Waste To Power
Energy recovery from waste is the conversion of non-recyclable waste materials into usable heat, electricity, or fuel through a variety of processes, including combustion, gasification, pyrolization, anaerobic digestion and landfill gas recovery. This process is often called waste to energy.
Small Biodigesters for Hotels and Institutions
Hotel/Resorts and institutions produce biowaste through their food services. In most cases, this biowaste is taken to the municipal landfill where it breaks down resulting in methane emissions. By diverting this biowaste to a simple digestor, this waste can be turned into an emissions free bio-fuel which can be used in a CHP to generate heat and power.
This has several advantages:
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Reduces costs for waste disposal
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Provides emissions free heat and power for the facility
However, sufficient bio-mass is required in order to cost justify the system, and there needs to be a consistent predictable supply of bio-mass. This lends itself nicely to hotel/resorts where there are multiple restaurants.
Large Waste to Energy for Municipal Landfills
Municipal solid waste (MSW), sometimes known as trash or garbage, is burned in waste-to-energy plants to create steam in a boiler, which powers an electric generating turbine.
Mixed solid waste (MSW) includes components high in energy, including paper, plastics, yard trash, and wood-based products. Approximately 85 pounds of MSW can be burned as fuel to create electricity for every 100 pounds of MSW in the US. trash-to-energy plants reduce trash volume by around 87% and transform 2,000 pounds of garbage into ash that weighs between 300 and 600 pounds.
The mass-burn system is the most widely used waste-to-energy method in the US. In this method, raw MSW is burned in a sizable incinerator that has a generator and a boiler to create energy. Refuse-derived fuel (RDF) is produced by a less common type of system that treats MSW to remove non-combustible elements.
In a mass-burn waste-to-energy facility, there are seven steps involved in producing electricity:
1. Trash from garbage trucks is emptied into a large pit.
2. Waste is collected by a crane's enormous claw and dumped into a combustion chamber.
3. Heat is released when the trash (fuel) is burnt.
4. In a boiler, the heat causes water to transform into steam.
5. A turbine generator uses high-pressure steam to turn its blades, creating energy.
6. Before the combustion gas is expelled through a smoke stack, contaminants are removed from it by an air pollution control system.
7. The air pollution control system and the boiler are where ash is gathered
