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Waste-to-energy

March 03, 2023

For energy wasted from a machine, see waste heat.

Waste-to-energy (WtE) or energy-from-waste (EfW) is the process of generating energy in the form of electricity and/or heat from the primary treatment of waste, or the processing of waste into a fuel source. WtE is a form of energy recovery. Most WtE processes generate electricity and/or heat directly through combustion, or produce a combustible fuel commodity, such as methane, methanol, ethanol or synthetic fuels.[1][2]

Spittelau incineration plant is one of several plants that provide district heating in Vienna.

History

The first incinerator or "Destructor" was built in Nottingham, UK, in 1874 by Manlove, Alliott & Co. Ltd. to the design of Alfred Fryer.[3]

The first US incinerator was built in 1885 on Governors Island in New York, New York.[4]

The first waste incinerator in Denmark was built in 1903 in Frederiksberg.[5]

The first facility in the Czech Republic was built in 1905 in Brno.[6]

Gasification and pyrolysis processes have been known and used for centuries and for coal as early as the 18th century.... Development technologies for processing [residual solid mixed waste] has only become a focus of attention in recent years stimulated by the search for more efficient energy recovery. (2004) [7]

Methods

Incineration

Main article: Incineration

Incineration, the combustion of organic material such as waste with energy recovery, is the most common WtE implementation. All new WtE plants in OECD countries incinerating waste (residual MSW, commercial, industrial or RDF) must meet strict emission standards, including those on nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulphur dioxide (SO2), heavy metals and dioxins.[8][9] Hence, modern incineration plants are vastly different from old types, some of which neither recovered energy nor materials. Modern incinerators reduce the volume of the original waste by 95-96 percent, depending upon composition and degree of recovery of materials such as metals from the ash for recycling.[5]

Incinerators may emit fine particulate, heavy metals, trace dioxin and acid gas, even though these emissions are relatively low[10] from modern incinerators. Other concerns include proper management of residues: toxic fly ash, which must be handled in hazardous waste disposal installation as well as incinerator bottom ash (IBA), which must be reused properly.[11]

Critics argue that incinerators destroy valuable resources and they may reduce incentives for recycling.[11] The question, however, is an open one, as European countries which recycle the most (up to 70%) also incinerate to avoid landfilling.[12]

Incinerators have electric efficiencies of 14-28%.[11] In order to avoid losing the rest of the energy, it can be used for e.g. district heating (cogeneration). The total efficiencies of cogeneration incinerators are typically higher than 80% (based on the lower heating value of the waste).

The method of incineration to convert municipal solid waste (MSW) is a relatively old method of WtE generation. Incineration generally entails burning waste (residual MSW, commercial, industrial and RDF) to boil water which powers steam generators that generate electric energy and heat to be used in homes, businesses, institutions and industries. One problem associated is the potential for pollutants to enter the atmosphere with the flue gases from the boiler. These pollutants can be acidic and in the 1980s were reported to cause environmental degradation by turning rain into acid rain. Modern incinerators incorporate carefully engineered primary and secondary burn chambers, and controlled burners designed to burn completely with the lowest possible emissions, eliminating, in some cases, the need for lime scrubbers and electro-static precipitators on smokestacks.

By passing the smoke through the basic lime scrubbers, any acids that might be in the smoke are neutralized which prevents the acid from reaching the atmosphere and hurting the environment. Many other devices, such as fabric filters, reactors, and catalysts destroy or capture other regulated pollutants.[13] According to the New York Times, modern incineration plants are so clean that "many times more dioxin is now released from home fireplaces and backyard barbecues than from incineration. "[14] According to the German Environmental Ministry, "because of stringent regulations, waste incineration plants are no longer significant in terms of emissions of dioxins, dust, and heavy metals".[15]

Compared with other waste to energy technologies, incineration seems to be the most attractive due to its higher power production efficiency, lower investment costs, and lower emission rates. Additionally, incineration yields the highest amount of electricity with the highest capacity to lessen pile of wastes in landfills through direct combustion.[16]

Fuel from plastics

One process that is used to convert plastic into fuel is pyrolysis, the thermal decomposition of materials at high temperatures in an inert atmosphere. It involves change of chemical composition and is mainly used for treatment of organic materials. In large scale production, plastic waste is ground and melted and then pyrolyzed. Catalytic converters help in the process. The vapours are condensed with oil or fuel and accumulated in settling tanks and filtered. Fuel is obtained after homogenation and can be used for automobiles and machinery. It is commonly termed as thermofuel or energy from plastic.[17]

A new process uses a two-part catalyst, cobalt and zeolite, to convert plastics into propane. It works on polyethylene and polypropylene and the propane yield is approximately 80%.[18]

Other

There are a number of other new and emerging technologies that are able to produce energy from waste and other fuels without direct combustion. Many of these technologies have the potential to produce more electric power from the same amount of fuel than would be possible by direct combustion. This is mainly due to the separation of corrosive components (ash) from the converted fuel, thereby allowing higher combustion temperatures in e.g. boilers, gas turbines, internal combustion engines, fuel cells. Some are able to efficiently convert the energy into liquid or gaseous fuels:

 
Pyrolysis Plant

Thermal treatment technologies:

 
Landfill Gas Collection

Non-thermal technologies:

Global developments

 
Waste-to-energy generating capacity in the United States
 
Waste-to-energy plants in the United States

During the 2001–2007 period, the waste-to-energy capacity increased by about four million metric tons per year.

