Waste to Energy

M. Tech.
Open Elective

By: Dr. Harmeet Singh

Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering
GNDEC, Ludhiana
 Syllabus
• Detailed Contents:
• Introduction to Energy from Waste: Classification of waste as fuel –
Agro based, Forest residue, Industrial waste; Energy content of waste;
MSW- Waste minimization and recycling of municipal waste, Segregation
of waste, Size Reduction, Managing Waste; Status of technologies for
generation of Energy from Waste Treatment; Conversion devices –
Incinerators, gasifiers, digestors. 06 Hrs
• Biomass Gasification: Gasifiers – Fixed bed system, Downdraft and
updraft gasifiers; Fluidized bed gasifiers –construction and operation;
Gasifier burner arrangement for thermal heating; Gasifier engine
arrangement and electrical power; Mathematical Design and modeling of
fixed bed gasifier; Equilibrium and kinetic consideration in gasifier
operation. 08 Hrs
• Biomass Combustion: Biomass stoves – Improved chullahs, types; Fixed
bed combustors, Types, inclined grate combustors, Fluidized bed
combustors; Construction and operation of all the above biomass
combustors. 08 Hrs
•
 Syllabus
• Biogas: Properties of biogas (Calorific value and composition); Biogas
plant technology and status; Bio energy system – Design, analysis and
constructional features; Biomass resources and their classification, Biomass
conversion processes: Thermo chemical conversion, Direct combustion;
Types of biogas Plants and their Applications; Alcohol production from
biomass; Bio diesel production; Biomass energy programme in India.
08 Hrs
• E-waste: E-waste in the global context; Growth of Electrical and
Electronics industry in India; Environment concerns and health hazards;
Recyling e-waste; Management of e- waste; Government regulations on e-
waste management. 06 Hrs
 Books
• Text Books
– Ashok V. Desai, “Non Conventional Energy”, Wiley Eastern Ltd., 1990.
– K. C. Khandelwal, and S. S. Mahdi, “Biogas Technology - A Practical Hand Book”, Tata
McGraw Hill Publishing Co. Ltd., 1983.
– C. Y. WereKo-Brobby and E. B. Hagan, “Biomass Conversion and Technology”,
John Wiley & Sons, 1996.
– Nicholas P. Cheremisinoff, “Handbook of Solid Waste Management and Waste Minimization
Technologies”, An Imprint of Elsevier, New Delhi. 2003.
– C. S. Rao, “Environmental Pollution Control Engineering”, Wiley Eastern Ltd. New Delhi,
1995

Reference Books:
• “E-Waste in India: Research Unit”, Rajya Sabha Secretariat, New Delhi, June 2011
• G Rich et al. “Hazardous Waste Management Technology”, Podvan Publishers,
1987.
• K. L. Shah, “Basics of Solid and Hazardous Waste Management Technology”,
• Prentice Hall, 2000.
 Course Outcomes

• On completion of the course the student will have the ability to:

• Understand waste and technologies for generation of energy from

solid waste.

• Know different types of biomass gasifiers.

• Design biomass combustors.

• Apply biogas resources for production of energy from biomass.

• Manage e-waste on basis of Governmental regulations.

 Waste
• Waste (or wastes) are unwanted or unusable
materials. Waste is any substance which is
discarded after primary use, or is worthless,
defective and of no use.
• According to the Basel convention on the control
of trans-boundary movements of hazardous
wastes and their disposal of 1989, Art. 2(1),
"'Wastes are substance or objects, which are
disposed of or are intended to be disposed of or
are required to be disposed of by the provisions of
national law.
 Waste
• The UNSD (United Nation Statistics Division) Glossary of
Environment Statistics describes waste as "materials that are not
prime products (that is, products produced for the market) for which
the generator has no further use in terms of his/her own purposes of
production, transformation or consumption, and of which he/she
wants to dispose.
• Wastes may be generated during the extraction of raw materials, the
processing of raw materials into intermediate and final products, the
consumption of final products, and other human activities. Residuals
recycled or reused at the place of generation are excluded”.

• Under the Waste Framework directive 2008, 3(1), the European

Union defines waste as "an object the holder discards, intends to
discard or is required to discard”.
 Waste

• Examples include municipal solid waste (household

trash/refuse), hazardous waste, waste water (such
as sewage) which contains bodily wastes (feces solid
or semi soild remains of food and urine)
and radioactive waste, e – waste, Agro and forest
waste etc.
 Types
• There are many waste types defined by modern systems
of Waste management, notably including:

• Municipal waste includes household waste, commercial

waste and demolition waste (MSW).

