US - Resource Recovery/WtE Facility

On 11th September 2018, the City of Long Beach, CA, in partnership with Covanta announced an amended agreement covering the continued operation and maintenance of the Southeast Resource Recovery Facility (SERRF) at 120 Pier S. Avenue, including capital investment of US$13.7 million.

On 14th August 2018, the Long Beach City Council voted unanimously to provide for the allocation of capital investments by both the City of Long Beach and Covanta for facility equipment maintenance and allow for opportunities to process higher-value waste. The agreement provides for the operation of the waste-to-energy facility until at least 30th June 2024.

Under the contract amendment, the City of Long Beach will invest US$8.7 million from a dedicated SERRF Fund within the city's Energy Resources Department and Covanta will supply an additional US$5 million to ensure continued, sustainable operation of the facility.

Charles Tripp, SERRF Bureau Manager, told AcuComm that this amendment allows for both the City and Covanta to invest in the facility and perform work that includes the replacement of equipment in the facility which is too old to efficiently maintain. Material handling conveyors, duct work replacement, boiler tube replacement, grate system replacement, ash extractor replacement and control system upgrades will be performed. SERRF anticipates that it will take three years to complete the work, which will be performed during regularly scheduled maintenance outages while the facility continues to operate.

The 1,380 ton per day SERRF assists the City of Long Beach and the Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County with sustainable waste disposal and has been a critical component of the City's comprehensive solid waste management system. After source reduction and recycling, the residential and commercial residual waste that remains is processed at the SERFF to generate up to 36 MWe for approximately 35,000 homes. The facility also recycles nearly 10,000 tons of ferrous metals annually.

Since it began commercial operation in July 1988, the SERRF has:

• Converted approximately 13.8 million tons of municipal solid waste into over 6.5 million MWh of renewable energy;
• Recovered and recycled approximately 170,000 tons of metal extracted during the disposal process;
• Avoided the generation of greenhouse gas emissions through the elimination of methane from landfills.