Adding Metals Recovery Systems (MRS) to Existing Waste-to-Energy Facilities

The prices for ferrous (Fe) and non-ferrous metals (NFM) reclaimed from the ash at waste-to-energy (WTE) facilities continue to increase. As a result, existing WTE plants are installing metals recovery systems (MRS) to capture most of these metals. These systems provide increased revenues to the facility, increased facility recycling rates, and a decrease in the quantity of ash disposed of at a sanitary landfill. This paper will review MRS economics and the permitting, design, equipment purchase, construction, and startup (where applicable) of these systems at three WTE facilities.