Japan and China each built several plants based on direct smelting or on fluidized bed combustion of solid waste. In China there were about 434 waste-to-energy plants in early 2016. Japan is the largest user in thermal treatment of municipal solid waste in the world, with 40 million tons.

Some of the newest plants use stoker technology and others use the advanced oxygen enrichment technology. Several treatment plants exist worldwide using relatively novel processes such as direct smelting, the Ebara fluidization process and the Thermoselect JFE gasification and melting technology process.[19]

As of June 2014, Indonesia had a total of 93.5 MW installed capacity of waste-to-energy, with a pipeline of projects in different preparation phases together amounting to another 373MW of capacity.[20]

Biofuel Energy Corporation of Denver, Colorado, opened two new biofuel plants in Wood River, Nebraska, and Fairmont, Minnesota, in July 2008. These plants use distillation to make ethanol for use in motor vehicles and other engines. Both plants are currently reported to be working at over 90% capacity. Fulcrum BioEnergy incorporated located in Pleasanton, California, is building a WtE plant near Reno, NV. The plant is scheduled to open in 2019 under the name of Sierra BioFuels plant. BioEnergy incorporated predicts that the plant will produce approximately 10.5 million gallons per year of ethanol from nearly 200,000 tons per year of MSW.[21]

Waste to energy technology includes fermentation, which can take biomass and create ethanol, using waste cellulosic or organic material.[2] In the fermentation process, the sugar in the waste is converted to carbon dioxide and alcohol, in the same general process that is used to make wine. Normally fermentation occurs with no air present.

Esterification can also be done using waste to energy technologies, and the result of this process is biodiesel. The cost effectiveness of esterification will depend on the feedstock being used, and all the other relevant factors such as transportation distance, amount of oil present in the feedstock, and others.[22] Gasification and pyrolysis by now can reach gross thermal conversion efficiencies (fuel to gas) up to 75%, however a complete combustion is superior in terms of fuel conversion efficiency.[7] Some pyrolysis processes need an outside heat source which may be supplied by the gasification process, making the combined process self-sustaining.

Carbon dioxide emissions

In thermal WtE technologies, nearly all of the carbon content in the waste is emitted as carbon dioxide (CO2) to the atmosphere (when including final combustion of the products from pyrolysis and gasification; except when producing biochar for fertilizer). Municipal solid waste (MSW) contain approximately the same mass fraction of carbon as CO2 itself (27%), so treatment of 1 metric ton (1.1 short tons) of MSW produce approximately 1 metric ton (1.1 short tons) of CO2.

In the event that the waste was landfilled, 1 metric ton (1.1 short tons) of MSW would produce approximately 62 cubic metres (2,200 cu ft) methane via the anaerobic decomposition of the biodegradable part of the waste. This amount of methane has more than twice the global warming potential than the 1 metric ton (1.1 short tons) of CO2, which would have been produced by combustion. In some countries, large amounts of landfill gas are collected. However, there is still the global warming potential of the landfill gas being emitted to atmosphere. For example, in the US in 1999 landfill gas emission was approximately 32% higher than the amount of CO2 that would have been emitted by combustion.[23]

In addition, nearly all biodegradable waste is biomass. That is, it has biological origin. This material has been formed by plants using atmospheric CO2 typically within the last growing season. If these plants are regrown the CO2 emitted from their combustion will be taken out from the atmosphere once more.

Such considerations are the main reason why several countries administrate WtE of the biomass part of waste as renewable energy.[24] The rest—mainly plastics and other oil and gas derived products—is generally treated as non-renewables.

Determination of the biomass fraction

MSW to a large extent is of biological origin (biogenic), e.g. paper, cardboard, wood, cloth, food scraps. Typically half of the energy content in MSW is from biogenic material.[25] Consequently, this energy is often recognised as renewable energy according to the waste input.[26]

Several methods have been developed by the European CEN 343 working group to determine the biomass fraction of waste fuels, such as Refuse Derived Fuel/Solid Recovered Fuel. The initial two methods developed (CEN/TS 15440) were the manual sorting method and the selective dissolution method. A detailed systematic comparison of these two methods was published in 2010.[27] Since each method suffered from limitations in properly characterizing the biomass fraction, two alternative methods have been developed.

The first method uses the principles of radiocarbon dating. A technical review (CEN/TR 15591:2007) outlining the carbon 14 method was published in 2007. A technical standard of the carbon dating method (CEN/TS 15747:2008) is published in 2008.[needs update] In the United States, there is already an equivalent carbon 14 method under the standard method ASTM D6866.

The second method (so-called balance method) employs existing data on materials composition and operating conditions of the WtE plant and calculates the most probable result based on a mathematical-statistical model.[28] Currently the balance method is installed at three Austrian and eight Danish incinerators.

A comparison between both methods carried out at three full-scale incinerators in Switzerland showed that both methods came to the same results.[29]

Carbon 14 dating can determine with precision the biomass fraction of waste, and also determine the biomass calorific value. Determining the calorific value is important for green certificate programs such as the Renewable Obligation Certificate program in the United Kingdom. These programs award certificates based on the energy produced from biomass. Several research papers, including the one commissioned by the Renewable Energy Association in the UK, have been published that demonstrate how the carbon 14 result can be used to calculate the biomass calorific value. The UK gas and electricity markets authority, Ofgem, released a statement in 2011 accepting the use of Carbon 14 as a way to determine the biomass energy content of waste feedstock under their administration of the Renewables Obligation.[30] Their Fuel Measurement and Sampling (FMS) questionnaire describes the information they look for when considering such proposals.[31]

Environmental impact

A 2019 report commissioned by the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), done by the Tishman Environment and Design Center at The New School, found that 79% of the then 73 operating waste-to-energy facilities in the U.S. are located in low-income communities and/or "communities of color", because "of historic residential, racial segregation and expulsive zoning laws that allowed whiter, wealthier communities to exclude industrial uses and people of color from their boundaries."[32]. In Chester, Pennsylvania, where a community group is actively opposing their local waste-to-energy facility, Sintana Vergara, an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Resources Engineering at Humboldt State University in California, commented that community resistance is based on both the pollution and the fact that many of these facilities have been sited in communities without any community input, and without any benefits to the community.[33]

Notable examples

According to a 2019 United Nations Environment Programme report, there are 589 WtE plants in Europe and 82 in the United States.[34]

The following are some examples of WtE plants.

