W

T
E

WASTES TO
ENERGY
TECHNOLOGY

INTRODUCTION
Present situation:

Energy saving and pollution prevention = priorities

Waste-to-energy (WtE) or energy-from-waste (EfW) is the

process of creating energy in the form of electricity or heat from
the incineration of waste source. WtE is a form of energy recovery.

Sustainability concepts = complex problem

The object of analysis is waste which is not reused or

recycled, but can be used for energy production. To deal
with increasing waste amounts while reducing the amount of
waste deposited at landfills
o

Renewable energy sources e.g. Waste-to-Energy

To improve the flexibility of the energy system in order to

increase the share of renewable energy and reduce greenhouse
gas emissions

WASTE-TO-ENERGY

Waste-to-energy (WTE) technology = thermal

processing of wastes including energy utilization

WTE systems clean, reliable and renewable

energy

COMBUSTIO
N OF
WASTE
(INCINERATI
ON)

GENERATIO
N OF HEAT

STEAM

SOLD

ELECTRICITY
SOLD

TYPES OF WASTE TO
ENERGY RECOVERY

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 PGP or plasma gasification process (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)

MBT + Anaerobic digestion

MBT to Refuse derived fuel

WASTE INCINERATION

Environment has great influence in the life of all

the living things on this earth. When it comes to
wastage and its treatment, one of the very oldest
effective waste treatments is waste incineration.
It is basically a process where the domestic and
industry waste materials are burnt. In this
process, the waste materials turn into ash, flue
gas and heat.

Dual chamber
refractory lined
furnace

Combustion
air
Primary
air
(starved

Secondary
air
(excess air)

Fuel gas
management

WASTE-TO-ENERGY PLANT OPERATIONS

T H E E X H A U S T G A S F R O M TH E B O I L E R I S
T Y P I C A L LY C L E A N E D B Y TH E F O L L O W I N G
A D VAN C E D P O L L U T I O N C O N T R O L S Y S T E M S TO
E N S U R E C O M P L I A N C E W I T H TH E S T R I N G E N T
E N V I R O N M E N TAL S TAN D A R D S :

Dry or Wet scrubbers to spray lime powder

or fine atomized slurry into the hot exhaust gas
to neutralize and remove the polluted acidic
gases (sulphur oxides, hydrogen chloride)

Activated Carbon Injection to adsorb and

remove any heavy metal and organic pollutants
(e.g. dioxins) in the exhaust gas

Bag house filter - to filter and remove dust

and fine particulates

Selective Non-Catalytic Reduction - to

remove nitrogen oxides (which is a cause of
urban smog) by reacting them with ammonia or
urea.

I N D I A WAS T E G E N E R ATI O N S C E N A R I O

India is the second largest nation in the world, with a

population of 1.21 billion, accounting for nearly 18% of
worlds human population, but it does not have enough
resources or adequate systems in place to treat its solid
wastes.

The present citizens of India are living in times of

unprecedented economic growth, rising aspirations, and
rapidly changing lifestyles, which will raise the
expectations on public health and quality of life.

India is facing a sharp contrast between its increasing

urban population and available services and resources.

The per capita waste generation rate in India has

increased from 0.44 kg/day in 2001 to 0.5 kg/day in
2011, fuelled by changing lifestyles and increased
purchasing power of urban Indians.

SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT AND

MUNICIPAL WASTE MANAGEMENT

Solid waste management (SWM) is one such service where

India has an enormous gap to fill. Proper municipal solid
waste (MSW) disposal systems to address the burgeoning
amount of wastes are absent. The total MSW generated in
urban India is estimated to be 68.8 million tons per year
(TPY) or 188,500 tons per day (TPD) of MSW..

Big cities collect about 70 - 90% of MSW generated,

whereas smaller cities and towns collect less than 50% of
waste generated.

More than 91% of the MSW collected formally is landfilled

on open lands and dumps . It is estimated that about 2% of
the uncollected wastes are burnt openly on the streets.

About 10% of the collected MSW is openly burnt or is

caught in landfill fires .

