University of Southern Philippines Foundation

Salinas Drive, Lahug, Cebu City

Research Methods For ME

Proposed Waste to Energy Plant in Cebu; Producing Renewable Energy and

Recycling the garbage in the Inayawan Landfill

Earon Jay S. Cadungpg

BSME-II

Submitted to:

Engr. Jerry Teleron

 CHAPTER I

The problem and its settings

Rationale

Garbage is the one of the factors in today’s life. Even if you walk
outside, you can see tons of garbage that smells bad. Some of it was thrown
on the rivers or on the sea so that’s why most of the rivers especially in the
city were in black and many aquatic resources was in danger because of it.
Inayawan Landfill which it was located at Cebu City, Cebu has a serious
problem due to a large amount of garbage that was thrown in the landfill
every day, the City office and the sanitary office considered this as a huge
issue. So, one of the solutions of this problem is to make a Power plant
using garbage or what they called the waste to energy plant. A waste-to-
energy plant is a waste management facility that combusts wastes to
produce electricity. This type of power plant is sometimes called a trash-to-
energy, municipal waste incineration, energy recovery, or resource recovery
plant. So, if we use this, maybe we can resolve the issue in Inayawan landfill
and to make renewable source of energy that can help in our problem of
controlling the garbage and global warming.

Background of the study

The garbage in the Inayawan landfill declared congested because there

is no proper waste management on the garbage, even segregation.
Unsegregated waste causes the landfill harmful to approach. It will also harm
to the health who was near to the landfill.

The residents of Barangay Inayawan gives concern about the problem

in the landfill because of its effect on their community. The smell of the landfill
reaches on their community and the harm of this in their health makes more
concern.

The city gives the solution for the problem, but the harm for the
pollution was still the same, they just planning to move the garbage to the
other uncongested landfills. Using garbage to convert energy is much more
reliable and it will reduce global warming rather than moving the waste to the
other areas.

The problem

Cebu City alone has a problem of managing solid waste, causing the
Inayawan Landfill declared as a congested landfill. The plan of the City
Government is just to remove the waste out of the City Landfills to the
municipalities in the Province of Cebu who has an uncongested landfill.

But their solution is not for a long term and not a solution for the
pollution problem in the landfill. Yes, the harm of the landfill was lessened but
the problem, there was still a harm because the garbage is not segregated,
and if don’t recycle the waste, there is a cause that the waste will grow more
often and the harm of the pollution will grow much more than today.

Theoretical background

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.

WtE is usually burned at special waste-to-energy plants that use the

heat from the fire to make steam for generating electricity or to heat buildings.
In 2016, 71 U.S. power plants generated about 14 billion kilowatthours of
electricity from burning about 30 million tons of combustible waste. Biomass
materials accounted for about 64% of the weight of the combustible waste
and for about 51% of the electricity generated. The remainder of the
combustible waste was nonbiomass combustible material, mainly plastics.
Many large landfills also generate electricity by using the methane gas that is
produced from decomposing biomass in landfills.

Producing electricity is only one reason to burn MSW. Burning waste

also reduces the amount of material that would probably be buried in landfills.
Burning garbage reduces the volume of waste by about 87%.

Statement of the Problem

In this research, the aim of the study is to resolve the following that
was encountered:

1. The problem why Cebu City or the Cebu Province can’t make or can’t
propose a solution to the growing problem of waste management is
because the City government prioritize the more important or the
problem that has more impact to the citizen of the area.
2. One of the problems that they prioritize is the problem in traffic, because
traffic makes a domino effect that causes economy becomes weaker if
not resolved. The other one is the increase of the wage of the workers
due to fuel price increase. Because if the fuel increased, it will also cause
domino effect, because fuels was used to transport the goods that we
need, like foods, for hygiene, etc. They also concern today about el Niño,
it effects the water shortage in Cebu in this day and they can’t use water
from rivers because the water is already polluted.
 3. If we use Waste to Energy before, maybe by the next few years, we can
resolve the waste problem that we face today and we can use water
river for taking bath and washing for our clothes.

