Transcript No Slide Title

Integrated Waste Services Association
A Look at Waste-to-energy:
Past, Present & Future
Maria Zannes
Integrated waste services association
Washington, D.C.
[email protected]
Waste-to-energy
 WTE facilities combust
solid wastes to reduce
their volume, produce
energy, and recover
materials
 WTE serves two public
needs:


Environmentally sound,
reliable solid waste
disposal
Clean renewable power
Typical Large Mass Burn Facility
Stack
Turbine/Generator
Boiler
(Not shown)
Feed Hopper
Flue Gas Cleaning
Equipment
Crane
Tipping Hall
Refuse Bunker
FD Fan
Grate
Ash Handling
Equipment
ID Fan
3
Air Pollution Control Features
High-temperature
Combustion
Odors Burned in Boilers
Enclosed
Unloading and
Storage Areas
Acid Gas
Scrubbers
Tall
Stack
Urea Injection*
Baghouse
or ESP
Manual
Stack
Tests
Environmental
Management
System
Ash Wetted
Carbon
Injection*
Continuous Emission
Monitoring System (CEMS)
4
* Some Plants
Trash Disposal
 Percentage of U.S. Waste managed: 13%
 Annual disposal capacity: 28.5 million
tons
 People served: 36 million
 States with WTE plants: 27
Energy Generation
 Homes served: 2 + million
 Total power generated: 2500 MW
 Total steam exported: 2.6 million lbs/hr
 Percentage of total national generation: 0.3%
7
Waste-to-energy Technologies
Type
Number of
Facilities
Annual Throughput
(MM tons)
Mass burn
65
22
Refuse derived fuel
15
6
Modular
9
0.5
89
facilities
28.5
million tons
Total
Modernization of WTE
 1985 – 1995: technology upgrades


Older WTE and incinerators closed
New larger WTE built
1998 – 2005 +: MACT retrofits





EPA “maximum achievable control
technology”
$1 billion industry & community investment
High-emitting plants either retrofit or closed
Small units compliance 2005
Large unit MACT revisions 2006
Modern WTE Technology
State-of-the-art pollution control design
and equipment







Combustion control
Acid gas scrubbers
Fabric filters / esps
NOx control
Activated carbon
Continuous monitoring
Stack tests
•
Environmental Aspects of
WTE
 Renewable energy /





fuel diversity
Air emissions
Climate change
Land use
Ash management
Recycling
Hempstead
11
Renewable Energy
WTE is sustainable, “home-grown” power
 Waste is ~ 70% biomass
 WTE is recognized as renewable under federal and 16 state laws
 WTE contributes to fuel diversity
 WTE plants are located near power users
 WTE reduces transportation fuel use
Air Emissions
Nationwide WTE facility emissions have been dramatically reduced
Pollutant
Dioxin (g/yr, TEQ)
Cadmium
Lead
Mercury
PM
HCl
SO2
2000 Actual
Total Emissions
Percent Reduction
1990 to 2000
12.0 g/yr
0.333 tons/yr
4.76 tons/yr
2.20 tons/yr
797 tons/yr
2,672 tons/yr
4,076 tons/yr
99+
93
90.9
95.1
89.8
94.3
86.7
Source: Environmental Protection Agency, 2002
Air Emissions: Dioxins
WTE emissions now represent less than 1% of known dioxin inventory
USA Municipal Waste Combustor (MWC) Dioxin Emissions 1990-2000
250
106,000
104,000
200
200
102,000
100,000
150
98,000
96,000
100
94,000
92,000
50
28.9
90,000
18.3
0.68
0
88,000
86,000
1990
1993
1996
Year
Emissions
MSW Disposal
1999
2000
MSW Disposal (Tons/Day)
Emissions (kg/year Total)
209
Air Emissions: Mercury
WTE now represents less than 3% of U.S. man-made mercury emissions
50000
45000
40000
35000
30000
25000
20000
15000
10000
5000
0
46448
27669
21591
15331
2000
1990
1993
1996
1999
Year
Emissions
MSW Disposal
2000
106000
104000
102000
100000
98000
96000
94000
92000
90000
88000
86000
MSW Disposal
(Tons/day)
Emissions (kg/year)
USA MWC Mercury Emissions 1990-2000
Climate Change
WTE reduces the emission of Greenhouse Gases

Eliminates methane emissions from garbage in
landfills
 Offsets fossil fuel energy with biomass
Statistics:
 One ton of greenhouse gases emitted by WTE
offsets two tons that would have been emitted by
landfills and power plants