RULES AND
REGULATION

Plastic Waste Management and Handling

Rules, 2011 by the Ministry of Environment
and Forests (MOEF) is a step ahead in this
direction. These rules mandate ULBs to
coordinate with all stake holders in solid waste
management, which includes waste pickers.

MSW rules 2000 made by the Government of

India to regulate the management and
handling of municipal solid wastes (MSW)
provide a framework for treatment and
disposal of MSW. These rules were the result of
a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) .

PER CAPITA MSW

GENERATTION

MSW GENERATION

CASE STYDY ON WASTE TO

ENERGY

CASE 1
Plasma gasification
process

Fuelling
gasification

BIOMASS POWER PLANT

There are primarily three products produced by PGP. The

main product of the process is a synthetic gas
produced when the volatile elements in the waste
material are reduced to their base molecules. This
gas is used for the generation of electricity by feeding it
into the same type of gas engine that is used in the
production of electricity from natural gas

The second product of the process is heat which

produces steam. The steam is collected and fed into
the electricity generation process to improve its
efficiency.

The third and final product of the process is a glasslike reusable solid, also known as slag, produced
when the non-volatile elements of the waste
material gets decomposed. As hard and clean as
glass, this solid has a variety of uses such as a road or
building material additive.

CASE 2

MULTI-PURPOSE
INCINERATOR FOR
PROCESSING SOLID AND
LIQUID WASTES

THERMAL TREATMENT OF HAZARDOUS

INDUSTRIAL WASTES AND
WASTE-TO-ENERGY SYSTEMS

Originally:
disposal of wastes (treatment Ofwastes)
At present:
waste processing (waste-to-energy
systems)
recovering heat (generating steam
& electricity
preheating purposes (reduced fuel
demand)
processing of residues (vitrification)

INCINERATION VS. GASIFICATION

- COMPARISON
Rotary kiln vs. gasification reactor
Legend: 1 - screw conveyor
4 - secondary
combustion
chamber
heat recovery
steam generator
- fluidized2bed
reactor
5 - heat
recovery
- rotary
kiln
steam
turbine steam generator
3 - cyclone
6 - steam turbine 6 - off-gas cleaning system
secondary combustion chamber
7 - off-gas cleaning system7 stack
8 - stack

solid
waste

flue
gas

4
5
7
8

1
2

3
2

ai
r
natural
gas
Storage waste
Incineration
Gasification
feeding

superheat
ed steam
ai
r
natural
gas natural
gas

Combustion

6
5

7
6
feed
water

Heat recovery

Off-gas cleaning

flue
gas

IN THE CASE OF
GASIFICATION

Generating gaseous products at the first stage outlet up to

10 times lower aspects influencing operating and
investment costs.

Considerably lower consumption of auxiliary fuel (natural

gas).

Reduced size of the afterburner chamber compared to that

necessary for a comparable oxidation incineration plant

Lower specific volume of gas produced = reduction in size

of flue gas heat utilization

off-gas cleaning systems = reduction of investment and

operating costs of the flue gas blower

Lower production of steam (proportional to the volume of

flue gas produced)

ILS, Inc.

PYR

MEX

TM

TECHNOLOGY SELECTION CONSIDERATIONS

ENVIRONMENT

CO2 Control
DXNs Control
Emission Control
Landfill Control

ECONOMY

Cost Control
Profit
Growth

ENERGY

Energy Recovery
High Efficiency
Utilization / Sale

CONCLUSION

It has been shown how various aspects of a process

and equipment design can contribute to improving
economic and environmental design.

Incineration for CHP of the main amount of waste

(77% of total) with the highest possible electricity
and heat efficiencies

Biogas production from the full potential of organic

household waste and manure for production of CHP
or transport fuel

Co-combustion of refuse derived fuel (RDF) with

coal in new coal-fired power plants today and
thermal gasification of RDF for CHP in the future
when fully developed, if reduced CO2 emissions are
not the main goal

ILS, Inc.

1 CONTAINER

PYR

REALITY

MEX

TM

The energy of 1 container of yogurt (0.3 ltr)

keeps a light bulb glowing for 1 hour

1 HOUR

The waste put into a dust bin over 1 year contains

enough energy to heat water
for
500 bath
or
3,500 showers
or
keep the TV on for
500 hours

THANK YOU