Scope and limitations

The aim of this study is to resolve the Garbage Problem in Inayawan

landfill for reducing and recycling for it and to get a renewable resource of
energy. Hopefully, maybe this can help the problem not just the landfill in
Cebu City, but also the landfill that we can see here in the Philippines and also
to the world.

Maybe if this Research was approved and used by the government,

maybe the other landfills that has a same issue that Inayawan Landfill was
facing, will adopt this solution. And another aim of this research was to make
a new renewable source of energy that can help to our environment by
reducing garbage.

Significance of the study

The significance of the study is to reduce garbage that was harmful not
just in our health, but also to the environment. Most of the communities near
the cities will approve this because of waste and smell reduction.

And the other significance of the study is to make a renewable resource

of energy that can reduce garbage. Many places in the Philippines have a lack
of electricity, especially in Mindanao, because of a lack of energy resources.
So that’s why the electrical cost here in the Philippines is too expensive.

If this research was proposed, maybe in the next 10 years, the garbage
problems in the landfill was not the same as today’s problem and the future
researchers will studying more about this and they will improve it for reducing
the garbage and global warming of the environment.

Definition of terms

Waste-to-energy plant - A waste-to-energy plant is a waste

management facility that combusts wastes to produce electricity. This type of
power plant is sometimes called a trash-to-energy, municipal waste
incineration, energy recovery, or resource recovery plan.

Renewable energy - Renewable energy is energy that is collected from

renewable resources, which are naturally replenished on a human timescale,
such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, waves, garbages, and geothermal heat.

Recycling garbage - Recycling is the process of converting waste

materials into new materials and objects. It is an alternative to "conventional"
waste disposal that can save material and help lower greenhouse gas
emissions.

Landfill - a place to dispose of refuse and other waste material by

burying it and covering it over with soil, especially as a method of filling in or
extending usable land.
 CHAPTER II

Review of Related Literature

According to Ben Kritz of The Manila Times, he stated that we Filipinos

should pursue our interest for WtE powerplants for the environmental
advocacies and for a good reason. Based on the statement given by the Public-
Private Partnership Center Executive Director Ferdinand A. Pecson, WtE is the
next wave of the Public-Private Partnership due on the concerns on the
environment and pursuing renewable energy that did not harm to the global
warming and pollution. According to him also, they are pursuing this project
in around the Philippines especially in the Cities of Cebu, Naga, and Puerto
Princesa.

But in the side of the group No Burn Pilipinas (NBP), they don’t want
to pursue this project due to its way of processing the garbage. Unfortunately,
only the NBP is giving the wrong information about this project. According to
Kritz, The NBP cite a study about the disadvantage about the Waste to Energy
Plant, but this study was considered as unreliable because it doesn’t have a
concrete reason why the WtE is harmful to Environment.

On this day, only the Quezon City is pursuing the Renewable Energy
source because of the problem of the mass waste that they collected every
single day, same as Cebu City encountered about the waste problem. They
collected 1700 metric tons of solid waste every single day pursuing the City
Government to resolve the problem by reusing it and it will consume by many
people.

The project’s objective is to be the primary means of Waste Disposal

in Quezon City. Electricity sales are a secondary objective. intended as a by-
product revenue which would reduce the needed tipping fee component of the
project revenue stream.

According to the study made by the Mainstreaming Integrated Solid

Waste Management in Asia, there’s an advantage by this program:

 Quezon City has a Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) disposal amount of

about 1,700 tpd, where moving grate technology is capable of
processing such large tonnage of waste with reliable performance;
 The waste of Quezon City has elevated moisture content and
heterogeneous composition. Moving grate technology shows the highest
capability to tolerate the fluctuation of MSW characteristics, with robust
performance when handling mixed MSW, whereas operation of the other
two technologies require pretreatment of MSW;
 Moving grate incineration have a strong track record during the past
decades, while there is a concern for operation failure of the gasification
technology due to the unpleasant experience in Germany; and
 Moving grate incineration has a better environmental performance than
fluidized bed technology with widely available pollution control
technologies.

