The third contract in Greece has been signed for the supply of a Bee, the MBT (Mechanical Biological Treatment) section of a waste-to-energy plant to be built in the Municipality of Volos, in Thessaly. The contract was awarded through a public tender won by Thalis Environmental Services SA, a Greek leader in environmental infrastructure, and Mesogeos, a reference group in the Greek market for the treatment of municipal solid waste and the production of energy from renewable sources.
Entsorga will supply the Bee®, our largest-capacity single-reactor biodessication Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT), among our most competitive solutions in terms of economic efficiency and safety.
The plant, once fully operational, will process approximately 50,000 tons of organic waste from separate collection and under-sieve waste annually. From this, around 26,000 tons of Solid Recovered Fuel will be produced each year, and all recyclable materials, including PVC, will be recovered.
Automation, infrared optical sorting and AI-a winning technological mix for the highest quality SRF.
Several key factors make this technological solution successful. First and foremost is the H.E.BIO.T.® (High Efficiency Biological System) biological treatment, a recovery process with lower costs compared to traditional methods, which capitalizes on 25 years of experience and research and development by Entsorga. The mass is bio-dried more quickly and uniformly, accelerating the digestion process of microorganisms through a patented air flow system, injected and controlled by software that regulates the process parameters, optimizing energy consumption. This also allows for handling more waste in less space: the reactor of the Volos plant will be just 80 meters long.
Another key strength is advanced automation, which minimizes management and labor costs. Waste is handled by a highly energy-efficient automatic Spider® overhead crane. In this case, proprietary management and control software evaluates the load capacity and optimizes data based on needs, ensuring continuous, 24/7 production. Another critical technology for ensuring the final quality of the SRF (Solid Recovered Fuel) is the Falcon®, our next-generation NIR separator, which selectively separates different types of plastic, eliminating PVC and significantly improving the calorific value of the final fuel.
This Bee will also be equipped with our Eagle Cloud system, a predictive control model that collects process data in the cloud and processes it using machine learning procedures. It provides detailed reports and predictive analyses to maintain systems in optimal conditions and enables quick intervention in case of anomalies, offering remote support for plant management and maintenance.
The Volos plant, along with those in Sitia and Heraklion, underscores the significant infrastructure investments Greece is making on the path toward ecological transition for waste management and the development of local circular economies. Accelerating urban waste collection and recycling, while avoiding reliance on landfills, is one of the most challenging goals for Greece, which is still behind the European Union’s 2025 targets, requiring a recycling rate of at least 55% of urban waste.
