Incineration Plant Facts

A waste incineration plant is an important facility for public health as it involves protects the environment in a number of ways. Unless the waste materials are properly disposed by the waste incinerator plant, it may be a serious hazard for the community.

The main type of waste incinerator plant used around the world is the moving grate type. There are also fixed grate types and fluidized bed incinerators, where a fluidized semi-floating bed replace the grate.

 Incineration Plant Facts - Minato Incineration Plant
Minato Incineration Plant.
The most significant part of a waste incineration plant is the grate. The normal moving grate is positioned flat or in a sloping style.

For large incinerators, which are often equipped with waste storage for emergencies, the trucks discharge their waste into a waste storage bay.

A waste grabbing crane lifts the waste and introduces it to the grate end, and as the material combusts it moves to the ash pit located at the other end of the boiler/incinerator plant.

The air for combustion, and any additional gas required for heating/start up, is provided through the grate. This air is also used for grate cooling. Cooling is necessary to maintain the grate’s condition and strength.

Air for secondary combustion is moved through the nozzles to ensure total combustion, by being turbulent and carrying excess oxygen above combustion requirements.

Some countries have introduced more incineration plant in their cities, than others.One country which in recent years has introduced a lot of incineration plant is Austria.

Austria, had 9 plants toward the end of 2009, and may have built more since.

As a result of their incineration plant building policy, about a quarter of the residents in Vienna are supplied by the heat produced from the incineration of municipality waste at 3 different plants.

Spittelau Fernwarme in Vienna is probably the most photographed Waste-to-Energy plant in the world because of its famous design by the famous architect Hundertwasser.

 Spittelau Fernwarme Incinerator General View
A general view of the Spittelau Fernwarme Incineration Plant.
The 40-year-old building can convert 880,000 tons of waste into heat that supplies 290,000 Viennese apartments through a total pipeline length of 1,000 km.

Another incineration plant, at Pffaffenau, burns 250,000 tons of waste each year, while supplying district heating to 50,000 households and additionally supplying electricity to 25,000 subscribers.

 Spittelau Fernwarme Incinerator Plant, Vienna
A wall at the Spittelau Fernwarme Incineration Plant.

Other thermal treatment methods which to varying degrees are thought of by many as being incineration plants, but in fact vary significantly in the way they work, are gasification and plasma arc processes.

In these systems, the substances produced are oxidized subsequently. The incinerators should essentially ensure the conversion of various compositions into matter that is not dangerous to the environment. This needs extremely effective incineration plant, suitable cleaning of the flue gases, and proper removal of the dust, slag, salts, and other waste products.

At some time in the future “carbon capture” may also need to be added to today’s incineration plants.

The use of waste incineration plant is a waste treatment method which helps us reduce the environmental impacts of landfill sites by making them smaller and removing the organic content which causes odor and landfill gas, yet it generates heat and electricity as a side-benefit.

It is reported that according to the Danish Energy Agency, the calorific value of 4 tons waste would equal to 1 tons of oil or 1.6 tons of coal. The incineration of 1 ton of waste produces approximately 2,000 kWh of heat and 670 kWh of electricity.

Waste management experts and many governments recommend reducing our waste generation rather than treating waste as a resource for Energy from Waste (EfW). However, for residual waste left over, and considering the fact that waste is a local resource and partially consists of biomass, waste incineration often appears to be a better and cleaner option.

Governments have for some years now been initiating a wider plan for municipal waste treatment methods through what has been called a waste hierarchy, and that is a valuable contribution to maintaining our environment. So, reducing, re-using and recycling are the most important initial steps in order to create a sustainable economy, and need to be done before anyw aste goes to an incineration plant.

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