25th February 2017 | German-Iranian Workshop on Waste Management Concepts & Technologies

Incineration Technologies and Approaches

Vinzenz SchulteGerman Association of Waste-to-Energy Plants

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German Association of Waste-to-Energy Plants (est. 1999)Incinerators (MSWI) and Refuse Derived Fuel Incinerators (RDFI)

Our members operate / own80 WtE plants with ~ 7.000 employeesOffering 90% of German incineration capacity

Private, Public and PPP (mixed) companies

• Overview Waste-to-Energy in Germany

– History

– Installations in Germany

– Purpose of WtE plants

– Waste input

• Waste to Energy – How does it work?

– Incineration process

– Emissions

– Residues

• Energy Efficiency and Climate Protection Potential

– Energy output

– WtE-GHG Savings in Germany

• Barriers for Waste-to-Energy

Contents

Overview Waste-to-Energy in Germany

History

• Waste incineration was common in the Roman Empire

• After downfall of the Roman Empire waste incineration

falls into oblivion

Plague and Cholera in the middle ages

• Collection of municipal waste in the cities

in the 16th century (landfilling outside the cities)

• First waste incinerator ‚Destructor‘ in Nottingham 1874

• Waste incineration in Germany started end of 19th century

Hamburg 1894

Energy Recovery from waste

Different energy recovery routes

for biodegradable waste, municipal solid waste and similar commercial waste established in Germany

– Biomass incineration (e.g. wood, waste wood etc.)

– Anaerobic digestion and fermentation of wet biomass (waste)

– Waste-to-Energy plants (WtE-plants)

• Municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI)

• Mono-Incineration of refuse derived fuel (RDF-incineration)

– Co-Incineration of solid recovered fuel (SRF)

• Cement and lime kilns

• Coal fired power plants

Development of WtE in Germany

Sino-German Workshop on the Application of CDM in the Construction Sector Qinhuangdao, 2008-11-25

0

20

40

60

80

0

5

10

15

20

Anzahl

Kapazität

1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2008

67Number of plants

Capacity

MSWI and RDF plants(Municipal Solid Waste Incineration / Refused Derived Fuel)

66 MSWI 19,9 Mio. Mg

average age: 19,5 years

35 RDF 5,4 Mio. Mg

average age: 8,5 years

Co-Incineration

~ 33 cement and lime3,1 Mio. Mg (2014)

~ 11 coal fired powerplant

1,1 Mio. Mg (2013)

MVA

EBS-KW

Co-Incineration

source: Prognos, Würzburg Sept. 2016

Installations in Germany today

8

MSWI

Purpose of WtE plants

• Sanitation

• Volume reduction

• Permanent elimination of pollutants from cycle of materials

• Minimisation of emissions

• Efficient use of the energy content of waste

• Contribution to climate protection (substitution of fossil

fuels)

• Contribution to sustainable waste management (recovery of

metals from bottom ash and reuse of bottom ash as

secondary raw material)

Waste input

Waste type Million tonnes

Household Waste 12.23

RDF/pretreated 7.26

Other MSW 0.95

Hazardous Waste 0.32

Sewage Slugde 0.2

Other Waste 2.39

Total 23.35

Waste-to-EnergyHow does it work?

Plant overview

A WtE incinerates the waste, then recovers its energy,

metals and mineralic contents and finally cleans the Flue

Gas

Waste Deliveryand storage

Flue Gas Cleaning

Incineration, steam generating Energy

Recovery

Incineration

Grate

Waste Storage

Feed Hopper

Combustion Chamber

Bottom Ash Collection for recovery

13

Incineration

Grate

Waste Storage

Feed Hopper

Combustion Chamber

Bottom Ash Collection for recovery (metals and construction material)

14

Waste input (examples):• Municipal solid waste and similar

commercial waste• Bulky waste from households• Demolition and construction waste (non

mineral)• Non recyclable packaging waste• Sorting residues from commercial

waste• Calorific residues from MBT and

composting plants (impurities)

Not accepted:• Non combustible waste, soil, concrete,

asbestos, sand, stones, free-flowingsludges etc.

• Bulky metal waste (fridges, cars,..)• Self-igniting, explosive or highly

flammable waste• Radioactive or infectious waste

Incineration

Grate

Waste Storage

Feed Hopper

Combustion Chamber

Bottom Ash Collection for recovery (metals and construction material)

15

Incineration

Grate

Waste Storage

Feed Hopper

Combustion Chamber

Bottom Ash Collection for recovery (metals and construction material)

16

Incineration

Grate

Waste Storage

Feed Hopper

Combustion Chamber

Bottom Ash Collection for recovery (metals and construction material)

17

the waste is incinerated on a grate

Incineration Chamber

T > 1000 °C

Approx. 1 h

De-Asher (water)

Energy Recovery

Economizer

Superheater (40 bar/400°C)

Boiler drum

Turbine and electric

generator

Heat

(district heating and cooling, industrial processes, water desalination and many other purposes)

Power

Primary combustion air(4.000 -6.000 m3/twaste)

the heat generated by incineration is transferred into a boiler

19

Flue Gas Cleaning

Cleaned Gas (mostly water vapour and CO2)

