Municipal Solid Waste Incineration Power Research Articles

Design and evaluation of a municipal solid waste incineration power plant integrating with absorption heat pump

The absorption heat pump can consume a small amount of high temperature heat source instead of electricity to realize the waste heat recovery. It has a potential to be applied in the energy efficiency improvement of municipal solid waste incineration power plant. In this study, a proposed integrated system has been designed, where the sludge heat pump drying system and dump pit heating system are coupled with the absorption heat pumps. The power generation improvement is evaluated through simulation calculation by EBSILON Professional and Aspen Plus. The results show that the power generation of proposed integrated system is 1.21 MW higher than that of reference power plant in winter operating condition. This is mainly due to the reductions of energy loss and exergy loss in incinerator and boiler system according to the energy flow and exergy flow analysis. The extracted steam from turbine is more suitable than the flue gas out of bag filter as the high temperature heat source of heat pump. In addition, the variable operating condition analysis is carried out for the proposed integrated system.

Ammonia emission characteristics and ammonia injection control from stationary source in flue gas denitrification system

With the implementation of ultra-low emission of nitrogen oxides, denitrification technologies, such as selective catalytic reduction, selective non-catalytic reduction or selective non-catalytic reduction combined with selective catalytic reduction, have been widely used in gas-fired power plants, cement plants and municipal solid waste incineration power plants. These three denitrification industries have become the main potential fixed sources of ammonia emissions in urban areas, however the studies on ammonia emissions are lacking. In order to study the ammonia emission characteristics and ammonia injection control of gas-fired power plants, cement plants and municipal solid waste incineration power plants, field tests were carried out on five typical denitrification enterprises using three monitoring methods. The multi-form ammonia manual monitoring method proposed in this study distinguished and defined all possible ammonia in the flue gas into filterable ammonia, residual ammonia, condensable ammonia and gaseous ammonia according to the migration and transformation behavior during the collection process. The monitoring results of the multi-form manual monitoring method can more accurately reflect the actual ammonia emission level with the simultaneous collection and monitoring of different ammonia forms. The ammonia emission levels in cement plants (more than 20 mg/m³) were higher than that of gas power plants and waste incineration plants (almost less than 4 mg/m³). The condensed ammonia was the dominant form of ammonia, accounting for 58.4%～88.7%. The humidity and temperature of flue gas at the chimney outlet had significant influence on residual ammonia. For the denitration enterprises using a single denitrification technology, the ammonia emission had a linear negative correlation with that of nitrogen oxide with changing ammonia injection amount, while for that using combined denitrification technology, the degree of collaboration between selective non-catalytic reduction ammonia injection control and selective catalytic reduction ammonia injection control played a decisive role in the control of nitrogen oxide emission and ammonia emission, especially the selective catalytic reduction ammonia injection control.

Experimental study on adsorption of PbCl2 and CdCl2 on kaolin modified by leachates from municipal solid waste incineration power plant

Six kinds of waste liquids produced in the treatment process of leachate in a waste incineration plant were used to improve the adsorption effect of raw kaolin on heavy metal chloride. The capture performances of these modified kaolin on PbCl2 and CdCl2 vapor were investigated in a two-stage fixed bed combustor. The results indicated that the adsorption effects of raw kaolin on PbCl2 and CdCl2 were improved in some experimental groups, main effective component was Na+ in the leachate, but the influences did not change regularly with the increase in the concentration of Na + introduced into kaolin. The adsorbents formed by modifying 10 g kaolin with 21.25 ml leachate 2 were the best adsorbents for PbCl2 and CdCl2. The capture efficiencies of PbCl2 and CdCl2 can reach 95% and 63.88%, with the increase of 36% and 53%, respectively. Using leachate as modifying agent had the same effect as directly using Na+. Adsorptions of PbCl2 and CdCl2 were still mainly chemical adsorptions. After adsorption of PbCl2, the modified kaolin not only generated PbA12Si2O8, but also produced other chemical compounds. The adsorption of CdCl2 by modified kaolin did not generate CdAl2Si2O8, but other chemical reactions occurred to generate CdAl2O4 and Pb8Cd (Si2O7)3.

