This paper deals with a key issue related to municipal waste incineration, which is the efficiency of energy recovery. A strong driver for improving the energy performances of waste-to-energy plants is the recent Waste Framework Directive (Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 November 2008 on waste and repealing certain Directives), which allows high efficiency installations to benefit from a status of ‘‘recovery’’ rather than ‘‘disposal’’. The change in designation means a step up in the waste hierarchy, where the lowest level of priority is now restricted to landfilling and low efficiency wastes incineration. The so-called ‘‘R1 formula’’ reported in the Directive, which counts for both production of power and heat, is critically analyzed and correlated to the more scientific- based approach of exergy efficiency. The results obtained for waste-to-energy plants currently operating in Europe reveal some significant differences in their performance, mainly related to the average size and to the availability of a heat market (district heating).

Efficiency of energy recovery from waste incineration, in the light of the new Waste Framework Directive

GROSSO, MARIO;RIGAMONTI, LUCIA
2010-01-01

Abstract

This paper deals with a key issue related to municipal waste incineration, which is the efficiency of energy recovery. A strong driver for improving the energy performances of waste-to-energy plants is the recent Waste Framework Directive (Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 November 2008 on waste and repealing certain Directives), which allows high efficiency installations to benefit from a status of ‘‘recovery’’ rather than ‘‘disposal’’. The change in designation means a step up in the waste hierarchy, where the lowest level of priority is now restricted to landfilling and low efficiency wastes incineration. The so-called ‘‘R1 formula’’ reported in the Directive, which counts for both production of power and heat, is critically analyzed and correlated to the more scientific- based approach of exergy efficiency. The results obtained for waste-to-energy plants currently operating in Europe reveal some significant differences in their performance, mainly related to the average size and to the availability of a heat market (district heating).
2010
Waste incineration; Energy recovery; Energy efficiency; Waste Framework Directive
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11311/570448
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