• Hazardous waste includes industrial waste.

• Biomedical waste includes clinical waste.

• Special hazardous waste includes radioactive waste,

explosive waste, and electronic waste (e-waste).
 Environmental costs

• Inappropriately managed waste can attract rodents and insects,

which can harbour gastrointestinal parasites, yellow fever, worms,
the plague and other conditions for humans, and exposure to
hazardous wastes, particularly when they are burned, can cause
various other diseases including cancers.

• Toxic waste materials can contaminate surface water, groundwater,

soil, and air which causes more problems for humans, other species,
and ecosystems.

• Waste treatment and disposal produces significant green house gas

(GHG) emissions, notably methane, which are contributing
significantly to global warming.
 Social costs

• Waste management is a significant environmental justice issue.

Many of the environmental burdens cited are more often borne by
marginalized groups, such as racial minorities, women, and residents
of developing nations.
• However, the need for expansion and citing of waste treatment and
disposal facilities is increasing worldwide.

• Increasing demand for landfill sites competes with more sustainable

land uses.

• There is now a growing market in the trans-boundary movement of

waste, and although most waste that flows between countries goes
between developed nations, a significant amount of waste is moved
from developed to developing nations.
 Economic costs

• The economic costs of managing waste are high, and are often paid for
by municipal governments; money can often be saved with more
efficiently designed collection routes, modifying vehicles, and with
public education.
• Waste recovery (that is, recycling , reuse) can curb economic costs
because it avoids extracting raw materials and often cuts transportation
costs
• The location of waste treatment and disposal facilities often reduces
property values due to noise, dust, pollution, unsightliness, and
negative stigma.
• The informal waste sector consists mostly of waste pickers who
scavenge for metals, glass, plastic, textiles, and other materials and then
trade them for a profit.
• This sector can significantly alter or reduce waste in a particular
system, but other negative economic effects come with the disease,
poverty, exploitation, and abuse of its workers.
 Resource recovery

• Resource recovery is the retrieval of recyclable waste,

which was intended for disposal, for a specific next use.
• It is the processing of recyclables to extract or recover
materials and resources, or convert to energy. This
process is carried out at a resource recovery facility.
• Resource recovery is not only important to the
environment, but it can be cost effective by decreasing
the amount of waste sent to the disposal stream, reduce
the amount of space needed for landfills, and protect
limited natural resources.
 Hierarchy of Waste management and Treatment
(Environmental Protection Agency, a U.S. Federal government agency)
 Energy
• In physics, energy (enérgeia) is
the quantitative property that is transferred to
a body or to a physical system, recognizable in
the performance of work and in the form
of heat and light.
• Energy is the ability to do work.
Forms of Energy
 Waste to Energy
• 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.

• Waste to energy is a form of energy recovery.

• Most Waste to energy processes generate electricity

and/or heat directly through combustion, or produce a
combustible fuel commodity, such as methane,
methanol, ethanol or synthetic fuels.
 Energy recovery
• Energy recovery from waste is using non-recyclable waste
materials and extracting from it heat, electricity, or energy
through a variety of processes, including combustion,
gasification, pyrolvzation and anaerobic digestion
• This process is referred to as waste to energy. There are several
ways to recover energy from waste.
• Anaerobic digestion: organic matter is reduced to a simpler
chemical component in the absence of oxygen.
• Incineration : burning of municipal solid waste to reduce waste
and make energy.
• Pyrolysis: involves heating of waste, with the absence of oxygen,
to high temperatures to break down any carbon content into a
mixture of gaseous and liquid fuels and solid residue.
• Gasification: is the conversion of carbon rich material through
high temperature with partial oxidation into a gas stream. Plasma
Arc heating is the very high heating of municipal solid waste to
temperatures ranging from 3,000-10,000 °C, where energy is
released by an electrical discharge in an inert atmosphere.
 Energy recovery Benefits
• Using waste as fuel can offer important environmental
benefits.
• It can provide a safe and cost effective option for wastes
that would normally have to be dealt with through disposal.
• It can help reduce carbon dioxide emissions by diverting
energy use from fossil fuels, while also generating energy
and using waste as fuel can reduce the methane
emissions generated in landfills by averting waste from
landfills.