Tracking the life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions of municipal solid waste incineration power plant: A case study in Shanghai

Municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) has become the predominant waste-to-energy technology in China. The present work addresses an onsite greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions accounting approach for MSWI plants. A comprehensive life-cycle GHG emissions assessment model was developed and applied to a case study in Shanghai. Different methods (Method 1: CO2 concentration measurement-based method; Method 2: O2 concentration measurement-based method; and Method 3: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2006 guidelines-based method) were compared for calculating the fossil CO2 emissions (FCO2E) originating from waste incineration. The results indicate that the deviations of FCO2E among different methods could be effectively reduced by modifying the dry matter (DM) content since the waste in China is commonly featured by high moisture content. Moreover, the life-cycle GHG emissions of MSWI in each month ranged from 11.2 to 622.4 kg CO2-eq/t MSW, in which FCO2E yielded the most significant impact. The seasonal characteristics of GHG emissions were directly related to variations in the waste components. In particular, a high plastics fraction in the waste streams after source separation contributed to high levels of GHG emissions originating from Chinese MSWI plants. It was demonstrated that GHG emissions increased by approximately 12.1 kg CO2-eq/t MSW with a 1% increase in the plastics fraction. Therefore, properly increasing the recycling rate of plastics and improving the power generation efficiency could effectively reduce the GHG emissions associated with MSWI.

Characteristics, secondary transformation and odor activity evaluation of VOCs emitted from municipal solid waste incineration power plant

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from municipal solid waste incineration power plant (MSWIPP) plays a significant role in the formation of O3 and PM2.5 and odor pollution. Field test was performed on four MSWIPPs in an area of the North China Plain. Nonmethane hydrocarbons (NMHCs) and 102 VOCs were identified and quantified. Ozone formation potential (OFP), secondary organic aerosol formation potential (SOAFP), and odor activity of the detected VOCs were evaluated. Results showed that the average concentration of NMHCs and VOCs were 1648.6 ± 1290.4 μg/m3 and 635.3 ± 588.8 μg/m3, respectively. Aromatics (62.1%), O–VOCs (16.0%), and halo hydrocarbons (10.0%) were the main VOCs groups in the MSWIPP exhaust gas. VOCs emission factor of MSWIPP was 2.43 × 103 ± 2.27 × 103 ng/g-waste. The OFP and SOAFP of MSWIPP were 960.18 ± 2158.17 μg/m3 and 1.57 ± 3.38 μg/m3, respectively. Acrolein as the dominant VOC species was the major odor contributor with a percentage of odor contribution of 65.9%. Benzene and 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene as the dominant VOC species were the main contributors of O3 formation potentials, in which 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene was also the main contributors of SOA formation potential.

Research Suggestions on the Necessity and Smooth Operation of Dandong Municipal Solid Waste Incineration Power Generation Project

Research Suggestions on the Necessity and Smooth Operation of Dandong Municipal Solid Waste Incineration Power Generation Project

Causation mechanism analysis of excess emission of flue gas pollutants from municipal solid waste incineration power plants by employing the Fault Tree combined with Bayesian Network: A case study in Dongguan

As municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) gradually became the mainstream treatment for MSW in China, some backward MSWI power plants caused severe environmental problems of excess emission of flue gas (FG) pollutants and aroused wide concern. For analyzing the causation mechanism about excess emission of FG pollutants from MSWI power plants (top event/leaf node) in China, an efficient risk evaluation framework is established in this work. Correspondingly, an exploratory classical Fault Tree and Bayesian Network model is developed for the first time for the excess emission of FG pollutants of MSWI power plants. To figure out the key risk factors associated with the occurrence of top event/leaf node, several real MSWI power plants in Dongguan, representing advanced (Plant B), general (Plant A2), and outdated (Plant A1), are taken as case studies. After the analysis, compared with Plant B, the occurrence probability of the top event/leaf node in Plant A1 and A2 is 0.81724 and 0.44720. The key risk factors are determined as: “Outdated FG treatment process (X4)”, “Complex composition of MSW (X1)”, “Incineration technology defect (X6)”, “Aging of FG treatment equipment (X8)”, “Insufficient maintenance of FG treatment equipment (X9)” and “Aging of incineration equipment (X7)”. This work may provide a novel perspective to the environmental risk evaluation for the excess emission of FG pollutants from MSWI power plants in China, which also can offer cleaner production decision support for FG pollutants reduction in the MSWI industry.

