WTE Incinerators

Concentration of WTE Incinerators The total number of municipal waste incinerator facihties as hsted in the Solid Waste Digest, vol. 4, no. 9 September 1994 (a publication of Chartwell Information Publishers of Alexandria, VA) is 62. See Table 25-69, which covers over 200 existing units. The wastes burned in these facilities totals 8.44 percent of total municipal wastes managed in landfills, incinerators, and transfer stations. This amounts to 88,470 tons per day combusted municipal waste. 

TABLE 25-69 Solid Waste Price Index, WTE Incinerator Intake TPD-Tip Fee, September 1994... 

One notes that the heavily populated areas of the country also have the highest number of WTE facilities as well as the highest intake of municipal waste into incinerators. This is also due to the lack of open space for landfills compared to the midwest and western states. The amount of waste combusted in the northeastern states is 20.7 percent of the total generated compared to 8.44 per-... 

The materials normally used as fuels to produce heat energy are plastics, leather, paper, paint, sludge, and emulsions. The materials commonly used as substitute inputs are the ashes from waste incineration [waste-to-energy (WTE)], as well as... 

Coincineration presents some advantages over the WTE process (incineration for energy generation). Table 1 compares the two processes. 

There is a need for further studies of the calorific power, ash content, and level of chlorides in waste materials for coprocessing in the cement industry or for incineration to generate energy (WTE), considering the variability of the wastes produced at different times of the year and by different populations, as shown by the test results. 

Municipal waste incinerators have figured prominently in the debate about environmental equity. However, a 1990 census showed that modem WTE facilities are predominantly located in white, middle-class neighborhoods with 6% more whites than corresponds to the national average and a median household income 7% above the national average (Carr, 1996). 

In the United States, landfill disposal still accounts for the majority of MSW and therefore for plastic waste as well. Mechanical recycling and incineration (waste to energy processes or WTE) are also in use, but to a much lesser extent. In Europe, whatever is not recycled is mostly incinerated for energy recovery. Feedstock recovery, though an attractive option, is not practiced as a laige-scale MSW treatment option. Figure 9.5 summarizes the available technical options for recovery of plastics waste. 

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