Global Developments

During the 2001–2007 period, the WtE capacity increased by about 4 million MT/Y. Japan and China each built several plants based on direct smelting or on fluidized bed combustion of solid waste. Japan is the largest user in thermal treatment of MSW in the world, with 40 million T. Some of the newest plants use stoker technology and others use the advanced oxygen enrichment technology. There are also over one hundred thermal treatment plants using relatively novel processes such as direct smelting, the Ebara fluidization process, and the thermoselect JFE gasification and melting technology process. In India its first energy bio‐science center was developed to reduce the country’s greenhouse gases and its dependency on fossil fuel. As of June 2014, Indonesia had a total of 93.5 MW installed capacity of WtE, with a pipeline of projects in different preparation phases together amounting to another 373 MW of capacity.

Biofuel Energy Corporation of Denver, CO, opened two new biofuel plants in Wood River, Nebraska, and Fairmont, Minnesota, in July 2008. These plants use distillation to make ethanol for use in motor vehicles and other engines. Both plants are currently reported to be working at over 90% capacity. Fulcrum BioEnergy Incorporation located in Pleasanton, California, is building a WtE plant near Reno, Nevada. The plant is scheduled to open in 2020. https://fulcrum‐bioenergy.com/facilities. BioEnergy Incorporation predicts that the plant will produce approximately 10.5 MG/year of ethanol from nearly 200 000 T/Y of MSW.

WtE technology includes fermentation, which can take biomass and create ethanol, using waste cellulosic or organic material. In the fermentation process, the sugar in the waste is changed to carbon dioxide and alcohol, in the same general process that is used to make wine. Normally, fermentation occurs with no air present. Esterification can also be done using WtE technologies, and the result of this process is biodiesel. The cost effectiveness of esterification will depend on the feedstock being used, and all the other relevant factors such as transportation distance, amount of oil present in the feedstock, and others. Gasification and pyrolysis by now can reach gross thermal conversion efficiencies (fuel to gas) up to 75%; however, a complete combustion is superior in terms of fuel conversion efficiency. Some pyrolysis processes need an outside heat source which may be supplied by the gasification process, making the combined process self‐sustaining.

Carbon Dioxide Emissions

In thermal WtE technologies, nearly all of the carbon content in the waste is emitted as carbon dioxide (CO₂) to the atmosphere (when including final combustion of the products from pyrolysis and gasification; except when producing bio‐char for fertilizer). MSW contain approximately the same mass fraction of carbon as CO₂ itself (27%), so treatment of 1 MT (1.1 short tons) of MSW produce approximately 1 MT (1.1 short tons) of CO₂.

In the event that the waste was landfilled, 1 MT (1.1 short tons) of MSW would produce approximately 62 m³ (2200 ft³) methane via the anaerobic decomposition of the biodegradable part of the waste. This amount of methane has more than twice the global warming potential than the 1 MT (1.1 short tons) of CO₂, which would have been produced by combustion. In some countries, large amounts of landfill gas are collected, but still the global warming potential of the landfill gas emitted to atmosphere in, e.g., the United States in 1999 was approximately 32% higher than the amount of CO₂ that would have been emitted by combustion.

In addition, nearly all biodegradable waste is biomass. That is, it has biological origin. This material has been formed by plants using atmospheric CO₂ typically within the last growing season. If these plants are regrown, the CO₂ emitted from their combustion will be taken out from the atmosphere once more.

Such considerations are the main reason why several countries administrate WtE of the biomass part of waste as renewable energy. The rest – mainly plastics and other oil and gas derived products – is generally treated as nonrenewables.

Examples of WtE Plants

According to ISWA there are 431 WtE plants in Europe (2005) and 89 in the United States (2004). The following are some examples of WtE plants.

Waste incineration WtE plants:

• Lee County Solid Waste Resource Recovery Facility, Fort Myers, Florida, USA (1994)
• Montgomery County Resource Recovery Facility in Dickerson, Maryland, USA (1995)
• Essex County Resource Recovery Facility, Newark, New Jersey, USA (1996)
• Spokane Waste‐to‐Energy Facility, Washington, USA (1996)
• Spittelau (1971), and Flötzersteig Vienna, (Wien Energie), Austria (1963)
• SYSAV Waste‐to‐Energy Plant, Malmö, Sweden (2003 and 2008)
• Stoke Incinerator, Stoke‐on‐Trent, England, UK (1989)
• Teesside EfW plant near Middlesbrough, North East, England, UK (1998)
• Edmonton Incinerator in Greater London, England, UK (1974)
• Burnaby Waste‐to‐Energy Facility, Metro Vancouver, Canada (1988)
• Timarpur‐Okhla Waste to Energy Plant, New Delhi, India (2001)
• Algonquin Power, Brampton, Ontario, Canada (1990)