Scrubber(for acid gases, such as HCl and SO2)

Fabric Filter(for particles, dioxins, heavy metals)

Fly ash storage(for disposal)

Some pollutants contained in the waste are released into the

flue gas, which must be cleaned before exiting the plant

Emissions

dust

• Emission limits for WtE are the strictest of any combustion industry

• Annual load negligible compared to other sources

• “Dioxins emitted from Energy-from-Waste are not an issue”, stated

the German Environment Ministry in 2005

Operational Emission Values compared to Limit Values

Residues

1000 kgwaste

Bottom ash200-300 kg

Boiler Ash5-10kg

combustion and boiler

Wet Flue Gas Cleaning

Activated carbon reactor

Dust10-30 kg

Salts5-20 kg

Solid APC residues(40-70) 50-90 kg

(Semi) Dry Flue Gas Cleaning

spent activatedcarbon2-5 kg

APC (Air Pollution Control) ResiduesIncineration Residues

Disposal/Recovery of APC residues

• boiler & fly ash:

– salt mines

– landfill for hazardous waste

• salts:

– salt mine

• spent activated carbon:

– Incineration

– Regeneration

• bottom ash:

– recovery of metals and non-magnetic metals

– secondary raw material e.g. for road construction,

noise protection walls and other technical applications

Bottom Ash is a Ressource

5 mio. t minerals

500.000 t ferrous metalrecovery rate: 82 %

60.000 t non-ferrous metalrecovery rate: 56 %

High Quality secondary raw material(pollutants/adhesions removed in the incineration)

Source: Kuchta, Enzner - EdDE-Dokumentation 17

23

Energy EfficiencyandClimate Protection Potential

Energy produced and exported

CO2 balance - net climate effect 2015

Sources: Bilitewski (2011), UBA (2014), EdDE, own calculations

CO2eq emissions

waste inputsmass

[t]

emission factorsum

[t CO2eq][t CO2eq/t waste]

Houshold Waste 12.230.000 0,315 3.852.450

RDF 7.260.000 0,468 3.397.680

other waste 3.860.000 0,446 1.721.560

23.350.000 0,384 8.971.690

(weighted average)

emissions of imported energy (estimate) 200.000

CO2eq savings (german energy mix)

energy outputsamount[MWh]

substitutionsum

[t CO2eq][t CO2eq/ MWh]

Electricity (produced) 10.130.000 -0,806 -8.164.780

Process Steam (export) 13.210.000 -0,360 -4.755.600

District Heating (exp.) 8.310.000 -0,296 -2.459.760

total 31.650.000 -0,486 -15.380.140

subsitution by metal recovery from bottom ash -1.170.000

net emissions -7.378.450

CO2 balance - net climate effect 2015

Sources: Bilitewski (2011), UBA (2014), EdDE, own calculations

CO2eq emissions

waste inputsmass

[t]

emission factorsum

[t CO2eq][t CO2eq/t waste]

Houshold Waste 12.230.000 0,315 3.852.450

RDF 7.260.000 0,468 3.397.680

other waste 3.860.000 0,446 1.721.560

23.350.000 0,384 8.971.690

(weighted average)

emissions of imported energy (estimate) 200.000

CO2eq savings (german energy mix)

energy outputsamount[MWh]

substitutionsum

[t CO2eq][t CO2eq/ MWh]

Electricity (produced) 10.130.000 -0,806 -8.164.780

Process Steam (export) 13.210.000 -0,360 -4.755.600

District Heating (exp.) 8.310.000 -0,296 -2.459.760

total 31.650.000 -0,486 -15.380.140

subsitution by metal recovery from bottom ash -1.170.000

net emissions -7.378.450

net avoided emissions:

7,4 million tonnes CO2eq

=0,316 t CO2eq/t waste

+avoided by not landfilling

15,3 million tonnes CO2eq

=0,660 t Co2eq/t waste

balance compared to landfilling

22,7 million tonnes CO2eq

=~ 1 t CO2eq/t waste

Barriersfor Waste-to-Energy

• Missing energy users?

• High investment costs?

• „God recycles, devil burns“ ideology?

• Public acceptance?

Potential Barriers

Missing energy users?

Integrated development

where possible

High costs

Low impact

Low costs

High impact

Low costs

Low impact

High costs

High impact

Additional costs

Environm

enta

l advanta

ge

High investment costs?

?

?

?

?

Waste to Energy and Recycling go hand in hand

Recycling vs. WtE?

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1 1 1 1 24

8

17 18

26 2834

3942

4953 55

56 5960

74 7679 80 81 82

8388

3

49

27

5045

54

35

4838

56

50

35

3527

21

18

21 1512

1810 9

2

12 13

46

54

6

4450

55

44

64

51

58

3733

47

3945 45

61

40

30 32 33

2531 31

25

12

21 19 1915 17

12

54

43 45

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Landfill (%)

Waste-to-Energy (%)

Recycling + composting (%)

Municipal waste treatment in Europe in 2015(data: Eurostat, graph: cewep)

Energy from Waste – clean and safe

Public acceptance?

25th February 2017 | German-Iranian Workshop on Waste Management Concepts & Technologies

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