Life cycle assessment of environmental impact on municipal solid waste incineration power generation.

Municipal solid waste (MSW) incineration power generation is an important treatment technology, which has been widely concerned in recent years. It is of great significance to evaluate the environmental impact. This study conducted the environmental life cycle assessment of MSW incineration power plant in Yongcheng city, Henan province, China. After that, the comprehensive environmental impacts of MSW incineration power plant, landfill, and coal-fired power plant are compared. Furthermore, the energy conservation and emission reduction benefits brought by MSW incineration power plant in Yongcheng city are quantitatively analyzed. The results show that (1) the main environmental impact categories of MSW incineration power plant are human toxicity potential and acidification potential, which together account for 72.8% of the total comprehensive environmental impact. In addition, incineration is the main process of pollutant generation, which contributes 94.1% to the comprehensive environmental impact. (2) As an effective supplement to landfill and coal-fired power generation, MSW incineration power generation produces lower environmental impact. (3) Significant energy-saving and emission reduction benefits can be brought by MSW incineration power plant. Particularly, it could save energy 2.75×104 tce, reduce greenhouse gas emissions 3.43×105 t CO2-eq, and effectively reduce the emissions of various air pollutants for the local area annually.

A comparison between a natural gas power plant and a municipal solid waste incineration power plant based on an emergy analysis

This paper performs an emergy analysis (EmA) to compare two real power plants include a conventional natural gas steam power plant (NGPP) with one that burns municipal solid waste (MSWPP). For this purpose, the EmA is used to investigate the sustainability, renewability, environmental impacts, and economic issues. The capacity of the NGPP and MSWPP are 247.5 and 3 MW, respectively. Results from this study show that the percent of renewability (PR) and emergy sustainability index (ESI) of the MSWPP are much more than those of the NGPP. The PR and ESI of the MSWPP are 46.81 and 1.65, while for the NGPP are 5.01 and 0.05, respectively. It is proved that the MSWPP is more efficient and has the better environmental impacts compared to the NGPP. Moreover, a hypothetical MSWPP with the same electricity output of the NGPP is studied using the EmA. A more efficient system with the higher PR and ESI is observed compared to the other case studies. Beside of these advantages, use of the MSW has other benefits such as reducing the greenhouse gases released in the atmosphere, saving fossil fuels, low land area required compared to the landfill, speed and ease of disposal, and production of clean and useful ash.

Temperature stress of waste bunker in municipal solid waste incineration power generation plant

With large number of municipal solid waste incineration power generation plants appearing, serious environmental pollution will be caused if temperature cracks appear in waste bunkers. To reveal the interaction between the surrounding soil and bunker walls under the action of temperature, a finite element model is established. Considering the surrounding soil layer, the characteristics and influence laws of the interaction between the municipal solid waste bunker and the soil under different temperature conditions are studied. The simulation results show that the existence of the surrounding soil layer will affect the stress distribution, mainly at the bottom of the bunker and the surface of the bunker wall. Due to the thermal expansion and contraction, the municipal solid waste bunker is pressed during the heating process. In the process of cooling, there will be excessive tensile stress at the bottom of the bunker. To address this problem, expansion belt is arranged at the stress concentration portion to reduce the stress concentration. This measure proves to be effective according to analysis results, which provides a reference for the design of municipal solid waste bunkers.