Waste incineration WtE plants

Liquid fuel producing plants

A single plant is currently under construction:

Plasma Gasification Waste-to-Energy plants

Main article: Plasma gasification commercialization

The US Air Force once tested a Transportable Plasma Waste to Energy System (TPWES) facility (PyroGenesis technology) at Hurlburt Field, Florida.[40] The plant, which cost $7.4 million to construct,[41] was closed and sold at a government liquidation auction in May 2013, less than three years after its commissioning.[42][43] The opening bid was $25. The winning bid was sealed.

Besides large plants, domestic waste-to-energy incinerators also exist. For example, the Refuge de Sarenne has a domestic waste-to-energy plant. It is made by combining a wood-fired gasification boiler with a Stirling motor.[44][45]

Australia

Renergi will scale up their system of converting waste organic materials into liquid fuels using a thermal treatment process in Collie, Western Australia. The system will process 1.5 tonnes of organic matter per hour. Annually the facility will divert 4000 tonnes of municipal waste from landfill and source an additional 8000 tonnes of organic waste from agricultural and forestry operations. Renergi’s patented “grinding pyrolysis” process aims to converts organic materials into biochar, bio-gases and bio-oil by applying heat in an environment with limited oxygen.[46]

Another project in the Rockingham Industrial Zone, roughly 45 kilometres south of Perth will see a 29 MW plant built with capacity to power 40,000 homes from an annual feedstock of 300,000 tonnes of municipal, industrial and commercial rubbish. As well as supplying electricity to the South West Interconnected System, 25 MW of the plant’s output has already been committed under a power purchase agreement.[47]