WTE plants reduce greenhouse gases by an
amount equal to those emitted from 9 million
automobiles
Source: greenhouse gas equivalencies calculator
16
Land Use
WTE reduces landfilled waste volumes by 90%
0.1 CY
Landfill
1 CY
Ash Management
Ash is safe for landfilling and suitable for many reuse applications
 WTE ash is stable and





inert
Normally handled in
combined form (bottom
& fly)
Moisture reduces fugitive
emissions
Compacts and hardens in
landfills
RCRA non-hazardous
Demonstrated low metals
leaching
Ash Management - Reuse
 Reuse in 2004: nearly 3
million tons
 Types of reuse:
 Landfill cover and
roadways
 Landfill closure
 Mine reclamation and
brownfields
 Road asphalt and concrete
construction projects
Recycling
WTE and recycling do not compete; they are complementary
parts of an integrated waste management program
Recycling rate of communities with WTE is 35% vs. 30% in
Non-wte communities
 On-site ferrous recovery: 700,000 tons/yr
 On-site non-ferrous metals
and other materials:
 Ash reuse:
100,000 tons/yr
2,970,000 tons/yr
Safety & Health
 WTE industry historically reports lower OSHA
recordable incidents than similar industries
 20 WTE plants have achieved OSHA voluntary
protection program status
Governmental Authorities
Recognize WTE’s Benefits:
“Upgrading of the emission control systems of large combustors to
Exceed the requirements of the clean air act section 129 standards is an
impressive accomplishment. The completion of retrofits of the large
combustion units enables us to continue to rely on municipal solid waste
as a clean, reliable, renewable source of energy. With the capacity to
handle approximately 15 percent of the waste generated in the US, these
plants produce 2800 megawatts of electricity with less environmental
impact than almost any other source of electricity.”
-US environmental protection agency, february, 2003
“We at the office of energy efficiency and renewable energy (EERE) also
recognize MSW as a renewable energy resource and include it in our
tracking of progress toward achieving the federal government’s renewable
energy goal, established by executive order 13123.”
-Department of energy, april, 2003
WTE Industry - 1980’s
■ Solid waste regulations
landfill closures, rising tip
fees
■ Communities seeking long-term solid waste solution
■ PURPA – favorable energy contracts
■ Financial drivers – tax credits, accelerated
depreciation
New Plants
DOE Support for Waste-toEnergy Technology
 Ash studies and reuse
 Alternative Waste-to-Energy
Technologies Analysis
 Advanced Pollution Control Research
 Comparative Energy, Economic &
Environmental Analysis of Technologies
and Disposal Methods
 Transfer of Technology & Information
24
DOE Support for Waste-toEnergy Technology
 1975: Program originated as urban
waste in ERDA / Funding: $40,000
 1977: DOE formed from ERDA; name
changes to Energy From Municipal
Waste (EMW) / Funding: $4,650,000
 1981: Significant increase in authority /
Funding: $231,000,000
 1985: EMW combined with Biomass
Energy Technologies
25
DOE support for Waste-toEnergy Technology
 1989: EMW selected as one of 11 DOE
renewable energy initiatives / Funding
(1986-89): $ 11,900,000
 1990: EMW refocuses on near term
combustion technologies / Funding:
$2,300,000
 1991: Last funding request as a portion
of the Biomass Energy Technologies
Division / Funding: $2,800,000
26
Waste-to-energy Plant Start-ups
Number of Plants
60
53
50
40
30
25
20
10
10
4
5
1
0
3
-0
00
20
9
-9
95
19
4
-9
90
19
9
-8
85
19
4
-8
80
19
80
19
ePr
WTE Industry - 1990’s
■ Falling tip fees – landfill competition/long haul
■ Falling energy prices
■ Energy deregulation – uncertainties
■ MACT investment
■ Tax credits & DOE Program Funding End
Industry Consolidation
Renewed Partnership with
NREL & Waste-to-Energy
 Environmental & Economic Analysis of
Renewable Combustion Technologies
 Advanced Pollution Control Research for
nitrogen oxides reduction
 Cooperative research with Columbia
University’s Waste-to-Energy Research
& Technology Council
 Research for mitigation of corrosion
29
WTE Industry - 2000’s
 Proven track record – reliability, environmental
 Renewable status / GHG credits
 Federal tax credits
 Expiring long-term contracts
 Retiring debt
 Good locations of existing plants
 RENEWED NREL PARTNERSHIP ???
Existing plants improve operations
New & Expansion opportunities