Effective removal by coagulation of contaminants in concentrated leachate from municipal solid waste incineration power plants

Municipal solid waste (MSW) incineration is widely used in China. Concentrated leachate, containing high concentrations of pollutants, is an important type of secondary pollution produced in MSW incineration power plants and requires proper treatment. In this study, various coagulants were used to treat concentrated leachate from a nanofiltration (NF) membrane that treated leachate from an MSW incineration plant. The optimal coagulation condition was determined in this study. Under the optimal condition, removals of chemical oxygen demand, light absorbing substances (at 254 nm), total nitrogen, color and turbidity were 68.42%, 69.01%, 44.14%, 92.31% and 87.44%, respectively. Much of the refractory organic matter with relatively high molecular weight, aromaticity and humification degree was removed, and effluent had a lower molecular weight than raw NF concentrated leachate. Study also found that some parts of high molecular weight compounds from NF CL were removed by coagulation process, but the change of distribution of molecular weight was not outstanding. The NF concentrated leachate, both before and after coagulation, contained a large amount of chloride. Hence, a follow-up study should be conducted to find an effective additional processing that can remove organic matter using the high concentration of chloride in the NF concentrated leachate coagulation effluent. This study provides a theoretical basis for the treatment of concentrated leachate from MSW incineration power plants.

Pollution Characteristics and Evaluation of Heavy Metal Pollution in Surface Soil Around a Municipal Solid Waste Incineration Power Plant

To investigate and evaluate the pollution levels of heavy metals in the soil around a large Municipal Solid Waste Incineration power plant (MSWIPP), a total of 29 soil samples were collected around the MSWIPP and away from the power plant area. The contents of 10 selected heavy metals (Cr, Mn, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Ag, Cd, Hg, and Pb) were analyzed. The results showed that the content of each heavy metal element did not exceed the values for Soil Environmental Quality of Risk Control Standard for Soil Contamination of Agricultural Land (GB15618-2018) and Development Land (GB 36600-2018). The mean contents of Mn, Cu, and As were higher than their respective background values of Anhui Province, where As was 1.03 times the background value, and Cu was 1.07 times. Compared with the control points, the contents of Cr, Ni, Cd, Cu, and As were lower than the control points, and the difference was statistically significant (P ≤ 0.05). The spatial distribution of Hg was more obvious in the soil around the power plant, and other heavy metals were not obvious and uniform. The content of Hg was the highest in the 500 m soil of perennial dominant downwind and sub-dominant downwind. With increasing distance from the power plant, the content gradually decreased and it was lower than the level of the control point. The pollution degree of heavy metal elements in the soil around the power plant and in the plant area was mild. The Nemero comprehensive pollution index (PI) was 1.1-1.2, and the control point had also mild pollution (PI was 1.5). The potential ecological risk was slight, and the comprehensive potential ecological risk index (RI) of various heavy metal elements was 60.2-67.7. The contribution rate of Hg and As to RI were large, and the control point had medium ecological risk (RI was 116.8). Based on the results of principal component analysis, accompanied with the content, spatial distribution characteristics, Pearson's correlation, and hierarchical cluster analysis results, three groups of heavy metals with different spatial distribution were identified:①Ni, Cr, As, and Mn originated from lithological sources; ②Cu, Zn, Ag, Cd, and Pb affected by both lithological and human sources (e.g. agricultural and traffic sources); ③Hg likely originated from the diffusion sedimentation of MSWI flue gas and its accumulation in the soil. The above results indicated that the unique pollution characteristics of Hg deserve serious attention in pollution monitoring in soils surrounding solid waste incinerator.

Multi- criteria decision analysis FANP based on GIS for siting municipal solid waste incineration power plant in the north of Iran

Site selecting for installing municipal solid waste incineration power plant with sustainable development perspectives is a multi-criteria decision. Identifying the factors that affect it will lead to more advantages including reducing costs and eliminating community dissatisfaction. In this research, in order to provide the most optimal model, the criteria for installing MSWI power plant were developed in the form of three main environmental, economic, and socio-cultural criteria. First, the decision making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) technique has been applied to identify the interrelations between factors. Then, they were ranked by importance by fuzzy analytic network process (FANP). Based on the results, the highest and least significance have been assigned to the main economic, socio-cultural criteria, and sub-criteria of land use and railway respectively. Finally, a case study was conducted in Rasht County in order to evaluate the efficiency of the obtained model. Using geographic information system, GIS, we applied the final weights to the layers of each of the sub-criteria and overlay them. The results of the output map indicated the capability of the obtained model based on FANP and GIS to select the proper place for installing MSWI power plant and its application in other similar studies.

