The Global Solid Recovered Fuel Market Size Was Valued At USD 4.63 Billion In 2021. The Market Is Projected To Grow From USD 4.75 Billion In 2022 To USD 6.00 Billion By 2030, Exhibiting A CAGR Of 3.4% During The Forecast Period.

Solid Recovered Fuel Market Overview:

The global COVID-19 pandemic has been unprecedented and shocking. Demand for solid recovered fuel is lower than expected in all areas compared to levels before the pandemic. Based on our research, the global market was 3.1% smaller in 2020 than it was in 2019.

Solid Recovered Fuels (SRF) are a subset of the more common Refuse-derived Fuels (RDFs), which are made from non-hazardous waste streams. An SRF is different from a generic RDF in that it is a fuel that meets the requirements (classification and specification) of a national or international standard. SRF is made from the waste that is left over after all the goods and contaminants have been taken out. These fibres and pieces of paper, plastic, wood, and textiles have a high calorific value, low moisture, and low levels of chlorine. This makes them a great alternative to fossil fuels like pet coke and coal and a great way to help the environment.

SRF could be used to power places that treat heat, like cement plants, heating plants, industrial boilers, and so on. It can be used as an alternative fuel with low ash and sulphur levels. In some countries, it can be used to get Renewable Energy Credits (REC).

Market Dynamics:

Latest Trends:

Recycling trash will lead to more business opportunities Because there are more types of secondary fuel,

Waste management is important for building cities that are sustainable and pleasant to live in, but it is still hard for many developing countries and cities. Effective waste management costs a lot of money and usually takes up 20%–50% of a city's budget. Recycling trash is one of the best ways to cut down on trash. Recycling keeps useful materials from ending up in the trash and cuts down on the need for new raw materials. This reduces energy, air, and water pollution. Because of this, recycling waste materials is becoming more and more common.

Also, recycling waste makes the most of a wide range of secondary fuels for different industrial uses, which saves end users a lot of money. Recycling plants that turn trash into energy can run all the time, unlike solar and wind power.

Also, because people are using more and more plastic, government agencies are putting more effort into recycling and reusing plastic. As part of the move towards a more circular economy, the European Commission has adopted the first-ever strategy for plastics across all of Europe. Under the new plans, all plastic packaging sold in the EU will be recyclable by 2030. Single-use plastic will be used less, and people will not be able to use microplastics on purpose.    

Driving Factors:

Market growth will be driven by the burning industry's continued rapid growth.

SRF is mostly made from trash from businesses, like paper, cardboard, wood, textiles, and plastics. It can be used with or instead of thermal coal, and production facilities can use it with little or no change to their solid fuel systems.

Plastics, wood, and textiles are being used more and more. As a result, there has been a big increase in the amount of things made from these materials over time. In Europe, for example, plastic is mostly used in packaging because it is cheap. It was estimated that plastic packaging makes up about 40% of all the plastic made each year, which leads to plastic waste after it has been used. About 27% of all post-plastic waste went into landfills, which polluted the land.

To cut down on the pollution caused by these wastes, governments try to get people to reduce or reuse them by sending them to the incineration industry, where they are burned at high temperatures for a long time. Demand for SRF comes from places like incineration plants that are part of the system for managing waste. Some types of waste that are used in SRF can also be reused by burning them on city sites. The solid recovered fuel market is likely to grow because people in key regions around the world are becoming more interested in plant activities. In Germany, for example, waste incineration is one of the most important parts of waste management, and a lot of the waste that is left over after incineration is reused in different ways.

Market growth is driven by the use of secondary fuels

Waste from cities, factories, and homes is one of the most important things that slows down sustainable development. It is well known that waste is a major source of greenhouse gases (GHGs), which are a major source of GHGs around the world.

Also, as cities keep growing, waste has become a problem not only in developed countries but also in economies that are still growing. But making waste can be a big chance for sustainable development in the future, since turning waste into energy could be a way to cut down on these greenhouse gas emissions. Waste-to-energy conversion is one of the newest ways to deal with trash, and it has a lot of benefits because it can be done in different ways to make electricity. For example, both incineration and anaerobic digestion can be used to make secondary fuels that can be used in a variety of ways.

This market is driven by the fact that secondary fuels made from waste are in high demand in many different industries. For example, industries like the cement industry and coal power plants that use secondary fuels like coal and pet-coke instead of fossil fuels like oil and gas have fewer needs for fossil fuels and have less of an impact on the environment. Also, organisations run by the government come up with rules for using waste as a secondary fuel source to help with big changes. In the U.K., the Waste and Resource Action Program (WRAP) sets guidelines for the classification and specifications of secondary fuels, which are called Waste-Derived Fuel (WDF) in general. This also helps the market grow.

Restraining Factors:

High costs of processing SRF will slow down market growth.

One of the most promising alternative fuels is SRF, which is made from municipal solid waste. With more trash being made in more places, there is thought to be a high potential availability. But making SRF is hard because it takes a lot of money to set up pre-processing plants and it's more expensive to collect, sort, and move solid waste. For example, Warwick Energy, an energy company in the United Kingdom, ran a six-month briquetting trial with C.F. Nielsen presses. Warwick Energy's test was mostly based on SRF-generating briquettes with a small diameter. This made it more expensive to make the solid recovered fuel more dense than other methods, such as using biomass.

