WasteServ Malta - Sant'Antnin Waste Treatment - MTP
Sant Antnin Waste Treatment - Mechanical Treatment
In 2010, another section at the SAWTP was inaugurated. This time it was the Mechanical and Biological Treatment Plant (MBT) which includes the Mechanical Treatment Plant (MTP) facility.

The MTP has the aim to recover organic waste from the MSW and can be divided in 2 sections:
           

Dry MTP

This part of the facility has the capacity to receive one third of all MSW produced on the Maltese Islands. The aim is to mechanically separate the organic fraction from the rest of the waste which will at a later stage be used to produce digestate (soil improver) and biogas.

However, other waste streams are also extracted in this process such as metals and Refuse Derived Fuels (RDF). RDF is made up of material which cannot be recycled nor digested. This type of waste has a good energy potential and may be used as fuel in waste-to-energy plants. Due to the lack of such a facility locally, the material is currently being landfilled.              
 

 

Wet MTP

The mechanical selection of organic waste taking place in the dry MTP might allow other waste fractions like small pieces of plastics or broken glass to be included with the organic waste. At the wet MTP, the selected organic waste is mixed with water and the bio-degradable waste starts to break down into pulp. This mixture is then put in a sandtrap which is a container where any material other than the pulp gets separated by density and floatation. So any heavy objects like broken glass will sink to the bottom whilst other material like bits of plastic will float to be brushed away by rotating pallets. The pulp is then extracted to be taken to the anaerobic digestion tanks to produce digestate and biogas.