Energy supply: Waste to Energy Treatment

1. Energy supply:Waste to Energy Treatment Calla McLachlan, Dora Dubber, and Dempsey Bryk

2. Energy supply crisis Global Population Rise Practical Political Ecological

3. Fossil fuels are the primary source of energy worldwide Oil primarily used for transportation

4. Practical • Cambridge Energy Research Association prediction: 3.74 trillion barrels of oil remain in the earth (2006) • Oil consumption theory: companies first extract from most easily obtainable sources, then employ technology to remove energy products from remote locations • Increasing energy requirements due to global population rise will require extraction from more obscure locations, leading to increased oil prices

5. Political • Reliance on foreign countries for oil imports • Countries that import oil may be faced with unstable governments or an unstable supply of energy products • During his presidency, Venezuelan President threatened to stop exporting oil to the United States

6. Ecological • Oil made up of complex mixtures of hydrocarbons Bioaccumulation: the increase in the concentration of an environmental pollutant within an organism over time Major Classes of Hydrocarbons Found in Crude Oil: Paraffins – general formula e.g. methane, ethane, propane, butane Aromatics – general formula e.g. benzene, napthalene Napthenes or Cycloalkanes – general formula e.g. cyclohexane, methyl cyclopentane Alkenes – general formula e.g. Acetylene, butadienes

7. Bioenergy • Possible solutions: • Municipal wastes • Animal wastes • Agricultural feed crops waste and residues • Aquatic plants • Landfill gases • Methane • Compressed Natural gas • Biomass • Organic waste materials

8. Waste to Energy (WtE) • Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) • Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF) • Mass burn incineration (MBI) • Mechanical biological treatment (MBT)

9. Mechanical heat treatment (MHT) Gas Cleaning and Conditioning System (depending on feedstock composition): Semi-Dry system with a Spray Dryer/Gas Quencher, Activated Carbon Injection, Baghouse Filter, Packed Bed Tower/Polishing Scrubber, indirect heat exchanger, Cooling Tower, Cooling water system; If high sulfur: Spray Dryer/Gas Quencher, Activated Carbon injection, Baghouse Filter, hydrogen chloride scrubber (HCl solution recovery), alkali scrubber (Sodium Sulfide recovery), indirect heat exchangers; If medical waste: a wet system with a High Pressure Venturi, Packed Bed Tower/Polishing Scrubber, indirect heat exchanger, cooling tower and cooling water systems.

10. Products of MHT • Glass and metal recycled– Steam cleaning removes glues and labels. Significantly cleaner than those derived from MBT • Plastic possibly recycled – Most plastic deformed by heat from processing • Fiber extracted– Main options are: • Use as raw material in recycling • Biological process for use as low grade compost material • Used as fuel because of combustive properties

11. Logistics • Production • Planning application • Consider community implications (Plant sighting, Traffic, Air emissions and health effects, Dust and odor, Flies, Vermin and birds, Noise, Litter, Water resources, Visual intrusion, Public concern) • Financial • Capital Grants, Private sector-funding • For constructing, operating, and maintaining • Recommended 42-76$ per tonne of material separated for operating cost • 25,357,590$ per factory estimated

12. Global impacts • EU has set up a plan to construct factories in order to make this a more viable energy source by 2020 • Helps governments meet quotas and green energy mandates • Eg. UK met and increased national recovery targets through Waste Strategy for England 2007in part, due to help of MHT

13. Conclusion • WtE treatment is an innovative and resourceful method of producing an alternative to the energy sources used today • WtE products can be applied not just to energy issues but also to environmental and agricultural concerns as well • However, WtE cannot produce sufficient amounts of energy to entirely replace the use of fossil fuels and oil • If WtE works in tandem with other bioenergy methods, then we can replace the use of fossil fuels and oil in a sustainable way

14. Works Cited Ogugua, V.N. "Bioline International Official Site." Bioline International Official Site. International Journal of Environmental Research, n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2013. Shah, Anup. "Energy Security." Global Issues. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2013. Mader, Sylvia. "Bioaccumulation & Biomagnification." Bioaccumulation & Biomagnification. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2013. <http://www.marietta.edu/~biol/102/2bioma95.html>. "How Does Bioaccumulation Work and Why Is It Bad?" GreenAnswers. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2013. <http://greenanswers.com/question/how-does-bioaccumulation-work-and-why-it-bad/>. "Mechanical Heat Treatment of Municipal Solid Waste." Department for Environmental, Food, and Rural Affairs, 2007. Web. <http://www.recycleforgloucestershire.com/recover/what-are-we-doing/downloads/mht.pdf>. "Municipal Solid Waste and Its Role in Sustainability." IEA Bioenergy, 2003. Web. <http://www.co.la-crosse.wi.us/solidwaste/docs/40_IEAPositionPaperMSW.pdf>. "Fulcram Energy Proves Trash-to-Energy Fuel Method." Biomass Magazine. N.p., 2013. Web. <http://biomassmagazine.com/articles/9039/fulcrum-bioenergy-proves-trash-to-jet-fuel-method-gets-dod-grant>.