Combustion operating conditions for municipal Waste-to-Energy facilities in the U.S.
Date
2021-08-01
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Waste Management
Abstract
Highlights
• Survey of U.S. municipal waste-to-energy (WTE) facilities identified 188 boilers.
• These WTE boilers were stratified into nine categories by combustion technology.
• WTE boilers typically operate at a gas residence time > 2.4 s above 1160°C.
Abstract
This paper reports the first known comprehensive survey of combustion operating conditions across the wide range of municipal waste-to-energy facilities in the U.S. The survey was conducted in a step-wise fashion. Once the population of 188 units operating at over 70 facilities was defined, this population was stratified by distinguishing characteristics of combustion technology. Stratum-level estimates for operating conditions were determined from data collected in the survey. These stratum-level values were weighted by corresponding design capacity share and combined to infer national-level operating parameter estimates representative of the overall population. Survey results show that typical municipal waste-to-energy combustion operating conditions in the U.S. are (1) furnace temperature above 1160 °C, (2) gas residence time above 2.4 s, (3) exit gas concentrations of nearly 10% for oxygen (dry basis), and (4) over 16% for moisture. These operating parameter values can serve as benchmarks for laboratory-scale studies representative of municipal waste-to-energy combustion as typically practiced in the U.S.
Graphical abstract
Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2021.07.015
Description
This article was originally published in Waste Management. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2021.07.015. © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Keywords
waste-to-energy, energy-from-waste, MSW, RDF, operating parameter, temperature profile, responsible consumption and production
Citation
Giraud, Robert J., Philip H. Taylor, and Chin-pao Huang. “Combustion Operating Conditions for Municipal Waste-to-Energy Facilities in the U.S.” Waste Management 132 (August 1, 2021): 124–32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2021.07.015.