, and calcium chloride are used to produce plastics, glass, paper, soap, paints, fertilisers, and medicines. Salts can also be added to improve food, animal feed, fabrics, and construction materials or used for de-icing and dust-binding.
EasyMining is an innovation company dedicated to closing nutrient cycles. We are owned by the Swedish environmental company Ragn-Sells. Our objective is to create new circular material flows in an efficient commercial way. We do this by inventing and implementing new technology that uses chemical solutions to recycle important materials. www.easymining.com