Feasibility study of municipal solid waste incinerator and flue gas treatments

Abstract

Hungary produces nearly 2 million tons of food waste every year and produces municipal solid waste (MSW) of about 4.1 million tons per year. If it translates into the term of the energy, it will be equal to the value of 6275 kJ (high heating value/HHV), and it will produce a potential of 748.9 billion kJ per day, on a national scale. However, the amount of energy produced by waste depends on the composition of the waste. Moreover, in practice, the conversion of waste into electrical energy is not as direct as converting coal or natural gas. Many technologies have been developed and methodologies in dealing with MSW. In several European countries, the handling of MSW is mostly done by mechanical way, biological waste management (MBT) and waste incineration. In this study, some methods for managing MSW into energy, which are suitable in Hungary MSW energy recovery, will be elaborated. In Hungary it-self there is a MSW incineration plant located in the capital city of Budapest with a processing capacity of 420 thousand tons of MSW, which can produce 24 MW of power. In the process of burning waste in a boiler that requires high temperature and pressure, the incinerator produces high concentrations of chlorine and sulfur because it is caused by a high temperature corrosion. To reduce the impact caused by the MSW incinerator, flue gas treatment is needed. The most commonly used methods are fabric filter and selective catalytic reduction (SCR) system.