Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
on the value of incinerators for waste treatment (Muller et al., 2011). Also,
emissions such as dioxins and mercury (Van Velzen et al., 2002) depend on
how well the plant is operated and can vary widely.
Table 9.7
Average Emissions from 87 WTE Plants in the United
States
Source: Psomopoulos et al. (2009).
Pollutants Unit Average emission USEPA standard
Dioxin/furan ng/dscm 0.05
0.26
Particulates mg/dscm 4
24
SO
2
ppmv
6
30
NOx
ppmv
170
180
HCl
ppmv
10
25
Hg
mg/dscm 0.01
0.08
Cd
mg/dscm 0.001
0.020
Pb
mg/dscm 0.02
0.20
CO
ppmv
33
100
A comparison between landfilling and incineration shows the latter to be
the more sustainable option. Burning organic material inevitably produces
CO
2
contributing to global warming and this would suggest WTE to be
inferiortolandfillingintermsofitsenvironmentalfootprint.However,most
landfillsdonotcapturetheCH
4
emissionsandeventheonesthatdocapture
only a fraction of it. Calculations taking this into account show that even
the best-managed landfill will still have a GWP that can be as much as 50
times higher than that for a WTE plant (USEPA, 2005). Each ton of MSW
diverted from landfill into a WTE plant would reduce the emission of GHG
by 0.5-1.0 ton of CO
2
equivalents depending on the capture rate of CH
4
at
the fill site. The foregoing assures that the WTE plants are state-of-the-art
and well managed. The CO
2
emissions from combustion of plastics and the
net emissions as well as the avoided utility emissions have been calculated
