Municipal Solid Waste to Energy
Municipal Solid Waste to Energy Facility Frequently Asked Questions
What is Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)?
Municipal Solid Waste, also known as MSW, is any household or domestic waste comprised of everyday items such as product packaging, furniture, paper, clothing, bottles, yard waste, food scraps, newspapers, appliances and other organic and non-organic material. MSW does not typically include medical, commercial, industrial, hazardous or radioactive wastes. Although much of the MSW in the United States and around the World is transported to and buried in landfills, it can be used as a renewable fuel source for electric power generation.
Gasification is a process that converts solid organic components of municipal solid waste into syngas in the presence of controlled quantities of air to prevent the complete combustion of the solids.
Syngas is a high energy fuel that can be used in a steam boiler or in an internal combustion engine to generate electric power. It is a mixture of gases produced by the gasification of organic material at relatively low temperatures (1292ºF – 1832ºF, 700ºC – 1000ºC). Syngas is composed of Carbon Monoxide (CO), Hydrogen (H2), Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and a range of hydrocarbons such as methane (CH4). The composition of Producer Gas can be modified by manipulation of gasification parameters and/or the waste feedstock.
Gasifiers (left)
Syngas is the outcome product of the
gasification process. It is combustible and
can be used as a fuel much like natural gas
No, they are not the same. The gasification of Municipal Solid Waste transforms the solids in the waste into syngas. The use of syngas results in a more complete and controllable combustion process that greatly reduces the amount of contaminants in the exhaust gases compared to the direct incineration of solid waste.
The MSWE Facility will process MSW to generate electricity. It will also produce additional marketable by-products such as recyclables, refuse derived fuel (RDF) pellets, and steam.
Gaseous emissions from a solid waste gasification to electric power and heat conversion plant must meet the requirements and approval of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) on an ongoing basis.
No, around 40% of the MSW will be gasified. Municipal Solid Waste is first processed through a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF). The MRF contains equipment that sorts out recyclables such as paper, plastics, metals and glass from the waste stream. The remaining organics in the waste are processed through gasification for power and heat generation. Less than 5% of the municipal solid waste is eventually sent to a landfill. Cleveland’s ultimate goal is to operate a facility with no waste going to landfills.
For many years thousands of tons a day of municipal waste collected in Cleveland were transferred at centralized transfer stations from residential refuse collection trucks into large waste transport trucks. The waste transport trucks would take all of the Cleveland waste to landfills where it was permanently buried. Several years ago, the City of Cleveland instituted a single-stream recycling pilot program that collects resident-recycled waste along with regular household waste. The Municipal Solid Waste to Energy facility takes this effort further by allowing for a city-wide collection and sorting of recyclables. Remaining organic materials in the waste are processed in an environmentally conscious and renewable manner to produce energy.
Energy from advanced energy sources like MSW reduces our dependence on fossil fuels and thereby lowers our carbon footprint. The Municipal Solid Waste to Energy facility optimizes the separation of recyclables from the waste stream. It handles the leftover organics from the waste stream in a renewable and environmentally conscious process that locally generates energy from a non-fossil fuel source. The facility eliminates the need to transfer thousands of tons of municipal waste by waste transport truck every day to distant landfills. The need for the permanent burial of thousands of tons of municipal waste per day in landfills is eliminated. The plant has an ultimate goal of zero waste to landfill transfer.
