Waste to Energy - New Technologies March 28, 2012

Waste to Energy - New Technologies
March 28, 2012
Understanding the Energy Market
• Power Generation
–
–
–
–
Coal
Natural Gas
Oil
Renewables
o Hydro, Biomass, Wind, Solar, Geothermal, Waste to Energy (WTE)
– Nuclear
• Transmission/Distribution – Gas & Electric
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North American Renewable Energy Market
Note Source: EIA Data Base 2009
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Latin American and Caribbean Market
• Predicted Annual Growth Rate 9%
• Municipal, Utilities & Private Developers
– 513 projects totaling $230 billion
– An additional 7,500 MW are under development
– More than 800 Hydro electric projects are being
developed requiring $53 billion investment
– 300 natural gas units totaling 27 GW
• Caribbean dependent on No.2 Diesel forces renewable
development $2.0 billion committed
!EIA and Industrial Info Resources 2010 - 2015
Renewable Energy
• What is Renewable Energy?
• According to the U.S. EPA – Renewable energy is energy
obtained from sources that are essentially inexhaustible
unlike natural gas, coal and oil, of which there is a finite
supply.
• According to the U.S. DOE – Renewable energy sources
include: wood and other biomass, solar (Photovoltaic and
Thermal), wind, geothermal, wastes [Municipal Solid Waste
(MSW), Refuse-Derived Fuel (RDF) and Landfill Gas (LFG)]
and any other sources that are naturally or continually
replenished.”
– By definition, the DOE describes renewable energy as a “nondeplete-able source of energy.”
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Putting MSW into Perspective
• 4.43 pounds per day of MSW per person in the U.S.
– Equates to 1.329 billion pounds per day
• 1 waste (used) tire per person per year
– Equates to over 300 million per year
Source: U.S. EPA
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Growth in MSW Generation
Source: U.S. EPA
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MSW Makeup
83% carbon w/plastics and
Textiles piece, 62% without
Source: U.S. EPA
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Feedstock Comparisons
% Moisture
% Ash
% Volatile Matter
% Fixed Carbon
Btu/lb
Used Tires
2
3
80
85
15,369
Plastic
2
2
96
60
14,100
Pet Coke
8
0.5
10
81
14,050
Bituminous Coal
12
11
35
61
11,100
Poplar
5
1
82
47
8,382
Subbituminous
Coal
30
5
31
48
8,156
Corn Stover
6
5
76
44
7,782
Paper
10
5
76
44
6,814
Pine
17
0.5
71
42
6,800
Switchgrass
8
4
67
39
6,636
Chicken Litter
12
19
58
32
6,310
MSW
21
25
52
52
5,000
Biosolids
5
53
40
20
3,445
Current WTE Technologies
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Combustion (Mass-burn Incineration and RDF)
Pyrolysis
Gasification
Plasma Gasification
Hydrolysis
Anaerobic Digestion
Steam Hydrogasification
Methane/Landfill Gas (Electric & Pipeline gas)
This Presentation Covers Technologies in Green!
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The Ideal Waste Treatment System
1.
2.
3.
4.
A closed system, not open to the air, water, or land
A system that will handle large volumes of wastes economically
A system that can process a broad spectrum of wastes
A destruction level of 99.9999% (or to the detection limit), or
transformation to an inert state
5. No operator exposure
6. No odor
7. No acid off-gases
8. No toxic ash
9. No uncertain storage of organic or toxic substances by land filling or deep
well injection
10. No ocean or waterway dumping of waste
• Note! All technologies presented make these claims but we opine that this
is not possible.
*EPA – DOE – DOD
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Pyrolysis
• Thermochemical decomposition of organic material at
elevated temperatures without the participation of
oxygen
• It involves the simultaneous change of chemical
composition and physical phase, and is irreversible
• Pyrolysis occurs at temperatures of >550°F with a
complete lack of oxygen
• Can be used to produce syngas or liquid hydrocarbons
• By-product is unconverted carbon char (charcoal)
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Fast Pyrolysis
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Rapid Thermal Process
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Pyrolysis Comparison
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Gasification
Feedstock
Power
Fuels
Chemical
Fertilizers
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Gasification
• Thermal conversion of organic materialsat 1,0002,800°F, with a limited supply of air or oxygen (substoichiometric atmosphere)
• Not combustion, there’s no burning!
