Waste to Energy Plants

It comes as no surprise that as a nation we produce a lot of waste. In the UK alone, a stagerring 100 million tonnes of waste is produced every year, with every household throwing away around a tonne of rubbish.

As a way of combating the issue of waste management, innovative waste-to-energy plants play a vital role in converting municipal and industrial general waste into power.

But did you know that this ecologically friendly and cost effective method of energy recovery isn’t just a waste disposal method? It is also a way of replacing valuable resources, such as fossil fuels, and acts as an alternative energy option to reduce CO2 emissions.

Regular power plants use coal, oil and natural gases to generate power. However, a waste-to-energy plant works by burning waste at high temperatures, using the heat to create steam. This steam then pow

ers a turbine that creates electricity, generating energy. Waste-to-energy turns non-recyclable waste into safe, useful energy and valuable raw materials in an environmentally safe manner.

Additionally, the plants help reduce the amount of waste being landfilled. As household and similar waste should be sorted at the source and sent to an appropriate recycling distributor, the remaining waste that cannot be recycled should be used to generate energy by these plants.

Therefore, waste-to-energy plants help to keep the environment clean by dealing with unwanted waste materials within the recycling cycle. The energy produced by the plants also contributes to climate protection and security of energy supply by replacing the fossil fuels that have been used to produce energy in conventional power plants.

How much energy do Waste-to-Energy Plants produce?Waste-to-energy plants in Europe can supply up to 18 million inhabitants with electricity, and 15.2 million inhabitants with heat. Depending on the fuel that is being replaced, between 10-49 million tonnes of fossil fuels (emitting 24 – 49 million tonnes of CO2) would need to be used by regular power plants to produce the same amount of energy. The energy generated from waste-to-energy plants is considered to be around 50% renewable.

As a result, the plants have become one of the most robust and effective alternative energy options to reduce CO2 emissions, saving limited fossil fuels resources that are used by conventional power plants.

As with any power plant, waste to energy plants face particular problems – both in material handling and in the nature of ash that can deposit on heat exchange surfaces. Burning municipal waste or bio-fuels can lead to very sticky ash deposits which cause drop offs in plant efficiency and shutdowns.By installing Primasonics Acoustic Cleaners in boilers, high thermal efficiencies can be maintained for longer. Fuel feed stocks and combustion products can be very changeable in nature but acoustic cleaners can be used within ductwork, silos and hoppers to maintain material flow.

Many plants worldwide already benefit from installing acoustic cleaning systems, saving on costs as a result of improved operating efficiency, increased production, reduced shut downs for cleaning purposes and lower operating and maintenance costs.

Primasonics Acoustic Cleaners drastically reduce the water produced by a plant, resulting in steam no longer being needed for soot blowing. Therefore it can be used for its original purpose in the production of power.

Using a combination of sonic horns, specifically selected for each application, the system removes particles from the surface by acoustic pressure shocks. These pressure shocks are then repeated until the required result of cleanliness has been achieved. Due to this ongoing cleaning process, the work of the plant itself can run smoothly and efficiently without any interruptions.