Operation Cost Analysis of Typical Power Plant Waste Incineration

In recent years, as the main way to deal with Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), municipal solid waste incineration power generation possesses the dual positive attributes of environmental protection and energy production. In addition to effectively solving the current environmental problems of “cities besieged by garbage”, it is possible to become an important supplement of urban energy and an inevitable requirement for economic and social development. Some suggestions are put forward based on the calculation results of actual investment and operating costs of waste incineration power plants. The research results are of great reference value for timely understanding of the status quo of waste incineration power plants, formulating policies and guiding the investment and operation management of power plants.

Investigation of the characteristics of concentrated leachate from six municipal solid waste incineration power plants in China.

The characteristics of concentrated leachate in municipal solid waste (MSW) incineration power plants were analyzed for CODCr, BOD5, the concentration of heavy metals, and spectral characteristics of dissolved organic matter (DOM). We performed correlation-principal component analysis to analyze the data. The samples were collected from leachate treatment plants of six MSW incineration power plants in China, all of which have a typical treatment process. Our study showed that the samples have high content of organic matter with extremely low biodegradability, various heavy metals, and a large amount of negative ions such as Cl−, SO42− and PO43− in the concentrated leachate. The intense fluorescent absorption peaks in the visible and ultraviolet regions of the ultraviolet-visible spectra and three-dimensional fluorescence spectra suggest that the concentrated leachate contains a large amount of refractory organic matter mainly consisting of fulvic acid. The humification indexes (HIX) of samples ranged from 1.26 to 14.24 when the biodegradability indexes (BIX) ranged from 0.10 to 2.25. Correlation analysis revealed that the concentration of Cl−, PO43−, and NO3− is significantly correlated with the property of the DOM, and the concentration of Ca, Cr, and SO42− almost has no correlation with other indicators in the concentrated leachate. The characteristics of the concentrated leachate are reflected by three principal components: PC1 is mainly related to the DOM, which is relatively stable and hardly degrades, this component may reflect the degradability and humification degree of the concentrated leachate. PC2 reflects the degradability of the concentrated leachate; a higher score in its positive direction indicates greater degradability of the concentrated leachate. PC3 has little influence on the characteristics of the concentrated leachate. This research can provide a theoretical basis for the effective treatment of concentrated leachate of MSW incineration power plants.

Heavy metals and lead isotopes in soils, road dust and leafy vegetables and health risks via vegetable consumption in the industrial areas of Shanghai, China

Vegetable fields have a high risk of heavy metal contamination from pollution sources in suburban and industrial areas of cities. Eighty-seven soil samples, 106 leafy vegetables and 48 road dust samples were collected from industrial areas of Shanghai, China. We studied the levels of heavy metals, health risk through consumption of leafy vegetables, and sources of Pb in soils, road dust and leafy vegetables. Soil Cd, Zn, Pb, Cu, Hg and As concentrations exceeded the soil background values in 73.6%, 97.7%, 52.3%, 37.8%, 95.1% and 20.2% soil samples, respectively, but were below the criteria for agricultural soil in China, with the exception of Hg. The concentrations of Cd, Zn, Pb, Cu and As in road dust were significantly higher than concentrations in soils, while Hg concentration in road dust was lower. Cd, Zn, Pb, Hg and Cu concentrations in soils and Zn, Pb and Cu concentrations in road dust were greatest near the municipal solid waste incineration power plant. Heavy metal concentrations in the edible tissues of vegetables were not correlated with their total values in soils and varied among vegetable species. The trends in transfer factors (TFs) in different vegetables were Cd>Zn>Cu>As>Hg>Pb. There was low health risk from heavy metal exposure by consumption of vegetables based on Hazard Quotients (HQM): As was the major contributor to HQM, followed by Cd and Pb. Parent material of the Yangtze River Estuary was the major source of Pb in soils, while coal-fired, stationary industrial emissions and municipal waste incineration emissions were the major sources of Pb in dust and vegetables based on use of the lead isotopic tracing method. Accumulation of Pb in leafy vegetables was through foliar uptake and directly related to atmospheric Pb.

