Energy recovery from New York City municipal solid wastes

Abstract

This work was part of a major study that examined the policy and technology implications of alternatives for managing the municipal solid wastes (MSW) of New York City. At this time, of the 4.1 million metric tons of MSW collected by the City annually, 16.6% are recycled, 12.4% are combusted in Waste-to-Energy (WTE) plants, and the remaining 71% are landfilled. Despite the heterogeneity of organic materials in MSW, the composite molecular structure can be approximated by the organic compound C₆ H₁₀ O₄. A formula was derived that allows the prediction of the heating value of MSW as a function of moisture and glass/metal content and compares well with experimentally derived values. The performance of a leading Waste-to-Energy plant that utilises suspension firing of shredded MSW, processes one million tons of MSW per year, and generates a net of 610 kWh/metric ton was examined. The results of this study showed that WTE processing of the MSW reduces fossil fuel consumption and is environmentally superior to landfilling.

Keywords

Municipal solid waste energy recovery combustion ash emission shredding suspension firing Waste-to-Energy WTE wmr 471-4

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Berenyi, E. (1998), Resource Directory of U. S. Waste-to-Energy Plants, Governmental Advisory Associates, Westport, CT (www.columbia.edu/cu/earth).

Brady, M.H. (2000) “Materials and Energy Recovery from the Dry Stream of New York City’s Residential Waste”, M.S. Thesis, Earth Resources Engineering, Columbia University.

Chang, Ni-Bin , et al. (1999), “Assessment of Reuse Potential for MSW and Refuse-Derived Fuel Incineration Ashes”, Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 25, 1255-1270.

Clarke, Marjorie J. , Maarten de Kadt , David Saphire . (1991) “Burning Garbage in the US: Practice vs State of the Art”, INFORM, Inc., New York.

Council on Environmental Quality, “CEQ 1997 Report”, available on the White House web site (www.whitehouse.gov/CEQ)

Dennison, Richard A. and Ruston, John F. (1995), “Assessing the Full Costs and Benefits of Curbside Recycling”, Environmental Defense (www.edf.org/pubs/Reports/advrec.html)

Dennison, R.A. (1996) “Environmental life-cycle comparisons of recycling, landfilling, and Incineration”, Annual Revues of Energy and Environment, 21: 191-237.

EAC (1999, 2000) Energy Answers Corporation, Albany, NY (Gordon L. Sutin, private communications, plant visits by Earth Eng. Center personnel, company reports, Rochester MA, SEMASS plant operating data.

EEC (2001), Earth Engineering Center and Urban Research Initiative Study, “Alternatives to Exporting the NYC MSW”, copy of full report available from earth@columbia.edu.

10.

Eighmy, T. Taylor , et al. (1998), “Characterization and Phosphate Stabilization of Dusts from the Vitrification of MSW Combustion Residues.” Waste Management. 18: 513-524.

11.

EPA (1997), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “Mercury Study Report to Congress, Volume II. Inventory of Anthropogenic Emissions in the U.S.”, EPA-452/R-97-004, December 1997.

12.

EPA Report (1997), “Characterization of Municipal Solid Waste in the United States in 1996”, EPA 530-S-97-015.

13.

EPA (1998), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency “Inventory of Sources of Dioxin in the U.S. (April 1998), www.epa.gov/nceawww1/diox/htm.

14.

EPA Review (1998) EPA Contract No. 68-D5-0028 Work Assignment No. 98-05, August7, 1998 (www.epa.gov).

15.

EWG (2001) Environmental Working Group, “Analysis of mercury pollution from coal burning plants”, www.ewg.org, Natural Resources Defense Council, Washington, DC (2001).

16.

OCRRA (2001), Onondaga County Resource Recovery Agency (www.ocrra.org)

17.

NYC DOS 2000, “The Comprehensive Solid Waste Management Plan”, Draft Modification of May 2000. NYC DOS., Section 1: Long Term Plan. p. 28-29. (www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/dos/pdf/swmp/swmptext/st_chp1.pdf)

18.

NYC DOS (2001) www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/dos/html/dosfact.html

19.

Roinen, A. (1999) “HSC Chemistry 4.0”, Outokumpu Research, Outokumpu Oy, Pori, Finland.

20.

SCS Engineers . (1992) “New York City Waste Composition Study (1989-1990).”; available from NYC Department of Sanitation.

21.

SEMASS (2001), American Ref-Fuel, Rochester, MA, www.ref-fuel.com/locations/semass.htm

22.

Shepherd, P. , (1993) “Mercury Emissions from Municipal Solid Waste Combustors: An Assessment of the Current Situation in the United States and Forecast of Future Emissions,” NREL/TP-430-5399, Solid Waste Association of North America, Silver Spring, MD, and National Renewable Energy Laboratory, USDOE, Golden, CO.

23.

Tchobanoglous, G. , Theisen, H. , and Vigil, S. (1993) “Integrated Solid Waste Management”, Chapter 4, McGraw-Hill, New York.

24.

Themelis and Gregory (2001), “Mercury Sources and Fate in Hudson-Raritan Basin”, report to New York Academy of Science, June 2001, www.columbia.edu/cu/earth.

25.

Themelis, N.J. , and Y.H. Kim 2002 “ Materials and Energy balances in a Large-Scale Aerobic Bioconversion Cell.”, Journal of Waste Management and Research, 20(3) 234-242.

26.

Walsh, D.C. , S. N. Chillrud , H. J. Simpson , and R. F. Bopp , 2000, “Refuse Incinerator Particulate Emissions and Combustion Residues for New York City during the 20th Century”, Environmental Science and Technology, in press.

27.

Wiles, Carlton C. “Municipal Solid Waste Combustion Ash: State-of-the-knowledge”, Journal of Hazardous Materials. 47 (1996): 325-344.