Waste-to-Energy (WTE)

choi

(1) Keila Torres Ocasio, 25 Years of Trash to Energy. Connecticut Post, June 17, 2013.
http://www.ctpost.com/local/arti ... -energy-4604218.php

Quote:

"his [an operator's] fingers maneuvering a large crane -- like those used to pick toys out of prize machines -- to lift old mattresses, pieces of wood, torn clothes and garbage bags.

"Plans are in the works to expand the business' scope in the city by using the heat left over after the trash is converted to energy to heat homes and businesses downtown. Around 250 degrees, the heat is released as steam from the company's tall stacks. 'Instead of only generating electricity, we're talking about sending out heat through a piping network,' [Vin (short for Vincent)] Langone[, regional vice president for Wheelabrator Technologies Inc] said.

My comment: One may not need to read the text, but definitely view the photos.

choi

(3) Frequently Asked Question. Energy Recovery Council (a trade group), undated
http://www.energyrecoverycouncil.org/faq
(Q: "Is it true that waste-to-energy is a significant source of both air emissions and toxic wastes containing dioxin, mercury, lead and other harmful substances?")

(4) John Tagliabue, A City That Turns Garbage Into Energy Copes With a Shortage. New York Times, Apr 30, 2013.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/3 ... to-energy.html?_r=0

Quote:

(a) "Oslo, a recycling-friendly place where roughly half the city and most of its schools are heated by burning garbage — household trash, industrial waste, even toxic and dangerous waste from hospitals and drug arrests — has a problem: it has literally run out of garbage to burn.

"The problem is not unique to Oslo, a city of 1.4 million people. Across Northern Europe, where the practice of burning garbage to generate heat and electricity has exploded in recent decades, demand for trash far outstrips supply.

(b) "Yet the fastidious population of Northern Europe produces only about 150 million tons of waste a year, he [Pal Mikkelsen, managing director of Oslo’s waste-to-energy agency] said, far too little to supply incinerating plants that can handle more than 700 million tons.

(c) "For some, it might seem bizarre that Oslo would resort to importing garbage to produce energy. Norway ranks among the world’s 10 largest exporters of oil and gas, and has abundant coal reserves and a network of more than 1,100 hydroelectric plants in its water-rich mountains. Yet Mr. Mikkelsen said garbage burning was 'a game of renewable energy, to reduce the use of fossil fuels.'


(5) I dredged up a piece of old news.

陳鈞凱, 垃圾焚化廠發電 台灣再生能源第二大來源. 中央社, Aug 1, 2005.
http://www.epochtimes.com/b5/5/8/1/n1004273.htm

choi

(2) Waste Management, Inc
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_Management,_Inc
(section 4 Renewable Energy: its subsidiary, Wheelabrator Technologies Inc)

From the official website of Wheelabrator Technologies Inc:
(i) Company History.
http://www.wheelabratortechnologies.com/about-us/company-history/
(Founded in 1908, in Ohio; 1932: Coined as the "Wheel + Abrator," the invention of the airless centrifugal wheel, leads to the birth of the Wheelabrator Corporation)

* Still do not understand what it means after you read the paragraph with the heading "1932"? Nor do I. Suffice it to say that it was an defunct device. You can read more, but you will know more. Cf

Tony Harris, A History of Wheelabrator. Shortpeener.com ("portal to the short peening and blast cleaning universe"), June 1, 1964
http://www.shotpeener.com/library/wheelabrator/history_harris.php
(founder Verne E Minich); section heading: Engineering breakthrough)
(ii) How it Works
http://wheelabratortechnologies.com/environment1/how-it-works/

* View animation by clicking the link at the bottom of the page.