See also

References

  1. ^ . Archived from the original on 2011-07-14. Retrieved 2009-06-25.
  2. ^ a b c Fackler, Nick; Heijstra, Björn D.; Rasor, Blake J.; Brown, Hunter; Martin, Jacob; Ni, Zhuofu; Shebek, Kevin M.; Rosin, Rick R.; Simpson, Séan D.; Tyo, Keith E.; Giannone, Richard J.; Hettich, Robert L.; Tschaplinski, Timothy J.; Leang, Ching; Brown, Steven D.; Jewett, Michael C.; Köpke, Michael (7 June 2021). "Stepping on the Gas to a Circular Economy: Accelerating Development of Carbon-Negative Chemical Production from Gas Fermentation". Annual Review of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. 12 (1): 439–470. doi:10.1146/annurev-chembioeng-120120-021122. ISSN 1947-5438. OSTI 1807218. PMID 33872517. S2CID 233310092. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
  3. ^ Herbert, Lewis (2007). "Centenary History of Waste and Waste Managers in London and South East England" (PDF). Chartered Institution of Wastes Management.
  4. ^ "Energy Recovery - Basic Information". US EPA. 15 November 2016.
  5. ^ a b Waste to Energy in Denmark 2016-03-11 at the Wayback Machine by Ramboll Consult
  6. ^ Lapčík; et al. (Dec 2012). "Možnosti Energetického Využití Komunálního Odpadu". GeoScience Engineering.
  7. ^ a b The Viability of Advanced Thermal Treatment of MSW in the UK 2013-05-08 at the Wayback Machine by Fichtner Consulting Engineers Ltd 2004
  8. ^ "Waste incineration". Europa. October 2011.
  9. ^ "DIRECTIVE 2000/76/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 4 December 2000 on the incineration of waste". European Union. 4 December 2000.
  10. ^ Emissionsfaktorer og emissionsopgørelse for decentral kraftvarme, Kortlægning af emissioner fra decentrale kraftvarmeværker, Ministry of the Environment of Denmark 2006 (in Danish)
  11. ^ a b c "Waste Gasification: Impacts on the Environment and Public Health" (PDF).
  12. ^ "Environment in the EU27 Landfill still accounted for nearly 40% of municipal waste treated in the EU27 in 2010". European Union. 27 March 2012.
  13. ^ (PDF). Austrian Ministry of Life. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-06-27.
  14. ^ Rosenthal, Elisabeth (12 April 2010). "Europe Finds Clean Energy in Trash, but U.S. Lags". The New York Times.
  15. ^ (PDF). Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. September 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-10-25. Retrieved 2013-04-16.
  16. ^ Agaton, Casper Boongaling; Guno, Charmaine Samala; Villanueva, Resy Ordona; Villanueva, Riza Ordona (2020-10-01). "Economic analysis of waste-to-energy investment in the Philippines: A real options approach". Applied Energy. 275: 115265. doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2020.115265. ISSN 0306-2619.
  17. ^ "Beginners guide" "Introduction to Fuel from plastics".
  18. ^ Crownhart, Casey (November 30, 2022). "How chemists are tackling the plastics problem". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 2023-02-25.
  19. ^ . Columbia Engineering, Columbia University. Archived from the original on 2017-12-25. Retrieved 2008-10-31.
  20. ^ . The Carbon Trust. June 2014. Archived from the original on 21 November 2018. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
  21. ^ "Fulcrum BioEnergy". fulcrum-bioenergy.com.
  22. ^ "Cost Effective Waste to Energy Technologies – Updated Article With Extra Information". bionomicfuel.com. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  23. ^ Themelis, Nickolas J. An overview of the global waste-to-energy industry 2014-02-06 at the Wayback Machine, Waste Management World 2003
  24. ^ , from the homepage of the UK Renewable Energy Association
  25. ^ "More recycling raises average energy content of waste used to generate electricity". U.S. Energy Information Administration. September 2012.
  26. ^ "Directive 2009/28/EC on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources". European Union. April 23, 2009.
  27. ^ The biogenic content of process streams from mechanical–biological treatment plants producing solid recovered fuel. Do the manual sorting and selective dissolution determination methods correlate? by Mélanie Séverin, Costas A. Velis, Phil J. Longhurst and Simon J.T. Pollard., 2010. In: Waste Management 30(7): 1171-1182
  28. ^ A New Method to Determine the Ratio of Electricity Production from Fossil and Biogenic Sources in Waste-to-Energy Plants. by Fellner, J., Cencic, O. and Rechberger, H., 2007. In: Environmental Science & Technology, 41(7): 2579-2586.
  29. ^ Determination of biogenic and fossil CO2 emitted by waste incineration based on 14CO2 and mass balances. by Mohn, J., Szidat, S., Fellner, J., Rechberger, H., Quartier, R., Buchmann, B. and Emmenegger, L., 2008. In: Bioresource Technology, 99: 6471-6479.
  30. ^ "Fuelled stations and FMS" (PDF). ofgem.gov.uk. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  31. ^ "Fuel Measurement and Sampling (FMS) Questionnaire: Carbon-14". ofgem.gov.uk. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  32. ^ Li, Rina (2019-05-23). "Nearly 80% of US incinerators located in marginalized communities, report reveals". Waste Dive.
  33. ^ Cooper, Kenny (2021-05-03). "Chester residents raise environmental racism concerns over Covanta incinerator". WHYY. "I do think that there are two issues here, though. So one is the fact that, of course, incineration is going to produce some air pollution, even with the highest control technologies, some pollution is going to be produced," Vergara said. "But I think the second issue … is public perception and acceptance of a technology like this. So in the United States, we have a very long history of siting dirty power plants and waste facilities in communities of color, in low-income communities, who are bearing the risks of these facilities without necessarily sharing in any of the benefits."
  34. ^ "Waste to Energy: Considerations for Informed Decision-making | International Environmental Technology Centre". www.unep.org. 4 June 2019. Retrieved 2022-05-23.
  35. ^ Energy-from-Waste facility in Lee County 2013-08-12 at the Wayback Machine run as Covanta Lee, Inc.
  36. ^ Algonquin Power Energy from Waste Facility 2012-03-01 at the Wayback Machine from the homepage of Algonquin Power
  37. ^ Edmonton, City of (2020-04-01). "Waste to Biofuels and Chemicals Facility". www.edmonton.ca. Retrieved 2020-04-02.
  38. ^ "Facilities & Projects | Clean Technology Around the World". Enerkem. Retrieved 2020-04-02.
  39. ^ "Waste to Biofuels and Chemicals Facility | City of Edmonton". www.edmonton.ca. Retrieved 2022-05-02.
  40. ^ . US Air Force Special Operations Command. Archived from the original on 2011-05-09. Retrieved 2011-04-28..
  41. ^ "Pyrogenesis Perfecting Plasma". Biomass Magazine.
  42. ^ . Government Liquidation. Archived from the original on 2018-03-08. Retrieved 2016-05-02.
  43. ^ . Archived from the original on 2014-10-18. Retrieved 2016-05-02.
  44. ^ "Autonomie énergétique pour un refuge de montagne : panneaux solaires". Connaissance des Énergies. 5 July 2012. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  45. ^ "Waste Biomass Carbonization Plant - KG Biomass Plant".
  46. ^ "Re-energising waste in south-west WA - ARENAWIRE". Australian Renewable Energy Agency. Retrieved 2021-01-29.
  47. ^ "Second waste-to-energy plant gets green light - ARENAWIRE". Australian Renewable Energy Agency. Retrieved 2021-01-29.

Further reading

  • Field, Christopher B. "Emissions pathways, climate change, and impacts." PNAS 101.34 (2004): 12422–12427.
  • Sudarsan, K. G.; Anupama, Mary P. (October 2009). (PDF). Current Science. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-24.
  • Tilman, David. "Environmental, economic, and energetic costs." PNAS 103.30 (2006): 11206–11210.

