Joining hands with Turkish government and The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Turkey has introduced Zero Waste Programme – NØW – that aims to leverage multiple biogas projects that would reduce landfill by two million tonnes annually and turning animal and agricultural waste to energy and organic fertilizer. This initiative will reduce more than 15 million tonnes of CO2 emissions while generating at least $500 million in recovered materials.
RENESCO Energy, Turkey’s leading biogas company, is one of the drivers of this sustainability shift. The company develops renewable energy solutions that turn agricultural, animal, and municipal solid waste into biomass energy. Recycling 22,000 tonnes of waste every day and generating 55 MW of power, RENESCO is relentlessly supporting Turkey’s objective of turning waste into wealth.
“We are in favour of a cleaner environment and recyclable energy consumption. It has become our primary goal to recover energy from waste materials and present the final products back to the economy with high financial market value,” says Basar Beyazoglu, chairperson and CEO of RENESCO.
Bringing Circular Economy with Refuse-Derived Fuels
Waste is a major environmental problem in Turkey. According to recent research, with the 80 million population the average municipal waste is 30 million tonnes per year and average animal and agricultural waste is also more than 20 million tonnes per year. RENESCO is one of the market leader rescuing Turkey’s waste management with its 20 operating plants.
Freeing two birds with one key, RENESCO is solving the waste management issue and circulating waste to energy and fertilizer.
RENESCO’s unique business model further differentiates it. It is not a traditional engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) company. RENESCO is a full-service technology company providing end-to-end solutions, including project development, design, construction, operations, and maintenance. Additionally, RENESCO has a highly sophisticated R&D capability that it leverages to create new cutting-edge waste-to-energy technologies. These include software technologies for waste management, in-house manufacture of production lines and other industrial equipment, and development of specialty biological treatments, including increasing the efficiency of bacteria through use of enzymes. Explaining the reasoning behind RENESCO’s unique biogas plant business model, Beyazoglu states, “Today, the growing world population has resulted in a surging demand for food, water resources, energy, and technological development. The available natural resources are significantly deteriorating due to environmental degradation, pollution, and climate change.
It owns an enzyme company dedicated to creating strains of bacteria that brings 20 to 25 percent more efficiency to the composting process
RENESCO takes care of the complete spectrum of supply chain services, from waste collection to energy generation. It has a dedicated team for collecting and bringing municipal, agricultural, and animal waste to its biogas plants. The organic wastes—food scraps, crop residue, or wastewater sludge—are segregated and fed into digesters, where they are heated to 38 to 40 degrees Celsius and stirred for 30 to 60 days, slowly producing a combination of methane. A portion of the energy generated goes back into running RENESCO’s plants, and the rest is sold as a clean energy.
Biomass energy’s byproduct is also utilized. After treating, it is transformed into high-quality organic fertilizers. This shows RENESCO’s extreme commitment towards optimising every resource. It is also symbolic to see how RENESCO can turn crop refuse back into the soil to aid in new crop production, just the kind of mission that programmes like Zero Waste aims to achieve.
These waste management solutions are also financially and logistically sustainable, technically feasible, and socially and legally acceptable, making it a win-win-win for waste generators, energy producers, and RENESCO.
Differentiating Through Tailor-Made Biogas Plants
RENESCO’s drive to develop energy-efficient solutions can be seen in its winning methodologies that make the most of its biogas plant investments.
Each of its 20 plants across 16 provinces in Turkey is designed, built, operated, and maintained to suit the specific chemistry of waste it handles in the area.
From the beginning to the end, the company looks at the plant’s investments, including the pre-investment, construction, and operation periods, by defining the waste and observing what should be the appropriate technology for its management.
RENESCO’s design, build, operate, and maintain (DBOM) approach starts with its expert construction, mechanical, and electrical team visiting waste collection sites to assess the types of waste and define the right technology and material selection for optimal processing. The team places equal importance on the operation and management of the plants as they need to run efficiently, 24/7. The cherry on top is RENESCO’s artificial intelligence (AI) driven facility management system, RENEye, which controls all plant operations from a single pane of glass. This helps the plant operators minimize mundane and repetitive work that is often error-prone, and gives them the opportunity to invest their skills and efforts in more value-driven work.
Leading By Example
In a short span, RENESCO has gained considerable expertise and experience in their domain. Supported by a world-class, experienced team of consultants, management, engineers, and field staff, RENESCO is leading the charge in the waste industry in the region. It is focused on expanding to Poland, Romania, Hungary, and Serbia. It also plans to expand into North Africa, Eastern Europe, and North America.
Its R&D division, RENARGE, is conducting joint R&D studies with Turkey’s leading technical universities. RENARGE is working on increasing the efficiency of the biogas facilities with advanced technology solutions. It is also raising awareness among companies to mitigate the challenges of overconsumption and overproduction of biofuel.
“Twenty-percent of whatever a nation produces goes into waste. This means, if we manage our resources better, we will generate less waste. We have the potential to increase our gross domestic product (GDP) by 5 to 7 percent and earn a turnover of $25 to $30 million only by managing our waste more sustainably. That’s food for thought,” says Beyazoglu.
It is this forward thinking, coupled with RENESCO’s impressive innovations and business model, that has helped them carve a niche in the Turkish market. Beyazoglu is confident that the streak of success RENESCO has already achieved will soon help them become a unicorn, and possibly a decacorn.