• Crude Tall Oil (CTO), a co-product of the pulp and paper

making process, is defined as a waste or residue in some
European countries.
Waste to energy
Waste to energy
 Municipal Solid Waste
• Municipal solid waste (MSW), commonly known
as trash or garbage or rubbish, is a waste type consisting of
everyday items that are discarded by the public.

• "Garbage" can also refer specifically to food waste, as in

a garbage disposal; the two are sometimes collected
separately.

• Although the waste may originate from a number of sources

that has nothing to do with a municipality, the traditional
role of municipalities in collecting and managing these
kinds of waste have produced the particular etymology
'municipal.'
 MSW
The composition of municipal solid waste varies greatly
from municipality to municipality, and it changes significantly
with time.
• Biodegradable waste: food and kitchen waste, green waste,
paper (most can be recycled, although some difficult
to compost plant material may be excluded)
• Recyclable materials: paper, cardboards, glass, bottles, jars,
tin cans, aluminium cans, foils, metals, certain plastics,
textiles, clothing, tires, batteries etc.
• Inert waste: (not decompose or only very slowly) construction and
demolition waste, dirt, rocks, debris.
• Electrical and electronic waste: Electrical appliances, light
bulbs, washing machines, TVs, Computers, screens, mobile
phones, alarm clocks, watches etc.
 MSW
• Composite wastes: waste clothing, Tetra pack food and
drink cartons, waste plastics such as toys and plastic garden
furniture
• Hazardous Waste: Most Paints, chemicals, tires, batteries,
light bulbs, electrical appliances, aerosol spray cans and
fertilizers.
• Toxic Waste: Pesticides, herbicides and fungicides
• Biomedical Waste: Expired pharmaceutical drugs and other
bio medicals.

The term residual waste relates to waste left from household

sources containing materials that have not been separated
out or sent for processing.
 Components of solid waste management
• The municipal solid waste industry has four
components: recycling, composting, disposal and waste to
energy via incineration.
• There is no single approach that can be applied to the
management of all waste streams, therefore
the Environmental Protection Agency, a U.S. Federal
government agency, developed a hierarchy ranking strategy
for municipal solid waste.
• The waste management hierarchy is made up of four levels
ordered from most preferred to least preferred methods
based on their environmental soundness:
• Source reduction and reuse; recycling or
composting; energy recovery; treatment and disposal
 Waste handling, separation and
segregation
• Waste handling and separation involves activities associated with
waste management until the waste is placed in storage containers for
collection.

• Handling also encompasses the movement of loaded containers to

the point of collection.

• Separating different types of waste components is an important step

in the handling and storage of solid waste at the source of collection.

• The separation and processing of wastes that have been separated at

the source and the separation of commingled (Mixed) wastes.
 Solid Waste Management
• Solid waste management may be defined as the control of
generation, storage, collection, transfer and transport,
processing, and disposal of solid wastes in a manner that is
accord with the best principles of public health, economics,
engineering, conservation, aesthetics, and other
environmental considerations, and that is also responsive to
public attitudes.

• The objective of solid waste management is to remove

discarded materials from inhabited places in a timely
manner to prevent the spread of diseases, to minimize the
likelihood of fires, and to reduce aesthetic insults arising
from putrefying organic matter.
 Objectives of SWM
• To protect environmental health.
• To promote the quality of the urban environment.
• To support the efficiency and productivity of the economy.
• To generate employment and income.

To achieve the above objectives, it is necessary to establish sustainable

system of SWM.

The principal of sustainable waste management strategies are to:

• Minimize waste generation.

• Maximize waste recycling and reuse.
• Ensure the safe and environmentally sound disposal of waste.
SWM
 Transfer and transport

• This element involves two main steps: First, the waste is transferred
from a smaller collection vehicle to larger transport equipment.
Secondly, the waste is then transported, usually over long distances, to
a processing or disposal site.
• Depending on the method used to load the transport vehicles, transfer
station may be classified into three types:
• Direct Discharge: The wastes in the collection vehicles are emptied
directly into the vehicle to be used to transport them to a place of final
disposal area. Used normally in the small communities.
• Storage Discharge: the wastes are emptied into storage area from
which they are loaded into transport vehicles by auxiliary equipments.
Then will be transfer to the final disposal sites. It is useful for the large
communities.
• Combined of storage and direct Discharge: in some transfer station
both methods are used to serve a broad range of users. In addition, it
houses a material salvage operation.
 Processing and recovery
• Separation of solid waste could be at the source or
at the final stage before disposal of the solid
waste.