• Gasification uses only a fraction of the air/oxygen that
would be needed to combust the material and thus
creates a low to medium Btu syngas
• NOTE! Although more mature than other processes, it
requires complex systems and gas clean up equipment
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Syngas
• Syngas contains mostly hydrogen (H2) (Water shift
reaction), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2),
and water (H2O)
– it’s not methane (CH4), like natural gas
• Heating value is 125-360 Btu/scf
– vs. natural gas at 1,000 Btu/scf
• Syngas can be used as fuel for generating power, or to
make chemicals and fuels
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Gasifiers – Many Types for Different Feedstocks
and Applications
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Gasifiers
• Typical commercial gasifiers:
–
–
–
–
–
–
750 to 1-150 tons/day
Air/Oxygen-blown
Atmospheric pressure
1,000-2,500ºF
Fixed bed or fluid bed
Syngas is combusted directly in a boiler to make steam for a steam
turbine generator or a Combustion Turbine/Engine Genset
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Plasma Gasification
• Uses plasma torch or arc using carbon electrodes, copper, tungsten,
hafnium, zirconium, etc. to initiate gasification reactions
• Plasma temperature 4,000 - 20,000ºF (More sensible heat)
• Used for decades to destroy wastes and melt incinerator ash into
slag/glass
• Good for hard to gasify materials
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MSW Plasma Gasification
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Plasma Gasification History
• First Unit online 1985 – Anniston, Alabama with Catalytic Converter
System – Munitions destruction
• Second Unit online 1995 – Kinura, Japan followed by the third unit in
Bordeaux, France – Both MSW
• Other facilities in Sweden, Norway, Canada, Taiwan, U.S. and
numerous others in Japan.
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Plasco System Diagram
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Plasma Waste Recycling, Inc.
• 250 tons/day design for MSW plasma gasification to power
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WSE System
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Typical Plant Layout
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MSW Plasma Gasification and Pyrolysis
• Pyrolysis requires pre-processing Plasma Arc does not
– Removal/recovery of metals, paper, and glass, plastics plus shredding
and sizing
– Enhances existing recycling programs
• Same technologies as used for biomass
– Some use pyrolysis
– Plasma gasification in some applications
• Each technology has better environmental performance
than incineration
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Hydrolysis
Hydrolysis hydro "water" + lysis "separation” is a
chemical reaction during which molecules of water (H2O)
are split into hydrogen cations (H+, conventionally
referred to as protons) and hydroxide anions (OH−) in the
process of a chemical mechanism
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Typical Hydrolysis Process
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Clean Water Out
Waste In
air
99.4% Heat
Recovered to
Electricity
cased well
(900 to 2500 psi)
Heat Exchange
Reaction Zone
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(3,000 to 7,000 ft)
Steam Hydrogasification
• The process of combining steam, hydrogen and MSW to
generate a higher quality of syn-gas
• Generally temperatures above 900°F
• Process requires complex systems and equipment
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Typical Steam Hydrogasifier Process
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Conclusions for Proven Technologies
• Combustion – Proven – Emissions (MACT) – Capital
Increases - Odor
• Gasification – Proven – Higher Capital – Higher O&M –
Better Emissions
• Anaerobic Digestion – Proven - MSW can contaminate
the organisms – emissions OK – Capital & O&M
competitive – Size constrained (requires multiple
digesters)
• Landfill Gas – Proven – Low Capital & O&M costs –
emissions OK – requires flaring on occasion – can be
high in N2 and arsenic – requires significant land
quantities – not Island friendly
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Conclusions for New Technologies
• Pyrolysis – Transportation or Island driven where diesel oil is
an issue – technically feasible - No large scale operating –
Scale up??? – Carbon/Charcoal
• Plasma Arc – Some experience -Type dependent
(flame/electrode) – parasitic load – best emissions – Scale
up? – Solids are benign – capital & O&M costs need detailed
evaluation
• Hydrolysis – Commercial operation ? – Scale up? – emissions
good – capital & O&M costs ??? – Close to zero discharge –
creates drinkable water.
• Steam Hydrogasification – No large scale experience –
requires H2 – Complex – Capital & O&M costs ??? – HP
Steam costs???
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Thank You
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Contact Info
Tom Stringfellow
Denver, CO
720-286-0454
[email protected]
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