In addition to cost, technical barriers like low-quality solid waste and high moisture content lower the quality of SRF, which slows down its production rate even more. But the International Standards Organization (ISO) is still working on creating standards for SRF and the way it is made. This could be a useful way to increase the production of SRF as a secondary fuel and get around some of the problems in the market caused by the lack of a common name and ways to compare the quality.

Segmentation Analysis:

By Waste Type Analysis:

SRFs are made from single or mixed streams of municipal waste (MSW), commercial waste (CW), industrial waste (IW), and construction and demolition waste (CDW) (CDW). These streams have different amounts of waste fractions and different kinds of elements in them.

Based on the type of waste, the market is split into biodegradable, recyclable, composite, and inert waste. The inert waste segment is likely to have the largest market share because of how much dirt, rocks, and debris are used in construction and demolition. The construction and demolition industries are making more waste, so it's likely that the inert waste type will continue to have the largest share of the solid recovered fuel market during the forecast period.

As a result, composite waste, which usually includes waste from composite materials made by end-user industries like automotive, wind, and aerospace, also has a big market share.

Europe and North America are two of the biggest markets for biodegradable plastics. However, due to policies that limit plastic use, the demand for biodegradable plastics is growing quickly in Asia, especially in China and India. This is good news for solid recovered fuel made from biodegradable material.

By Application Analysis:

Demand for solid recovered fuel around the world comes from industries that use a lot of energy, like cement and thermal power plants. These industries use secondary fuels instead of fossil fuels, which is good for the environment and makes them less dependent on fossil fuels.

In general, there is a high demand for solid recovered fuels in the cement kiln industry. This is because cement is one of the most energy-intensive industries, with multiple production processes that use a lot of energy.

Coal was the main type of fuel that was used. But using secondary fuels like SRFs makes people less reliant on fossil fuels and has less of an effect on the environment. The cement industry's efforts to cut down on CO2 and NOx are likely to increase the use of solid recovered fuel in cement kilns.

Regional Insights:

The Asia-Pacific region is likely to have the biggest share of the solid recovered fuel market. This is because more people are building homes, which is driving up demand for cement, which is the main industry that uses SRFs. Also, construction and demolition are likely to create a lot of waste, which is a major source of waste for SRFs.

Asia-Pacific is second, and Europe has the most market share. Key countries like Germany, the U.K., France, and other nearby countries trade with each other because of things like the presence of key SRF manufacturers and the growing shift towards secondary fuel sources for energy production.

Also, the amount of municipal solid waste in North America has grown a lot in the last three years. Because of this, governments are putting a lot of effort into using important technologies to stop making waste and use it in a sustainable way.

Also, in Latin America and the Middle East, growing market trends to improve their economies have made it clear that they need to keep their waste levels down. This has led to the use of recycling and reuse techniques to deal with waste.

Scope Analysis

Recent Development:

• April 2022 – Andusia is pleased to announce that it has signed a new agreement with Enva Wood Recycling Ltd. The contract provides for the transport of 20,000 tonnes of wood waste from Tilbury to Germany for use as steam and power for paper production plants. Andusia is excited to partner with Enva Wood Recycling Ltd and explore new trends as the demand for recycled wood across Europe is higher than ever.
• June 2022 - Veolia bids for the sale of Suez's UK waste business and continues to build a global pioneer in ecological transformation. The project focuses on ecological change, uniting Veolia and most of Suez's international activities. Mergers have already proven to help add new skills, technologies and geographies. It will also speed up the implementation of the Impact 2023 strategic program, strengthen Veolia's international presence and increase its ability to launch.
• December 2021 – BMH Technology delivered a biomass fuel processing system to Finland-based Sappi Kirkniemi Mill. Modern fuel handling systems will lead the way for conventional boilers with current environmental goals as they tend to end the coal fuel era. The boiler's future fuel supply will consist of biomass, i.e. forest waste and bark.
• February 2021 - Geminor opened the Baltic SRF stream. This includes the first road SRF heading to the Baltic. The new contract will send 10,000 tonnes of high-caloric German SRF for cement production in the Baltic. This is the first time Geminor has exported SRF from Germany to the region.
• September 2020 – Beauparc Group expands its reach in the UK market with the acquisition of LSS Waste Management. LSS Waste Management has been servicing clients across Yorkshire for over 36 years, providing total waste management solutions. Employing around 100 people, the plant has a capacity to process 350,000 tonnes of waste per year and has RDF purchase agreements across Europe and the UK.

Market Segmentation

By Waste Type:

• Biodegradable Waste
• Recyclable Waste
• Inert Waste
• Composite Waste
• Others

By Application:

• Cement Kiln
• Heat
• Electricity
• Others

By Companies:

• Veolia (France)
• Enva (Ireland)
• Renelux Group (Greece)
• Geminor (Norway)
• Beauparc (Dublin)
• Axion Ltd. (Cheshire)
• BMH Technology (Finland)
• Andusia Holdings Limited (England)
• ENVIRONNEMENT MASSIF CENTRAL (France)
• Probio Energy International (England)
• Others