External links

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Waste-to-energy.
  • Waste-to-Energy Research and Technology Council 2007-10-06 at the Wayback Machine
  • Energy Recovery from the Combustion of Municipal Solid Waste - US EPA
  • WtERT Germany
  • Gasification Technologies Council 2016-01-20 at the Wayback Machine

March 03, 2023
waste, energy, energy, wasted, from, machine, waste, heat, this, article, lead, section, short, adequately, summarize, points, please, consider, expanding, lead, provide, accessible, overview, important, aspects, article, september, 2021, energy, from, waste, . For energy wasted from a machine see waste heat This article s lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article September 2021 Waste to energy WtE or energy from waste EfW is the process of generating energy in the form of electricity and or heat from the primary treatment of waste or the processing of waste into a fuel source WtE is a form of energy recovery Most WtE processes generate electricity and or heat directly through combustion or produce a combustible fuel commodity such as methane methanol ethanol or synthetic fuels 1 2 Spittelau incineration plant is one of several plants that provide district heating in Vienna Contents 1 History 2 Methods 2 1 Incineration 2 2 Fuel from plastics 2 3 Other 3 Global developments 4 Carbon dioxide emissions 4 1 Determination of the biomass fraction 5 Environmental impact 6 Notable examples 6 1 Waste incineration WtE plants 6 2 Liquid fuel producing plants 6 3 Plasma Gasification Waste to Energy plants 6 4 Australia 7 See also 8 References 9 Further reading 10 External linksHistory EditThis section needs expansion You can help by adding to it October 2016 The first incinerator or Destructor was built in Nottingham UK in 1874 by Manlove Alliott amp Co Ltd to the design of Alfred Fryer 3 The first US incinerator was built in 1885 on Governors Island in New York New York 4 The first waste incinerator in Denmark was built in 1903 in Frederiksberg 5 The first facility in the Czech Republic was built in 1905 in Brno 6 Gasification and pyrolysis processes have been known and used for centuries and for coal as early as the 18th century Development technologies for processing residual solid mixed waste has only become a focus of attention in recent years stimulated by the search for more efficient energy recovery 2004 7 Methods EditIncineration Edit Main article Incineration Incineration the combustion of organic material such as waste with energy recovery is the most common WtE implementation All new WtE plants in OECD countries incinerating waste residual MSW commercial industrial or RDF must meet strict emission standards including those on nitrogen oxides NOx sulphur dioxide SO2 heavy metals and dioxins 8 9 Hence modern incineration plants are vastly different from old types some of which neither recovered energy nor materials Modern incinerators reduce the volume of the original waste by 95 96 percent depending upon composition and degree of recovery of materials such as metals from the ash for recycling 5 Incinerators may emit fine particulate heavy metals trace dioxin and acid gas even though these emissions are relatively low 10 from modern incinerators Other concerns include proper management of residues toxic fly ash which must be handled in hazardous waste disposal installation as well as incinerator bottom ash IBA which must be reused properly 11 Critics argue that incinerators destroy valuable resources and they may reduce incentives for recycling 11 The question however is an open one as European countries which recycle the most up to 70 also incinerate to avoid landfilling 12 Incinerators have electric efficiencies of 14 28 11 In order to avoid losing the rest of the energy it can be used for e g district heating cogeneration The total efficiencies of cogeneration incinerators are typically higher than 80 based on the lower heating value of the waste The method of incineration to convert municipal solid waste MSW is a relatively old method of WtE generation Incineration generally entails burning waste residual MSW commercial industrial and RDF to boil water which powers steam generators that generate electric energy and heat to be used in homes businesses institutions and industries One problem associated is the potential for pollutants to enter the atmosphere with the flue gases from the boiler These pollutants can be acidic and in the 1980s were reported to cause environmental degradation by turning rain into acid rain Modern incinerators incorporate carefully engineered primary and secondary burn chambers and controlled burners designed to burn completely with the lowest possible emissions eliminating in some cases the need for lime scrubbers and electro static precipitators on smokestacks By passing the smoke through the basic lime scrubbers any acids that might be in the smoke are neutralized which prevents the acid from reaching the atmosphere and hurting the environment Many other devices such as fabric filters reactors and catalysts destroy or capture other regulated pollutants 13 According to the New York Times modern incineration plants are so clean that many times more dioxin is now released from home fireplaces and backyard barbecues than from incineration 14 According to the German Environmental Ministry because of stringent regulations waste incineration plants are no longer significant in terms of emissions of dioxins dust and heavy metals 15 Compared with other waste to energy technologies incineration seems to be the most attractive due to its higher power production efficiency lower investment costs and lower emission rates Additionally incineration yields the highest amount of electricity with the highest capacity to lessen pile of wastes in landfills through direct combustion 16 Fuel from plastics Edit One process that is used to convert plastic into fuel is pyrolysis the thermal decomposition of materials at high temperatures in an inert atmosphere It involves change of chemical composition and is mainly used for treatment of organic materials In large scale production plastic waste is ground and melted and then pyrolyzed Catalytic converters help in the process The vapours are condensed with oil or fuel and accumulated in settling tanks and filtered Fuel is obtained after homogenation and can be used for automobiles and machinery It is commonly termed as thermofuel or energy from plastic 17 A new process uses a two part catalyst cobalt and zeolite to convert plastics into propane It works on polyethylene and polypropylene and the propane yield is approximately 80 18 Other Edit There are a number of other new and emerging