The Role Of Energy From Waste In Integrated Waste Management Bruce Howie, P.E. Vice President Energy from Waste Practice Leader for HDR Corporation
BRIEF OVERVIEW OF HDR Over 8,000 Employee Owners Including 6 Offices in Australasia with over 200 Staff Over 180 Offices Worldwide Brisbane
HDR WASTE SERVICES Ranked as one of the top WASTE MANAGEMENT CONSULTING FIRMs in North America» Zero Waste Master Planning» Waste Facility Design» Landfill & Landfill Gas Services» Organics Management» Waste-to-Energy Consulting
HDR s WASTE-TO-ENERGY SERVICES» Conceptual Design» Independent Third Party Technology Reviews» Life Cycle Cost and Impact Assessments» Greenhouse Gas (GHG) & Carbon Accounting» Tender development assistance» Contract negotiations (PPAs)» Environmental Approvals Who is this handsome bloke?» Construction Monitoring and Start-Up Testing Support» Facility Retrofits & Upgrades» Facility Inspections & Operations Monitoring
NOT JUST RUBBISH IT S VALUABLE RESOURCE
DOES WTE MAKE SENSE IN AUSTRALIA?» Increasing diversion to meet targets will require an integrated waste management approach» Increasing difficulty siting new landfill capacity in many regions» Higher energy pricing (carbon and coal taxes) and the potential need for new base load power as current energy sources become obsolete
DOES WTE FIT IN THE WASTE HIERARCHY? The role of WTE in an integrated waste management system has always been the subject of considerable debate. Most Desirable to Least Desirable
UNDERSTANDING WHERE IT FITS IN THE HIERARCHY Value of Resources Decreases Prevention Diversion Disposal Waste Reduction (e.g. behavioral or technological changes) Waste Reuse & Recycling Source Separated Composting & Anaerobic Digestion Thermal Treatment with Energy Recovery Landfill with Energy Recovery Decreased Demand for Raw Materials & Energy Use: Design for Environment Recovery & Reuse of Recyclable Materials Recovery or Organic Matter Recovery or Energy Recovery of Energy Recovery of Energy From Methane Disposal Capacity Needs Increase
HOW DO WE GET TO ZERO WASTE? Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Public Outreach & Education ZERO WASTE Increase Diversion Programs Alternative Waste Conversion Technologies
WHAT IS WASTE-TO-ENERGY?
WASTE-TO-ENERGY THEN & NOW Picture Here 1975 Construction of 1 st EFW Facility in North America Saugus, Mass 1950 s 1960 s 1970 s 1980 s Picture Here Construction of early WTE facilities in Europe and incinerators in U.S. Construction of Most Modern Facilities in North America and Europe Picture Here
WASTE-TO-ENERGY THEN & NOW Picture Here Stricter Emission Limits for U.S. retrofits & some facility closures Picture Here Increased New WTE Facility Development 1990 s 2000 s Present Day Picture Here Existing Facility Expansions and new facility construction in Europe & Asia
WTE TECHNOLOGY NOW Thermal Technologies Traditional WTE Gasification Biological Technologies Anaerobic Digestion Landfill Gas to Energy Other Hybrid Technologies Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) Waste to Fuel
TRADITIONAL WASTE-TO-ENERGY
TRADITIONAL WASTE-TO-ENERGY» Direct combustion of waste & recovery of latent heat to make steam, electricity or hot water» Proven & Established - Most widely used technology used worldwide» Over 80 installations in North America and 500+ in Europe & Asia» Renewable & Sustainable (lower GHG emissions than landfill) but still controversial
GASIFICATION TECHNOLOGIES
GASIFICATION TECHNOLOGIES» Most technologies require pre-processing or a selective waste composition (high caloric value)» Waste is converted into a synthesis gas (or syngas ) at high temperatures with little to no air» Syngas can be fired in a boiler, or in an engine to create electricity, or converted chemically into a fuel» Commercial operations of technology on a mixed municipal waste feedstock mostly in Japan and Asia
BIOLOGICAL TECHNOLOGIES
BIOLOGICAL TECHNOLOGIES» Require pre-processing/sorting to capture organic-rich fraction of the waste stream» Generates a compost and a biogas that can be fired in an engine to create electricity, or converted into Compressed Natural Gas (CNG)» Lower emissions, environmentally sustainable» Residual waste stream leftover (typically >20%) that requires disposal or further processing
