Case Study of WTE and Gasification

Great interest surrounds new technologies that are being offered as alternatives to conventional combustion of waste. Developers have identified the benefits of emerging technologies over existing technologies. In the years since many of today’s existing waste-to-energy (WTE) facilities were built in the United States, the technology required to process waste has improved dramatically in both environmental and operational performance. This technical paper presents a hypothetical study comparison of a generic WTE plant with plasma-arc gasification or other gasification technology. The case study represents a greenfield facility that would process 1000 TPD of MSW in two trains of 500 TPD each. The comparison includes the following elements: 1. General physical description of the facilities; 2. Emissions performance; 3. Byproduct and waste generation; and 4. Energy production. The comparison also discusses differential capital and operating costs, but does not attempt to establish these costs or compare economic feasibility.