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Blog
Waste incineration: Greenhouse solution?
January 8, 2008
Earlier this week I received a press release from ABB about a project the company is doing in Germany, providing equipment for a new waste-to-energy plant:
"Infraserv Höchst is one of Europe’s largest industrial parks for the chemical, pharmaceutical and process industries. Scheduled for completion in 2009, the new waste-to-energy power plant at the park will cost more than $400 million and be the biggest single investment in the site’s 140-year history. It will help Infraserv Höchst supply clean power and heat at competitive prices to the 90 companies with production and R&D facilities at the site.
"ABB's integrated solution encompasses the entire scope of electrical and automation products and systems for a new cogeneration waste-to-energy power plant at the Infraserv Höchst industrial park near Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany. The delivery includes System 800xA Extended Automation.
"The plant will produce 70 megawatts of electric power and 250,000 metric tons of steam from recycled municipal and commercial waste for the 90 companies and 22,000 employees at the 460 hectare site. Among the many chemical and life science companies with production and R&D facilities at the park are BASF, Bayer, Cargill, Merck, and Pfizer.
"Instead of using fossil fuels like coal or natural gas, the plant will generate energy by incinerating up to 675,000 metric tons of pre-sorted waste a year and at the remarkably high fuel efficiency level of 90%."
In my earlier life at the spray nozzle company, I thought municipal solid waste (MSW) power plants were a great idea. They generate power and reduce garbage volume by 90%. Of course we sold specialized nozzles for scrubbing systems, and that was very good business. Everybody wins! When I got out of that line of work, I wasn't so sure about incinerators' value. Somehow the thought of sequestering all the carbon in the garbage by burying it in a landfill seemed like a good idea too. Of course if you have to dig up more coal to burn instead of the garbage, are you ahead? The discussion does get complicated. All those issues are tradeoffs.
I suppose I'm back to the idea that waste-to-energy plants are probably a good thing, when they have appropriate scrubbers and other pollution control devices. Methane produced by landfills is worse as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Moreover, garbage is a pretty abundant fuel. Next fall I'm going to see if I can figure out how to generate electricity by burning the leaves in my yard. Now that will be worth something.
Posted by Peter Welander on January 8, 2008 | Comments (0)