• Chemical and biological transformation processes

are used to reduce the volume and weight of
waste requiring disposal.

• It is very important to separate the recyclable

materials to reduce the volume of the waste
disposal.
 Separation
• Types of separation depend on the types of solid waste.
Such as:

• Density separation: air classification is the unit operation

used to separate light materials such as paper and plastic
from the heavier materials such as ferrous metal, based on
the weight difference of the material in an air stream.

• Magnetic separation: magnetic separation is a unit

operation whereby ferrous metals are separated from other
waste materials by utilizing their magnetic properties.
 Separation
• Engineering consideration involved in the
implementation of waste separation include
the followings:
• Selection of the materials to be separated.
• Identification of the material specifications.
• Development of separation process flow diagrams.
• Layout and design of the physical facilities.
• Selecting the equipments and facilities that will be
used.
• Environmental control.
• Safety and healthy impact.
 Disposal

• Today, the disposal of wastes by land filling or

land spreading is the ultimate fate of all solid
wastes, whether they are residential wastes
collected and transported directly to a landfill
site, residual materials from material recovery
facilities (MRFs), residue from the combustion
of solid waste, compost, or other substances
from various solid waste processing facilities.
 Reusing

• Don't throw it away, give it away!

• In the recent years environmental organizations, such as Freegle (a
UK organisation that aims to increase reuse and reduce landfill by
offering a free internet-based service where people can give away
and ask for things that would otherwise be thrown away.) or
Freecycle networks, have been gaining popularity for their online
reuse networks.

https://www.ilovefreegle.org/

• These networks provide a worldwide online registry of unwanted

items that would otherwise be thrown away, for individuals and
nonprofits to reuse or recycle. Therefore, this free Internet-based
service reduces landfill pollution.
 Landfills

• Landfills are created by land dumping. Land dumping methods vary,

most commonly it involves the mass dumping of waste into a
designated area, usually a hole or sidehill.

• After the waste is dumped, it is then compacted by large machines.

When the dumping cell is full, it is then "sealed" with a plastic sheet
and covered in several feet of dirt.

• The signs of pollution are effectively masked by disposal companies

and it is often hard to see any evidence. Usually landfills are
surrounded by large walls or fences hiding the mounds of debris.

• Large amounts of chemical odor eliminating agent are sprayed in the

air surrounding landfills to hide the evidence of the rotting waste
inside the plan
 Energy generation

• Municipal solid waste can be used to generate

energy. Several technologies have been
developed that make the processing of MSW
for energy generation cleaner and more
economical than ever before, including landfill
gas capture, combustion, pyrolysis,
gasification and plasma arc gasification.
Technologies for generation of Energy from
Waste Treatment
 Technologies