technologies that are able to produce energy from waste and other fuels without direct combustion Many of these technologies have the potential to produce more electric power from the same amount of fuel than would be possible by direct combustion This is mainly due to the separation of corrosive components ash from the converted fuel thereby allowing higher combustion temperatures in e g boilers gas turbines internal combustion engines fuel cells Some are able to efficiently convert the energy into liquid or gaseous fuels Pyrolysis Plant Thermal treatment technologies Gasification produces combustible gas hydrogen synthetic fuels Thermal depolymerization produces synthetic crude oil which can be further refined Pyrolysis produces combustible tar biooil and chars Plasma arc gasification or plasma gasification process PGP produces rich syngas including hydrogen and carbon monoxide usable for fuel cells or generating electricity to drive the plasma arch usable vitrified silicate and metal ingots salt and sulphur Landfill Gas Collection Non thermal technologies Anaerobic digestion Biogas rich in methane Fermentation production examples are ethanol lactic acid hydrogen 2 Mechanical biological treatment MBT MBT Anaerobic digestion MBT to Refuse derived fuelGlobal developments Edit Waste to energy generating capacity in the United States Waste to energy plants in the United States During the 2001 2007 period the waste to energy capacity increased by about four million metric tons per year Japan and China each built several plants based on direct smelting or on fluidized bed combustion of solid waste In China there were about 434 waste to energy plants in early 2016 Japan is the largest user in thermal treatment of municipal solid waste in the world with 40 million tons Some of the newest plants use stoker technology and others use the advanced oxygen enrichment technology Several treatment plants exist worldwide using relatively novel processes such as direct smelting the Ebara fluidization process and the Thermoselect JFE gasification and melting technology process 19 As of June 2014 Indonesia had a total of 93 5 MW installed capacity of waste to energy with a pipeline of projects in different preparation phases together amounting to another 373MW of capacity 20 Biofuel Energy Corporation of Denver Colorado opened two new biofuel plants in Wood River Nebraska and Fairmont Minnesota in July 2008 These plants use distillation to make ethanol for use in motor vehicles and other engines Both plants are currently reported to be working at over 90 capacity Fulcrum BioEnergy incorporated located in Pleasanton California is building a WtE plant near Reno NV The plant is scheduled to open in 2019 under the name of Sierra BioFuels plant BioEnergy incorporated predicts that the plant will produce approximately 10 5 million gallons per year of ethanol from nearly 200 000 tons per year of MSW 21 Waste to energy technology includes fermentation which can take biomass and create ethanol using waste cellulosic or organic material 2 In the fermentation process the sugar in the waste is converted to carbon dioxide and alcohol in the same general process that is used to make wine Normally fermentation occurs with no air present Esterification can also be done using waste to energy technologies and the result of this process is biodiesel The cost effectiveness of esterification will depend on the feedstock being used and all the other relevant factors such as transportation distance amount of oil present in the feedstock and others 22 Gasification and pyrolysis by now can reach gross thermal conversion efficiencies fuel to gas up to 75 however a complete combustion is superior in terms of fuel conversion efficiency 7 Some pyrolysis processes need an outside heat source which may be supplied by the gasification process making the combined process self sustaining Carbon dioxide emissions EditIn thermal WtE technologies nearly all of the carbon content in the waste is emitted as carbon dioxide CO2 to the atmosphere when including final combustion of the products from pyrolysis and gasification except when producing biochar for fertilizer Municipal solid waste MSW contain approximately the same mass fraction of carbon as CO2 itself 27 so treatment of 1 metric ton 1 1 short tons of MSW produce approximately 1 metric ton 1 1 short tons of CO2 In the event that the waste was landfilled 1 metric ton 1 1 short tons of MSW would produce approximately 62 cubic metres 2 200 cu ft methane via the anaerobic decomposition of the biodegradable part of the waste This amount of methane has more than twice the global warming potential than the 1 metric ton 1 1 short tons of CO2 which would have been produced by combustion In some countries large amounts of landfill gas are collected However there is still the global warming potential of the landfill gas being emitted to atmosphere For example in the US in 1999 landfill gas emission was approximately 32 higher than the amount of CO2 that would have been emitted by combustion 23 In addition nearly all biodegradable waste is biomass That is it has biological origin This material has been formed by plants using atmospheric CO2 typically within the last growing season If these plants are regrown the CO2 emitted from their combustion will be taken out from the atmosphere once more Such considerations are the main reason why several countries administrate WtE of the biomass part of waste as renewable energy 24 The rest mainly plastics and other oil and gas derived products is generally treated as non renewables Determination of the biomass fraction Edit MSW to a large extent is of biological origin biogenic e g paper cardboard wood cloth food scraps Typically half of the energy content in MSW is from biogenic material 25 Consequently this energy is often recognised as renewable energy according to the waste input 26 Several methods have been developed by the European CEN 343 working group to determine the biomass fraction of waste fuels such as Refuse Derived Fuel Solid Recovered Fuel The initial two methods developed CEN TS 15440 were the manual sorting method and the selective dissolution method A detailed systematic comparison of these two methods was published in 2010 27 Since each method suffered from limitations in properly characterizing the biomass fraction two alternative methods have been developed The first method uses the principles of radiocarbon dating A technical review CEN TR 15591 2007 outlining the carbon 14 method was published in 2007 A technical standard of the carbon dating method CEN TS 15747 2008 is published in 2008 needs update In the United States there is already an equivalent