Comparison of Previous study to the Proposal

In previous study, there is a big advantage by pursuing Waste to

Energy Plant not only by the concern of the Solid Waste, but also by
concerning in environment and pollution. If the proposal was already studied
in Quezon City, why not in Cebu? There are so many parts in who are involved
in this study are getting benefit in this proposal. For example, there is an
energy shortage problem in the Philippines, this is the one and reliable solution
to solve the problem. And this is the one of the gateways of making the
polluted preserved and making it to reusable again.
 We can’t deny that there is always a pros and cons in the proposal and
this makes the proposal becomes debatable issue like on what happened in
Quezon City, but there is no concrete reason about its disadvantage to the
environment and this Waste to Energy plant was used and proven renewable
energy resources and reduce solid waste by other countries.
 CHAPTER III

Research and Design Methodology

Methods used

Incineration is one of the common methods of the Waste-to-Energy

plant. Incineration is a waste treatment process that involves the combustion
of organic substances contained in waste materials. Incineration and other
high-temperature waste treatment systems are described as "thermal
treatment". Incineration of waste materials converts the waste into ash, flue
gas and heat. The ash is mostly formed by the inorganic constituents of the
waste and may take the form of solid lumps or particulates carried by the flue
gas. The flue gases must be cleaned of gaseous and particulate pollutants
before they are dispersed into the atmosphere. In some cases, the heat
generated by incineration can be used to generate electric power.

Solid Municipal Waste 1. Pretreatment 1. Produced Energy

Process

Output
Input

or The waste that was 2. Combustion from combusting

collected in out daily Waste
lifes. (ex: 3. Energy recovery
2. Ash is recycable and
Biodegradables, Non- 4. Cleaning system it will be used for
Biodegradables, fertilizing plants.
Recycables, etc.)
3. Water from
pretreatment will be
evaporized and it is the
basic treatment for
cleaning waters and
resolving el nino

Figure 3.1
 In figure 3.1 shows that the process of Waste to Energy treatment was
is using Municipal Solid waste to resolve the waste problem and the problem
of decongesting the Inayawan Landfill. The process of it was describe and
explained by the following:Pretreatment: The sludge is typically subjected to
thickening, dewatering and/or drying treatments, to increase the total solids
content (>25%) and calorific value to make the material suitable for
incineration.

Combustion, the material is fed into the furnace along with compressed
air for combustion. The furnace types used include fluidised-bed, multiple-
hearth or rotary kilns. The first option has become the most popular choice
for sewage sludge incineration as it is easier to operate, with no mechanical
moving parts, leading to less wear on the equipment, and it also offers more
flexibility with intermittent operation available. During heating, at
temperatures typically ranging up to 850–950°C, the volatile and organic
components are burnt off as gases and are conveyed out of the furnace
chamber along with the fine particulate inorganic matter and, in certain plants,
bottom ash residue is collected.

Energy recovery, the hot gases exiting the furnace pass through an
energy recovery system, whereby the energy can be recovered in the form of
heat or electricity. The heat can be used for heating the combustion air or for
pre-drying sewage sludge before combustion.

Cleaning system, flue gases produced during the combustion of sewage

sludge are conveyed through a controlled cleaning process. Ash, dust and
harmful gases are removed typically using scrubber units, whilst electrostatic
precipitators and fabric filters are used at times, primarily when cofired with
municipal solid waste, to achieve compliance with emission limits.
 Therefore, there are other and new WtE plant that produce energy and
natural gas 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 boilers, gas turbines, internal combustion
engines, fuel cells. Some are able to efficiently convert the energy into liquid
or gaseous fuels. There are two types of new technologies that was used in
WtE plant:

Thermal 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

Non-thermal technologies:

 Anaerobic digestion: Biogas rich in methane

 Fermentation production: examples are ethanol, lactic acid, hydrogen
 Mechanical biological treatment (MBT)
o MBT + Anaerobic digestion
o MBT to Refuse derived fuel
Design Procedures

On this proposal, we are using Incineration method for our WtE plant
because it is the traditional way and most common used plant to recycle waste
to become an energy. An incinerator is a furnace for burning waste. Modern
incinerators include pollution mitigation equipment such as flue gas cleaning.
There are various types of incinerator plant design:

 moving grate
 fixed grate
 rotary-kiln
 fluidised bed

In this design, we are using Moving grate Incinerator because it is the

plant that was used for Mass plant of energy it was using Municipality Solid
Waste to resolve the problem of the massive problem on the landfills. The
moving grate enables the movement of waste through the combustion
chamber to be optimized to allow a more efficient and complete combustion.
A single moving grate boiler can handle up to 35 metric tons (39 short
tons) of waste per hour, and can operate 8,000 hours per year with only one
scheduled stop for inspection and maintenance of about one month's duration.
Moving grate incinerators are sometimes referred to as Municipal Solid Waste
Incinerators (MSWI).

The waste is introduced by a waste crane through the "throat" at one

end of the grate, from where it moves down over the descending grate to the
ash pit in the other end. Here the ash is removed through a water lock. Part
of the combustion air (primary combustion air) is supplied through the grate
from below. This air flow also has the purpose of cooling the grate itself.
Cooling is important for the mechanical strength of the grate, and many
moving grates are also water-cooled internally.
 The flue gases are then cooled in the superheaters, where the heat is
transferred to steam, heating the steam to typically 400 °C (752 °F) at a
pressure of 40 bars (580 psi) for the electricity generation in the turbine. At
this point, the flue gas has a temperature of around 200 °C (392 °F), and is
passed to the flue gas cleaning system.

According to the European Waste Incineration Directive, incineration

plants must be designed to ensure that the flue gases reach a temperature of
at least 850 °C (1,560 °F) for 2 seconds in order to ensure proper breakdown
of toxic organic substances. In order to comply with this at all times, it is
required to install backup auxiliary burners (often fueled by oil), which are
fired into the boiler in case the heating value of the waste becomes too low to
reach this temperature alone.

Block Diagram

Figure 3.2
 In figure 3.2, it will show the block diagram process of Incineration. The
diagrams show that the raw municipal solid waste was brought to the
Incineration reactor with the mixture of fuel and air. After the process, the
flue gas will proceed to the cleanup while the ash of the waste will be recycled
by using it as a plant fertilizer or else.

When the flue gas was in the cleaning process, the contents of it will be
split of the to destinations, the Heat and Energy Recovery and the Boiler. The
other particles of the flue gas that was still reusable, it will return to the Energy
recovery until the flue gas will turn into waste air. Waste air will proceed to
Air Emission Control for cleaning.

In Air Emission Control, the polluting content of the waste air will be
proceeding to the air pollution control when the clean air will be exhausted to
prevent air pollution.

Testing

Waste combustion is particularly popular in countries such as Japan

where land is a scarce resource. Denmark and Sweden have been leaders by
using the energy generated from incineration for more than a century, in
localized combined heat and power facilities supporting district heating
schemes. In 2005, waste incineration produced 4.8% of the electricity
consumption and 13.7% of the total domestic heat consumption in Denmark.
A number of other European countries rely heavily on incineration for handling
municipal waste, in particular Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Germany, and
France.

Incinerators reduce the solid mass of the original waste by 80–85% and
the volume (already compressed somewhat in garbage trucks) by 95–96%,
depending on composition and degree of recovery of materials such as metals
from the ash for recycling. This means that while incineration does not
completely replace landfilling, it significantly reduces the necessary volume
for disposal. Garbage trucks often reduce the volume of waste in a built-in
compressor before delivery to the incinerator. Alternatively, at landfills, the
volume of the uncompressed garbage can be reduced by approximately 70%
by using a stationary steel compressor, albeit with a significant energy cost.
In many countries, simpler waste compaction is a common practice for
compaction at landfills.

