ENERGY RECOVERY

OPERATIONS
Incineration objectives

• Volume reduction

• Stabilisation of waste

• Recovery of energy from waste (EFW)

• Sterilisation of waste
INCINERATION TECHNOLOGIES
• Mass-burning system
Refuse derived fuel (RDF) system
Processing Stages
• magnetic separation.
• trommel or vibrating screens
• shredding or hammer milling of waste with additional screening
• pelletizing or baling of burnable wastes
• Depends on the local recycling markets and the design of the facility.
• Shred-and-burn systems:
• Shred-and-burn systems are the simplest form of RDF production.
• Consists of shredding the MSW to the desired particle size that allows
effective feeding to the combustor and magnetic removal of ferrous
metal, with the remaining portion delivered to the combustor.
• no attempt to remove other non-combustible materials in the MSW
before combustion
• system with minimal processing and removal of non-combustibles.
• Simplified process systems:
• Removes a significant portion of the non-combustibles
• involves processing the MSW to produce an RDF with a significant
portion of the non-combustibles removed before combustion.
• The MSW process removes more than 85% of the ferrous metals, a
significant percentage of the remaining non-combustible (i.e., glass,
nonferrous metals, dirt, sand, etc.), and shreds the material to a
nominal particle top size of 10 to 15 cm to allow effective firing in the
combustion unit.
Pyrolysis
Advantages:
• Better reduction of heavy metals
• Low leaching of heavy metals
• Production of gas with LCV
• Less flue gas compared to incineration
• No formation of dioxins and furans
• Production of sterile clinkers and other reisdues
• Disadvantages
• Shredding and sorting necessary
• High cost
• External fuel supply
GASIFICATION
• Gasification of municipal wastes involves the reaction of carbonaceous
feedstock with an oxygen-containing reagent, usually oxygen, air, steam or
carbon dioxide, generally at temperatures above 800°C.
• The process is largely exothermic
• some heat may be required to initialise and sustain the gasification process
• Product of the gasification process is syngas, which contains carbon monoxide,
hydrogen and methane.
• gas generated from gasification has a low heating value (LHV) of 3 – 6 MJ/Nm3.T
• other main product produced by gasification is a solid residue of non-
combustible materials (ash) which contains a relatively low level of carbon.
• Syngas can be burned in a boiler to generate steam for power
generation or industrial heating.
• Syngas can be used as a fuel in a dedicated gas engine.
• Syngas, after reforming, can be used in a gas turbine
• Syngas can also be used as a chemical feedstock.
• High degree of recovery
• Better retention of heavy metals
• Low leaching of heavy metals
• Sterile clinker
• LCV gas production – with low emission
• Less flue gas
• Well suited to contaminated wood
Disadvantages
• Shredding and sorting requirement
• Gas containing traces of tars containing toxic and carcinogenic
compound
• Combustion product gas generates NOx
• Solid residue may contain some unprocessed carbon in ash
• High cost
Anaerobic processing/biogas
Separate Digestion (Dry method)
• Shredded
• Sieved and mixed with water before entering digester tanks (35% dry
matter)
• Digestion carried out at 25-55OC
• Biogas and Biomass generated
• Biomass dewatered, 40% water, 60% fibre and reject.
• Reject disposed off.
Separate digestion (wet method)
• Organic waste transformed into a pulp (12% dry matter)
• Pulp exposed to (70oC, pH 10)
• Dewatered and hydrolysed at 40oC and again dewatered
• Liquid from 2nd dewatering is directed to a biofilter
• Digestion carried out resulting in biogas and waste water
• Water reused in the pulp, or used as fertilizer
• Fibre fraction separated as compost and reject to landfill
• 1 tonne waste : 160kg biogas, 340 kg liquid,300kg compost and 200 kg residuals.
Co-digestion (wet method)
• Shredded and screened before further treatment
• Waste mixed with sewage sludge or manure at 1:3 or 1:4.
• Mixed biomass exposed to 70oC before fed to digestion
• Digestion at 35-55oC gives biogas and liquid biomass
• Advantages:
• Almost 100% recovery of nutrients from organic matter
• Production of hygienic fertilizer without risk of diseases
• Nitrogen is more accessible to plants after digestion
• Reduction of odour compared to non-digested material
• Substitution of commercial ferilizers
• Production of energy
• Disadvantages:
• Requirement of source separation
• Fibres requires additional composting
• Methane emission