carbon 14 method under the standard method ASTM D6866 The second method so called balance method employs existing data on materials composition and operating conditions of the WtE plant and calculates the most probable result based on a mathematical statistical model 28 Currently the balance method is installed at three Austrian and eight Danish incinerators A comparison between both methods carried out at three full scale incinerators in Switzerland showed that both methods came to the same results 29 Carbon 14 dating can determine with precision the biomass fraction of waste and also determine the biomass calorific value Determining the calorific value is important for green certificate programs such as the Renewable Obligation Certificate program in the United Kingdom These programs award certificates based on the energy produced from biomass Several research papers including the one commissioned by the Renewable Energy Association in the UK have been published that demonstrate how the carbon 14 result can be used to calculate the biomass calorific value The UK gas and electricity markets authority Ofgem released a statement in 2011 accepting the use of Carbon 14 as a way to determine the biomass energy content of waste feedstock under their administration of the Renewables Obligation 30 Their Fuel Measurement and Sampling FMS questionnaire describes the information they look for when considering such proposals 31 Environmental impact EditA 2019 report commissioned by the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives GAIA done by the Tishman Environment and Design Center at The New School found that 79 of the then 73 operating waste to energy facilities in the U S are located in low income communities and or communities of color because of historic residential racial segregation and expulsive zoning laws that allowed whiter wealthier communities to exclude industrial uses and people of color from their boundaries 32 In Chester Pennsylvania where a community group is actively opposing their local waste to energy facility Sintana Vergara an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Resources Engineering at Humboldt State University in California commented that community resistance is based on both the pollution and the fact that many of these facilities have been sited in communities without any community input and without any benefits to the community 33 Notable examples EditAccording to a 2019 United Nations Environment Programme report there are 589 WtE plants in Europe and 82 in the United States 34 The following are some examples of WtE plants Waste incineration WtE plants Edit Essex County Resource Recovery Facility Newark New Jersey Harrisburg incinerator Harrisburg Pennsylvania Lee County Solid Waste Resource Recovery Facility Fort Myers Florida USA 1994 35 Montgomery County Resource Recovery Facility in Dickerson Maryland USA 1995 Spittelau 1971 and Flotzersteig 1963 Vienna Austria Wien Energie SYSAV waste to energy plant in Malmo 2003 and 2008 Sweden Algonquin Power Brampton Ontario Canada 36 Stoke Incinerator Stoke on Trent UK 1989 Delaware Valley Resource Recovery Facility Chester United States Teesside EfW plant near Middlesbrough North East England 1998 Edmonton Incinerator in Greater London England 1974 Burnaby Waste to Energy Facility Metro Vancouver Canada 1988 Timarpur Okhla Waste to Energy Plant New Delhi India East Delhi Waste Processing Company Limited New Delhi IndiaLiquid fuel producing plants Edit A single plant is currently under construction Enerkem Waste to Biofuels and Chemicals Facility located in Edmonton Alberta Canada based on the Enerkem process 37 38 fueled by MSW 39 Plasma Gasification Waste to Energy plants Edit Main article Plasma gasification commercialization The US Air Force once tested a Transportable Plasma Waste to Energy System TPWES facility PyroGenesis technology at Hurlburt Field Florida 40 The plant which cost 7 4 million to construct 41 was closed and sold at a government liquidation auction in May 2013 less than three years after its commissioning 42 43 The opening bid was 25 The winning bid was sealed Besides large plants domestic waste to energy incinerators also exist For example the Refuge de Sarenne has a domestic waste to energy plant It is made by combining a wood fired gasification boiler with a Stirling motor 44 45 Australia Edit Renergi will scale up their system of converting waste organic materials into liquid fuels using a thermal treatment process in Collie Western Australia The system will process 1 5 tonnes of organic matter per hour Annually the facility will divert 4000 tonnes of municipal waste from landfill and source an additional 8000 tonnes of organic waste from agricultural and forestry operations Renergi s patented grinding pyrolysis process aims to converts organic materials into biochar bio gases and bio oil by applying heat in an environment with limited oxygen 46 Another project in the Rockingham Industrial Zone roughly 45 kilometres south of Perth will see a 29 MW plant built with capacity to power 40 000 homes from an annual feedstock of 300 000 tonnes of municipal industrial and commercial rubbish As well as supplying electricity to the South West Interconnected System 25 MW of the plant s output has already been committed under a power purchase agreement 47 See also Edit Energy portalBiogas Biohydrogen production Cogeneration Energy recycling Landfill gas utilization List of solid waste treatment technologies List of waste management acronyms Manure derived synthetic crude oil Plastic pollution Refuse derived fuel Relative cost of electricity generated by different sources Reuse of human excreta Waste to energy plantReferences Edit NW BIORENEW Archived from the original on 2011 07 14 Retrieved 2009 06 25 a b c Fackler Nick Heijstra Bjorn D Rasor Blake J Brown Hunter Martin Jacob Ni Zhuofu Shebek Kevin M Rosin Rick R Simpson Sean D Tyo Keith E Giannone Richard J Hettich Robert L Tschaplinski Timothy J Leang Ching Brown Steven D Jewett Michael C Kopke Michael 7 June 2021 Stepping on the Gas to a Circular Economy Accelerating Development of Carbon Negative Chemical Production from Gas Fermentation Annual Review of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering 12 1 439 470 doi 10 1146 annurev chembioeng 120120 021122 ISSN 1947 5438 OSTI 1807218 PMID 33872517 S2CID 233310092 Retrieved 27 September 2022 Herbert Lewis 2007 Centenary History of Waste and Waste Managers in London and South East England PDF Chartered Institution of Wastes Management Energy Recovery Basic Information US EPA 15 November 2016 a b Waste to Energy in Denmark Archived 2016 03 11 at the Wayback Machine by Ramboll Consult