Incineration has particularly strong benefits for the treatment of certain

waste types in niche areas such as clinical wastes and certain hazardous
wastes where pathogens and toxins can be destroyed by high temperatures.
Examples include chemical multi-product plants with diverse toxic or very
toxic wastewater streams, which cannot be routed to a conventional
wastewater treatment plant.
 CHAPTER IV

Results and Discussion

The System Output

The output of the system is it can produce electricity. The typical range
of net electrical energy that can be produced is about 500 to 600 kWh of
electricity per ton of waste incinerated. Thus, the incineration of about 2,200
tons per day of waste will produce about 1200 MWh of electrical energy. It
can help for to generate and to store more than power. The plant will also
supply 2 or more municipalities depending on the population. It can also help
to store electricity due to the problem of the Hydroelectric Power Plant faced
today, due to El Nino, the plant can supply insufficient electricity and many
provinces especially in Luzon was affected.

Figure 4.1
 Figure 4.1 shows the Advanced Stoker System of the Incinerator.
Parallel flow type incinerator greatly develops the turbulent mixing of flue gas
and enables low air ratio, high-temperature combustion by inverting flue gas
forcibly and by installing water cooled partition ceiling in the furnace parallel
to the direction waste carried. Water cooled grates save combustion loss and
improves its credibility since it keeps working in case of breakage and easy
maintenance by indirect water-cooled structure. It enhances low air ratio,
high-temperature combustion by flue gas recirculation that filtered flue gas is
blown into furnace. It intends to reduce the energy loss with flue gas
reduction, downsize the flue gas treatment system and minimize the formation
of toxic substances.

Also, the plant will also use more than 80% of waste came from the
Inayawan landfill, or the garbage collected in Metro Cebu was used and it will
help to reduce waste and it will resolve the problem in Solid Waste
Management. The wastewater was also recyclable and it will return on the
river or on the sea and it will help also to recover the sea due to its condition.

Cost Benefits

The cost of building a single Waste-to-Energy plant would be in ranged

from 20 up to 25 million pesos depending on how big the plant was planned
or build. The maintenance cost is within the range of 100 to 500 million pesos
a year. It is too much expensive rather than Hydroelectric Power Plant, but
the benefits of it would be costless especially it can help not just supplying
electricity. But also reducing and recycling waste that we collected in the whole
metropolitan rather than just relocating the waste on the uncongested landfills
like in the municipalities that far in metropolitan Cebu. Comparing the cost
between relocating than proposing WtE plant, the range between the cost is
too far to compare, but the benefits of the of the WtE plant is for the long-
term solution.

The electricity that supplied by the plant can help the energy shortage
that many people from the provinces experienced. Mostly in the major
provinces in Mindanao, like the province of Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat,
Bukidnon, and many provinces had experienced a 14-hour black out due to
energy shortage that supplied by Maria Cristina Falls. WtE plant can contribute
power to the energy storage to resolve the problem while reducing waste not
just in the province of Cebu, but also in the whole country.

In waste management, the waste in landfills or the garbage that we

collected in everyday was reduced for more than 80%, so it will help the waste
management council to resolve their problems and to resolve the sanitary and
smelly landfill in Barangay Inayawan. The garbage in the landfill was reducing
and reducing until it was back on its capacity volume, and the is also a chance
that the day will come, the waste in Inayawan landfill was totally zero and the
garbage trucks will transfer their collected waste directly on the plant.
 CHAPTER V

Findings, Conclusion, and Recommendations

Findings

The findings of the proposal are the Electricity that supplied by the WtE
plant, the WtE plant can generates about 500 to 600 kWh of electricity per
ton of waste incinerated. Thus, the incineration of about 2,200 tons per day
of waste will produce about 1200 MWh of electrical energy. This amount of
energy that the WtE plant was too smaller than any traditional power plants,
but much better than any renewable powerplants like windmills, solar panels,
etc.