Mechanical biological treatment

Thermal Processes for solid waste
 Conversion Devices
• Incinerators: Incineration is a waste treatment
process that involves the combustion of
organic substances contained in waste
materials. 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, and fluidised bed.
Schematic of incinerator
 Incineration
• Combustion (incineration) of waste is achieved by heating
waste in an excess of oxygen. ‘Mass burn’ refers to a
process that accepts raw or post recycling municipal solid
waste (MSW) without any additional pre-treatment (e.g. no
shredding or refuse derived fuel (RDF) production.
• The process can best be explained by examination of the
combustion of waste in grate furnaces, where the fuel forms
a bed on top of the grate and the combustion air is injected
through the grate.
• The different local temperatures and oxygen concentrations
cause a succession of reactions from drying through
pyrolysis and gasification to final combustion.
 Incineration
• Combustion usually takes place with an excess of air
(which is provided from below the grate as underfire air
and via secondary and tertiary injection as overfire air),
in order to ensure the proportion of fuel reacting with
the oxygen is maximised.
• Energy recovery is invariably in the form of a steam
boiler which recovers heat from the hot flue gases to
generate superheated steam. A steam turbine is used to
generate electricity, except in cases where the steam can
be used directly in a co-located industrial process for
district heating or desalination.
Incineration
 Incineration
• Mass burn combustion only converts the organic
content of the MSW to energy and leaves behind the
inert content which is called ash comprised of inorganic
material mixed with post combustion residues of
ferrous/non-ferrous metals.
• However, typical thermal processing facilities produce
ash in the range of 20% to 30% by weight of the total
waste feed. However, since ash is relatively dense, on a
volume basis, the waste is reduced in volume by about
90%. Depending on the regulatory framework and
treatment process, ash from the combustion grate
(bottom ash) can be treated and reused as construction
material after further treatment.
 Conversion Devices
• Gasifiers: Gasification is a process that
converts organic or fossil fuel
based carbonaceous materials into carbon monoxide,
hydrogen and carbon dioxide. This is achieved by
reacting the material at high temperatures (>700 °C),
without combustion, with a controlled amount
of oxygen and /or steam). The resulting gas mixture is
called syngas (from synthesis gas) or producer gas and
is itself a fuel. The power derived from gasification and
combustion of the resultant gas is considered to be a
source of renewable energy if the gasified compounds
were obtained from biomass.
• Gasifier is the device used for gasification.
 Gasification
• Gasification converts about 80% of the chemical energy in the
waste fuel into chemical energy in the gas phase. The gas can
be combusted immediately, cleaned and used directly in gas
engines or upgraded to higher fuels or chemicals.
• Typical gasification temperatures are 900-1,100°C with air and
1,000-1,400°C with oxygen.
• Air gasification is the most widely used technology. It is
cheaper than oxygen gasification but results in relatively low
energy syngas, containing up to 60% nitrogen, with a heating
value of 4-6 MJ/Nm3.
• Oxygen gasification gives a higher heating value syngas of 10-
18 MJ/Nm3 but requires an oxygen supply with an associated
cost and energy requirement.
Gasification
Gasifiers
 Gasification
Gasification offers a number of potential advantages over
direct combustion of the MSW, depending on how the process
is configured:
• The resulting syngas can be utilised in a range of applications,
including gas engines for conversion to heat and electricity
with potentially increased efficiency over conventional steam
cycle.
• There is potential for improved combustion control and
reduced emissions at source associated with combustion of a
gaseous fuel rather than a heterogeneous solid fuel.
• There is potential for the flue gas clean up system to be
substantially scaled down when gas engines are used, due to
much lower volumes of flue gas and reduced formation of
certain pollutants.
 Gasification with Steam Cycle
• Most commercially available waste gasification processes
use a steam turbine to generate electricity in the same way
as conventional combustion plants.
• The syngas produced by the gasifier is immediately
combusted (in the same vessel or in a separate reactor).
• The heat produced by combustion is carried by flue gases
and passes through a heat recovery boiler in order to raise
steam to power a steam turbine.
• This is referred to as ‘close-coupled’ gasification.
• Gasification in combination with combustion has a number
of advantages over ‘advanced’ gasification (where syngas is
used in gas engines or a gas turbine, or in high pressure
boilers).
Steam cycle gasification

HRSG: Heat Recovery Steam Generator

 Slagging Gasification
• Slagging gasification processes are designed to combine
gasification of the waste with melting of the inorganic
material (ash and metals) present in the waste.
• This practice is particularly prevalent in Japan where the
main objective of waste management is volume
minimisation and maximised recycling.
• The resulting melted ash, a type of vitrified slag, is
physically stable, environmentally inert and is
predominantly recycled as a construction material in Japan.
• Total residues requiring disposal to landfill from a slagging
gasification plant can be very low when outlets can be
found for the slag.
• Metals can also be separated.
Slagging Gasification
 Plasma Gasification
• Plasma gasification uses extremely high temperatures in an oxygen
starved environment to decompose organic waste materials into
basic molecules.
• The extreme heat and lack of oxygen results in pyrolysis (thermal
decomposition of substances in inert atmospheres) and gasification
reactions taking place, which convert the organic matter in the waste
into syngas.
• The heat source is plasma gas (charged particles in any
combination of ions or electrons) which is generated by the input of
electrical energy to a gas (usually air).
• The plasma gas briefly attains temperatures between 3,000 and
8,000°C; though in most plasma processes waste is not exposed
directly to the plasma arc, and the temperature in the reactor may be
between 1,000 and 2,000°C.
Plasma Gasification
 Pyrolysis
• Pyrolysis is a thermal conversion process where waste is
heated in the absence of oxygen.
• The reactor is heated externally to produce the elevated
temperature environment that causes the organic solids
(waste input) to breakdown via physical and chemical
processes.
• The process gives three products; solid char, pyrolysis oil
and pyrolysis gas with the proportions of each being
governed by the operating temperature within the pyrolysis
reactor.
• Typically, pyrolysis is operated at relatively low
temperature to produce a primary liquid product (pyrolysis
oil) and lesser quantities of char and pyrolysis gas.
 Pyrolysis
• There is a certain amount of misunderstanding concerning the
differences between gasification and pyrolysis.
• Pyrolysis is a low temperature thermal conversion technology
that operates in an air-free environment and produces a
primary liquid product as well as lesser quantities of gas and
solid phase products.
• If pyrolysis is operated at high temperature (>800°C) then the
primary product becomes syngas .