Lapcik et al Dec 2012 Moznosti Energetickeho Vyuziti Komunalniho Odpadu GeoScience Engineering a b The Viability of Advanced Thermal Treatment of MSW in the UK Archived 2013 05 08 at the Wayback Machine by Fichtner Consulting Engineers Ltd 2004 Waste incineration Europa October 2011 DIRECTIVE 2000 76 EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 4 December 2000 on the incineration of waste European Union 4 December 2000 Emissionsfaktorer og emissionsopgorelse for decentral kraftvarme Kortlaegning af emissioner fra decentrale kraftvarmevaerker Ministry of the Environment of Denmark 2006 in Danish a b c Waste Gasification Impacts on the Environment and Public Health PDF Environment in the EU27 Landfill still accounted for nearly 40 of municipal waste treated in the EU27 in 2010 European Union 27 March 2012 Waste to Energy in Austria White Book 2nd Edition 2010 PDF Austrian Ministry of Life Archived from the original PDF on 2013 06 27 Rosenthal Elisabeth 12 April 2010 Europe Finds Clean Energy in Trash but U S Lags The New York Times Waste incineration A potential danger Bidding farewell to dioxin spouting PDF Federal Ministry for Environment Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety September 2005 Archived from the original PDF on 2018 10 25 Retrieved 2013 04 16 Agaton Casper Boongaling Guno Charmaine Samala Villanueva Resy Ordona Villanueva Riza Ordona 2020 10 01 Economic analysis of waste to energy investment in the Philippines A real options approach Applied Energy 275 115265 doi 10 1016 j apenergy 2020 115265 ISSN 0306 2619 Beginners guide Introduction to Fuel from plastics Crownhart Casey November 30 2022 How chemists are tackling the plastics problem MIT Technology Review Retrieved 2023 02 25 Waste Council Attracts Experts Worldwide Columbia Engineering Columbia University Archived from the original on 2017 12 25 Retrieved 2008 10 31 Waste to energy in Indonesia The Carbon Trust June 2014 Archived from the original on 21 November 2018 Retrieved 22 July 2014 Fulcrum BioEnergy fulcrum bioenergy com Cost Effective Waste to Energy Technologies Updated Article With Extra Information bionomicfuel com Retrieved 28 February 2015 Themelis Nickolas J An overview of the global waste to energy industry Archived 2014 02 06 at the Wayback Machine Waste Management World 2003 1 from the homepage of the UK Renewable Energy Association More recycling raises average energy content of waste used to generate electricity U S Energy Information Administration September 2012 Directive 2009 28 EC on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources European Union April 23 2009 The biogenic content of process streams from mechanical biological treatment plants producing solid recovered fuel Do the manual sorting and selective dissolution determination methods correlate by Melanie Severin Costas A Velis Phil J Longhurst and Simon J T Pollard 2010 In Waste Management 30 7 1171 1182 A New Method to Determine the Ratio of Electricity Production from Fossil and Biogenic Sources in Waste to Energy Plants by Fellner J Cencic O and Rechberger H 2007 In Environmental Science amp Technology 41 7 2579 2586 Determination of biogenic and fossil CO2 emitted by waste incineration based on 14CO2 and mass balances by Mohn J Szidat S Fellner J Rechberger H Quartier R Buchmann B and Emmenegger L 2008 In Bioresource Technology 99 6471 6479 Fuelled stations and FMS PDF ofgem gov uk Retrieved 28 February 2015 Fuel Measurement and Sampling FMS Questionnaire Carbon 14 ofgem gov uk Retrieved 28 February 2015 Li Rina 2019 05 23 Nearly 80 of US incinerators located in marginalized communities report reveals Waste Dive Cooper Kenny 2021 05 03 Chester residents raise environmental racism concerns over Covanta incinerator WHYY I do think that there are two issues here though So one is the fact that of course incineration is going to produce some air pollution even with the highest control technologies some pollution is going to be produced Vergara said But I think the second issue is public perception and acceptance of a technology like this So in the United States we have a very long history of siting dirty power plants and waste facilities in communities of color in low income communities who are bearing the risks of these facilities without necessarily sharing in any of the benefits Waste to Energy Considerations for Informed Decision making International Environmental Technology Centre www unep org 4 June 2019 Retrieved 2022 05 23 Energy from Waste facility in Lee County Archived 2013 08 12 at the Wayback Machine run as Covanta Lee Inc Algonquin Power Energy from Waste Facility Archived 2012 03 01 at the Wayback Machine from the homepage of Algonquin Power Edmonton City of 2020 04 01 Waste to Biofuels and Chemicals Facility www edmonton ca Retrieved 2020 04 02 Facilities amp Projects Clean Technology Around the World Enerkem Retrieved 2020 04 02 Waste to Biofuels and Chemicals Facility City of Edmonton www edmonton ca Retrieved 2022 05 02 AFSOC makes green history while investing in future US Air Force Special Operations Command Archived from the original on 2011 05 09 Retrieved 2011 04 28 Pyrogenesis Perfecting Plasma Biomass Magazine PyroGenesis Plasma Gasification and Waste Incineration System Government Liquidation Archived from the original on 2018 03 08 Retrieved 2016 05 02 DoD to Auction off Gasification Equipment Renewable Energy from Waste Archived from the original on 2014 10 18 Retrieved 2016 05 02 Autonomie energetique pour un refuge de montagne panneaux solaires Connaissance des Energies 5 July 2012 Retrieved 28 February 2015 Waste Biomass Carbonization Plant KG Biomass Plant Re energising waste in south west WA ARENAWIRE Australian Renewable Energy Agency Retrieved 2021 01 29 Second waste to energy plant gets green light ARENAWIRE Australian Renewable Energy Agency Retrieved 2021 01 29 Further reading EditField Christopher B Emissions pathways climate change and impacts PNAS 101 34 2004 12422 12427 Sudarsan K G Anupama Mary P October 2009 The Relevance of Biofuels PDF Current Science Archived from the original PDF on 2015 09 24 Tilman David Environmental economic and energetic costs PNAS 103 30 2006 11206 11210 External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Waste to energy Waste to Energy Research and Technology Council Archived 2007 10 06 at the Wayback Machine Energy Recovery from the Combustion of Municipal Solid Waste US EPA WtERT Germany Gasification Technologies Council Archived 2016 01 20 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Waste to energy amp oldid 1142399319, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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