The issue about its hazards for environment due to its process on
burning the waste was resolved on early years between mid-80’s up to 90’s.
By having an Air Emission control, to reduce the emission of the plant that
cause the damage on our atmosphere. Also, the criticism of the powerplant
on the way of its process is not strongly identified, many programs that
supports environmental rehabilitation disagrees the burning process to the
waste and its emission on the atmosphere, but the criticism was already
solved before and there no reason that the WtE plant is not good for the
atmosphere.

Another finding is that the waste will be reduced if the plant was planned
to build, only Quezon City will be planning to make a powerplant to resolve
their Waste Management problem. Based on a news article, The Manila Times,
the plan will be also proposed outside metro manila especially on a province,
and luckily that the Province of Cebu was on of the part of it. Hopefully that
the plan will be approved by the government.
Conclusion

Based on my research, the benefits of the proposal were only based in

the province of Cebu where the waste management is the one of the problems
and the over congested Inayawan main target of the research. The expected
output was just only to reduce waste and recycle waste and to produce
energy, but based the research that the Waste to Energy plant can do more
rather than expected. For example, the ashes waste of the WtE plant from
burning can also recycle, by using it as a plant fertilizer, so we can help the
vegetable planter, or even the backyard planters.

Another benefits of it is that it was long term and it can resolve the
problems on the waste management and it was considered as a renewable
source of energy. It can supply more power than any renewable energy
supplies such as Windmills, Solar Panels, etc. It can also motivate people to
throw their trash on the proper trashcan because they know that it would
become an electricity.
Bibliography

A. Books
a. Incineration of Municipal Solid Waste
Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs, UK
http://www.wtert.co.uk/content/Defra%20report.pdf
b. Reference Document on the Best Techniques for Waste Incineration
Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control, European Union
http://eippcb.jrc.ec.europa.eu/reference/BREF/wi_bref_0806.pdf
B. Journals
a. Incineration Process and Environmental Releases
The National Academic Press
https://www.nap.edu/read/5803/chapter/5
b. Incineration Process
Science Direct
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/incineration-
process
c. Incineration Process for Solid Waste Management and Effective
Utilization of By Products
International Research Journal for Engineering and Technology
(IRJET)
https://www.irjet.net/archives/V4/i12/IRJET-V4I1270.pdf
C. Published / Unpublished Books
a. Prefeasibility Study, Conventional Waste-to Energy Project, Quezon
City, Philippines
Mainstreaming Integrated Solid Waste Management in Asia - Solid
Waste Management Team
https://k-learn.adb.org/system/files/materials/2016/12/201612-
prefeasibility-study-conventional-waste-energy-project-quezon-
city-philippines.pdf
 b. Waste-to-Energy: A practical lesser evil
Ben Kritz, The Manila Times
https://www.manilatimes.net/waste-to-energy-a-practical-lesser-
evil/478699/
D. Internet
a. Waste to Energy Plant
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste-to-energy_plant
b. Waste to Energy
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste-to-energy
c. Incineration
Wikipedia
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energy
 Curriculum Vitae

Name: Earon Jay S. Cadungog

Address: 34-I Escario St., Kamputahaw Cebu City

Contact No: 09953361894

Email Address: earonjhay20@gmail.com

Personal Data:

Nickname: EJ

Age: 19

Birthday: April 20, 1999

Civil Status: Single

Address: Gumaga, Libungan, North Cotabato

Educational Background:

• College University of Southern Philippines Foundation

Lahug, Cebu City

Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering

(2015 – Present)

• Secondary Spark School

Pinagbuhatan, Pasig City

(2014-2015, Graduated)

Notre Dame of Libungan

Libungan, North Cotabato

(2011-2014)
• Primary St. Joseph Learning Center of Libungan

Libungan, North Cotabato

(2005-2011, Graduated)