• For biomass and waste processing the lower temperature

pyrolysis processes have been used with the objective of
maximising the production of pyrolysis oil, referred to as bio-
oil, which is a potential precursor to the production of many
other chemicals in a bio-refinery context.
Pyrolysis
 Conversion Devices
• Digesters: Anaerobic digestion is a sequence of processes by
which microorganisms break down biodegradable material in the
absence of oxygen. The process is used for industrial or domestic
purposes to manage waste or to produce fuels.

• Anaerobic digestion is used as part of the process to treat

biodegradable waste and sewage sludge. As part of an
integrated waste management system, anaerobic digestion reduces
the emission of landfill gas into the atmosphere.

• A digester is a huge vessel where chemical or biological reactions

are carried out. These are used in different types of process
industries.
 Efficiencies of various WtE
Technologies
Technology Net efficiency

Typical Best Practice

Combustion 15% – 25% 30% with currently

available advanced energy
recovery techniques
Gasification (steam turbine) 10% - 27% Uncertain, likely >30%
(potentially slightly
higher than combustion)
Advanced Gasification (gas 30 – 40% Uncertain, 40 - 50%
engine/gas turbine) potentially achievable with
gas turbines
 Advantages and disadvantages of
different WtE technologies
Advantages Disadvantages

•Mature, established, many •Electrical efficiency is

reference plants worldwide. limited.
•No feedstock preparation •Suffers from poor
required; relatively simple, robust perception.
technology. •Generally better suited to
Combustion •Numerous reputable experienced larger scales (>100,000tpa)
technology suppliers &
engineering procurement
contractors, competitive market.
•Relatively low capital
expenditure & overall expenditure
compared with some more
advanced technologies (especially
slagging and plasma gasification)
 Advantages and disadvantages of
different WtE technologies
Advantages Disadvantage
•Not seen as incineration •Feedstock preparation
(primarily a perceived advantage). necessary for most plants,
•There is increasing acceptance of particularly those using a
such technologies (i.e. easier to fluidised bed reactor.
Gasification finance). •Existing commercial
(Close- • Gasification (with steam turbine) plants have not
coupled) appears on the verge of competing demonstrated significant
with traditional combustion in practical advantages over
some markets. conventional combustion
•Good combustion control possible plant in terms of air
& less potential for formation of emissions, efficiency or
dioxins and NOx than direct residues.
combustion due to lower
temperatures .
 Advantages and disadvantages of
different WtE technologies
Advantages Disadvantages
•High electrical efficiency possible •Expensive with high capital
by use of syngas engines or turbine and operational costs.
compared to steam turbines. •Cleaning syngas to a purity
•Inherently low emissions for most required for use in gas engines
pollutants and low formation of and turbines continues to be a
dioxins given low temperature of major barrier to commercial
Gasification combustion. deployment.
(Advanced) •Suitable at small scales, potentially •Waste feedstock preparation
feasible at throughput capacities often required to produce a
where traditional combustion is not consistent fuel.
viable. •Many technologies struggling
•Low building profile possible due to to gain the considerable funding
the lack of a boiler, and no and financing required to
requirement for high stack. overcome technical challenges
•Potentially more acceptance of and move to commercial
technology due to the above deployment
 Advantages and disadvantages of
different WtE technologies
Advantages Disadvantages

•Maximises landfill •Expensive, high Capital and

diversion potential. overall expenditure.
•High quality, stable slag •Query viability outside
produced by melting ash Japan, very few plants
which has many potential elsewhere.
Gasification applications. •Needs oxygen and/or
Slagging •Technically and support fuel e.g. coke to
commercially mature generate high temperatures
technology in Japan with a required to melt ash
number of technology
suppliers.
 Advantages and disadvantages of
different WtE technologies
Advantages Disadvantages

•Potential to produce a clean •Expensive with high capital

syngas for use in engines or and operational costs.
turbine. •High parasitic electrical load.
•Can produce a high quality •Achieving high availability
Gasification slag similar to slagging may be challenging
Plasma processes.
•Able to ‘add-on’ plasma
units to more established
combustion or gasification
plants (to polish syngas or
melt ash)