MECHANICAL BIOLOGICAL TREATMENT (MBT)
MECHANICAL BIOLOGICAL TREATMENT (MBT)» Multi-step process that combines mechanical separation and a biological process» Useful products includes recovered recyclables, biogas, a compost-like material, and/or solid fuel, and residuals» Widely used in Europe (300 plus installations in Germany, Spain, Italy & UK) and in parts of Australia & North America
WASTE-TO-FUEL TECHNOLOGIES
WASTE-TO-FUEL TECHNOLOGIES» Significant upfront pre-processing of waste stream to create an RDF or Spec Fuel» Thermal conversion to Syngas followed by a catalytic/chemical process to synthesize a liquid fuel» Proven track record on woody wastes/materials some demonstration on mixed waste
WTE in INTEGRATED WASTE MANAGEMENT A worldwide perspective
WTE IN THE EUROPEAN UNION» EU Landfill Directive (1999/31/EC), landfill bans (Denmark and Germany), plus high landfill taxes» High energy pricing and other government incentives» 400 plus WTE facilities EU-wide (majority of facilities employ traditional WTE technologies)» Strict environmental and energy efficiency standards for WTE» New facility development in UK and in Poland
ISSEANE, PARIS, FRANCE 50% of Paris is heated by energy from WTE facilities, including the Louvre Museum
COPENHAGEN, DENMARK
TEES VALLEY, UNITED KINGDOM» Largest Plasma gasifier in the World» Renewable Base Load Electricity» Large Investment in the Region & Strong Local Support
WTE IN ASIA» Limited land for new landfills in Japan and increasing population density in Chinese cities» More diversity in the types of WTE technologies used versus EU (particularly in Japan)» Reuse of all WTE by-products, including ash or slag as construction aggregate» China is the fastest growing market for new WTE facilities over 100 new plants by 2015
TOKYO, JAPAN» Syngas fired in boilers or in IC Engines and gas turbines» Due to limited landfill availability gasification technologies used for ash melting and vitrification TRP Gasification Facility, Tokyo
WTE IN NORTH AMERICA» Over 80 facilities in operation since mid-1970s mostly traditional mass burn WTE and RDF combustion» Approximately 26.5m tonnes processed by WTE (<10% total waste generated) & ~1m tonnes metals recovered» Expansions of existing WTE plants & some new technology development» Slow economic recovery, cheap landfill costs & low energy pricing thwarts growth
MUNICIPALITIES OF DURHAM & YORK ONTARIO, CANADA» Located 1 hour east of downtown Toronto» First Greenfield Facility in Canada in over two decades» Traditional mass burn WTE Technology» Operations Start in Fall 2014
CITY OF EDMONTON ALBERTA, CANADA» Bedminster type front end preprocessing system» 100,000 dry yonnes/yr of residual waste to ~38 Million Litres of Ethanol» Gasification to Catalytic waste tofuel process» Completion at End of Fall 2013
City of Los Angeles Solid Waste Integrated Resources Plan (SWIRP) All of us together can make
CITY OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA Waste Master Plan» Achieve 90% diversion from landfill by 2025» Increase EPR and source separation, including Green Bin and expanded composting programs» Intense public consultation and outreach over 200 public meetings» Includes an Alternative WTE technology piece for processing remaining residual waste stream
WHY WASTE-TO-ENERGY? 1. 2. 3. Increased Diversion From Landfill +90% Reduction of Waste Stream By Volume Sustainable & Renewable Energy 1 tonne Waste Processed = ~ 1 Barrel of Oil Replaced Low Carbon: 1 tonne of Waste Processed = 1 tonne Less of CO 2
WTE IN NOT WITHOUT CHALLENGES» Higher capital and operating costs compared to landfill disposal options» Lower priced energy solutions with cheaper (natural gas pricing in North America & cheap coal in Australia )» Difficult to site (NIMBY, BANANA) & requires a lot of public education & outreach» WTE projects take time to implement
A BROADER VISION OF THE FUTURE? WTE is part of a broader solution for achieving ZERO Waste Image courtesy of Wheelabrator Technologies, Inc.
WTE IS AS EASY AS 1-2-3 H Power Expansion, Honolulu, Hawaii
Thank You! Bruce Howie, P.E. 500 7 th Avenue, 11 th Floor New York, NY 10018 bruce.howie@hdrinc.com 917.902.1727