On a sunny day in July, we make our way to the Rhineland. We have an appointment with energy consultants Vitali Wegel and David Schumacher from Reitz Retrofit at the Bonn waste incineration plant.
Less than three kilometers from Bonn city center, the outline of the Bonn waste incineration plant appears before us. We approach an impressive cube, from whose chimney a bright, almost transparent smoke rises into the blue, Rhenish sky. As we learn later, the exhaust air that remains at the end of the flue gas cleaning process contains less particulate matter than the air in the surrounding area. The waste recycling plant we check into that morning receives and incinerates 700 tons of waste every day. The “waste product” steam can be used to supply an entire small town with electricity and district heating
1,000 C° in the heart
After we have taken note of the safety instructions, we are welcomed by Saskia Kutsche, who is responsible for corporate development and public relations at MVA Bonn. Shortly afterwards, we greet Vitali Wegel and David Schumacher and set off to explore the heart of the plant. In the control room, we are shown the technological complexity of the incineration and cleaning process on countless monitors. Thankfully, we only see the furnace from the outside. Behind the viewing windows, the waste glows at temperatures of up to 1,100 C°, decomposing into ash, slag and flue gas. Despite the insulation, the labyrinth of pipes and lines has made us a little warm and we take our first break to ask David and Vitali: “What is your relationship with the Bonn waste incineration plant?”
“MVA Bonn is a long-standing customer of Reitz Retrofit. We converted the fans here to speed control 13 years ago. At the time, I had just come from university and was immediately given the opportunity to supervise this project,” explains Vitali Wegel and is confirmed by Saskia Kutsche: ”For us, it was a milestone to drastically reduce power consumption. Since then, we have enjoyed working with the Reitz Retrofit team on a basis of trust. We regularly discuss the possibility of further optimizations and, of course, the existing smoke flues are also maintained.”
Typical maintenance tasks include vibration measurements or temperature measurements, for example using a thermal imaging camera.
Retrofit is a system upgrade
The term retrofit contains the word fit and is actually about making systems fitter and more efficient in a targeted manner by replacing and modernizing individual components. Retrofit experts like David and Vitali look at the entire system and create a concept that, depending on the objective, extends the service life, increases efficiency, reduces costs or ideally all of the above. David Schumacher, a career changer who originally came from the development of electronic products in the field of broadband communication, sums up what drives him and the retrofit team: “We want to get a lot out of low investment for the customer.” In order to implement this according to all the rules of the art, the Cologne native, who took a liking to the comparatively large devices and systems during an internship at Reitz Retrofit, trained as a technician, business economist and energy consultant while working. Vitali Wegel, who holds a degree in electrical engineering and also has the additional qualification of state-certified energy consultant, carefully stows the sensitive sound meter in the case on his lap and takes in the big picture: “Every customer brings a new challenge. That’s why our job is so varied and exciting.”
Finding dormant giants
At the end of the tour, many impressions from the world of waste recycling have left their mark on us. We would like to thank Saskia Kutsche and wish her all the energy in the world for the implementation of the future version of bonNova, which inspires people to take a closer look at their own waste and how to reduce it with the Less Waste concept. At the exit of MVA Bonn, we also bid farewell to our energy consultants from Reitz Retrofit. With their expertise and commitment, they are no longer only in demand for the assessment of air handling systems. Plant operators have recognized that every industry and every process still has huge potential for savings, which no longer has to remain hidden with expert retrofit and energy consulting from David and Vitali.
Mr. Wegel and Mr. Schumacher,
thank you very much for the interview.