AGF develops a viability study for AENA, a public company in charge of the operation, management, maintenance, and administration of airport infrastructures, about the possible construction of a biogas plant from waste generated at the Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas airport.
AENA has adopted several objectives: to be carbon neutral by 2026 and Net Zero by 2040. It has decided to develop a feasibility study for the production of biogas for self-consumption through the recovery of its own waste, in order to minimise the emission of greenhouse gases and neutralise residual emissions. AGF, with its extensive experience in the renewable gas sector, has provided the knowledge necessary for these purpose to be achieved.
The study has made it possible to quantify the type of waste available at airports of this level. It can be concluded that the solution for the treatment of organic waste at source within the airport, the solution is a small-scale biogas plant (MPB).
The amount of organic waste produced daily, as well as its composition and concentration, are valid conditions for the application of a MPB, not being optimal in industrial approaches. For this particular case, AGF’s 3T MPB model could be the most suitable option that would allow the management of organic waste at source at Madrid airport.
The airport sector is a potential user of MPB. The activities that take place inside an airport generate a large amount of waste. It can be Municipal Solid Waste, hazardous waste and others produced in the vicinity of it.
Many commercial activities take place in airports, passengers can make use of shops, restaurants, bars and canteens installed inside the airport. All of this has as direct consequence that is the production of large quantities of waste that must be managed correctly. The valuation of the waste generated must be one of the priorities of the airport manager.
The waste that AGF has considered to carry out the feasibility study comes from the residual fraction. This waste originates from catering business and restaurants located inside Madrid’s airport. It is in these services where the most of the total waste is generated.
Finally, AGF through this study, together with other international research, has concluded that a possible solution to airport waste management would be an installation of a 1T MPB at smaller airports and a 3T MPB at the biggest ones.