Multicriteria Environmental and Economic Analysis of Municipal Solid Waste Incineration Power Plant with Carbon Capture and Separation from the Life-Cycle Perspective

This paper presents multicriteria environmental and economic analyses of municipal solid waste (MSW) grate incineration power plants without and with CO2 capture and separation (CCS) technologies, including monoethanolamine (MEA) absorption, pressure/vacuum swing adsorption (P/VSA), and oxy-fuel combustion (Oxy). The life-cycle analysis (LCA) and techno-economic analysis (TEA) are integrated with the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) approaches for systematic environmental and economic analysis. This systematic methodology is applied to investigate the applicability of CCS technologies in MSW incineration power plants from perspectives of local government, enterprise, residents, and “equal” weight. The results show that application of CCS reduces the ecosystem quality and the human health impacts, but increases the resource use and yields an economic penalty of from ∼$33.45 to ∼$45.98 per ton of CO2 avoidance. From the perspective ...

Joint maintenance scheduling of the municipal solid waste incineration power plant and connected power system devices

Joint maintenance scheduling of the municipal solid waste incineration power plant and connected power system devices

A GIS-Based Suitability Analysis for Siting a Solid Waste Incineration Power Plant in an Urban Area Case Study: Alexandria Governorate, Egypt

Solid waste represents a key issue that threatens environmental quality in Egyptian urban areas. One of the most viable options to treat such an issue is to incinerate the collected solid waste for electricity generation, which can reduce the cost of solid waste disposal as well as pollution and generate surplus energy. Selecting appropriate site for a solid waste incineration power plant is a crucial step due to its economic and environmental implications. This would require assessing various constraining and favorable factors that determine feasibility and sustainability of the power plant site. This paper is intended to develop a GIS-based model for siting a municipal solid waste incineration power plant in Alexandria governorate, Egypt. For this purpose, five criteria are considered and a composite index was suggested to integrate these criteria in a numerical term reflecting suitability of various parts of the governorate for siting solid waste incineration power plant.

垃圾能源化过程中的温室气体减排成本效益分析——以天津为例

垃圾能源化过程不仅仅可以在垃圾处置过程中产生能源，而且减排温室气体。本文以垃圾焚烧发电和填埋气发电两种垃圾能源化方式的温室气体减排为基础，进行了其成本效益分析。识别并描述了垃圾能源化项目的私人成本与环境收益。以天津市垃圾能源化项目为例，核算了天津市垃圾能源化的温室气体减排量，得出利用1吨垃圾进行焚烧发电的减排量为0.777 tCO2e，进行填埋气发电的减排量为0.657 tCO2e。核算与分析天津垃圾能源化的单位温室气体减排的成本效益，并对外部性内部化实现程度不同的各种情况进行了分析。结果发现支付的垃圾处理费看似是解决局地污染问题，实际影响到温室气体协同减排的效益。即使没有碳交易，随着地方政府支付给企业的垃圾处理费增加，同样也会提高单位温室气体减排的收益，从而促进减排。 Waste-to-energy can not only generate energy in the municipal solid waste disposal process, but also reduce greenhouse gas emission. Based on the greenhouse gas reduction of two waste-to-energy methods: incineration with energy (electricity and heat) and landfill with landfill gas utilization, this paper made a cost-benefit analysis of them. We identified and described private cost and environmental benefits of the two waste-to-energy projects. Taking Tianjin Binhai municipal solid waste incineration power generation CDM project and Tianjin Shuangkou landfill gas recovery and electricity generation CDM project as examples, the calculation method provided by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Guidelines in 2006 was used for calculating greenhouse gas reduction. It can be calculated that dispos-ing of 1t municipal solid waste in the way of incineration with energy could reduce 0.777 tCO2e, and in the way of landfill with landfill gas utilization could reduce 0.657 tCO2e. Then we calculated the costs and benefits of waste-to- energy projects’ per unit greenhouse gas reduction and the internal rate of return of waste-to-energy projects, and made a cost-benefit analysis of them under different internalization of externalities realization situations. It seemed that the payment of waste disposal fees was to solve local pollution problems, but it actually impacted the benefits of greenhouse gas collaborative emission reduction. Even without carbon trading, as gate fees paid by local governments to waste-to- energy enterprise increasing, it would also improve the benefits of per unit greenhouse gas reduction, so as to promote the reduction.