5628 905R79113 RESOURCE RECOVERY FACILITIES IN THE UNITED STATES This list was compiled by David B. Sussman, Resource Recovery Division, Office of Solid Waste. It reflects the best available information as of November 1978. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ------- ------- RESOURCE RECOVERY FACILITIES This report summarizes the status of resource recovery facilities in the United States that recover and utilize energy and material from municipal solid waste. The list includes only plants which are operating commercially or under construction, and also includes demonstration facili- ties. Technologies are categorized as follows: waterwall combustion - mass burning; waterwall combustion - processed waste; mechanical processing to produce refuse-derived fuel (RDF); starved air modular incinerators; pyrolysis; co- disposal; and materials recovery. Throughput is actual for operating plants, and design for plants under construction. Date listed-is year of start-up. EPA DEMONSTRATIONS Franklin Ohio. 50 TPD. 1971. Wet pulping process to recover low grade paper fiber for use in a roofing felt mill. Plant also can recover iron, glass, and aluminum. At present, fiber is not used for roofing felt because of drop in market demand but as a fuel in a fluid bed furnace to dispose of sewage sludge. Wet pulping process developed here being replicated in Hempsted, New York, and Dade County, Florida, for energy production. Codisposal portion of demonstration being replicated in Duluth, Minnesota. An EPA evaluation on Franklin has been completed and is available through NTIS (PB-234 715, PB-234 716). This process was developed by the Black Clawson Company. (See waterwall combustion - processed waste and codisposal.) One processing line. St. Louis, Missouri. 150 TPD. 1972. Shredding and air classification process (one processing line) to produce a fluff refuse-derived fuel that was burned as a supplement to coal in a large pulverized coal utility boiler. This was the most successful demonstration in that it is being widely replicated. (See waterwall combustion - processed waste and RDF.) The demonstration plant also recovered ferrous metal. The technical, economic, and environmental viability of separating the organic (fuel fraction) portion of MSW from the inorganic (non-combustible) portion was established at this plant. An EPA evaluation of this process has been completed and is available through NTIS (PB-272 755) . The plant was shut down in 1976 after a successful demonstration period. Baltimore, Maryland. 800 TPD. 1975. This was the first attempt to construct a full-sized resource recovery facility using pyrolysis as an energy recovery technology. ------- ------- MSW was first shredded (two shredders, but both fed a single processing line) and fed into a large rotary kiln pyrolysis reactor where temperatures of about 2000F the organic material in the waste stream was broken down into a combustible gas. This gas was then burned in a secondary combustion chamber and the heat released was used to gener- ate wet steam for district heating. The plant was completed in early 1975 but had many major mechanical, thermal, and emissions problems and had to undergo a series of modifi- cations. At present, the City is adding air pollution control equipment and a new, larger secondary combustion chamber. During shakedown operation, the plant operated intermittently but, nevertheless, did dispose of 70,000 tons of waste, generated 250 million pounds of steam that was sold for $750,000. This process was developed by Monsanto Enviro-Chem Systems, Inc., who are no longer in the solid waste business. An EPA evaluation of the process as it was designed and modified has been completed. The final report is in draft form and will be published late this year. San Diego County, California. 200 TPD. 1978. A pyrolysis process developed by the Occidental Research Corporation that was to convert the organic portion of MSW into a liquid fuel (highly oxygenated complex organic oil) through flash pyrolysis. The MSW, after extensive prepara- tion to a fine dust-like material (two-stage shredding and air classification) (single processing line), is heated to 900F in less than two seconds in a vertical shaft. The oils, gases, and char produced are separated. The gas and char are used internally in the process and the oil was to be burned as a substitute for #6 fuel oil in a utility boiler. The plant also recovered iron, glass, and aluminum. Numerous mechanical and thermal problems have prevented the process from running for more than a day at a time. As yet, only small amounts of liquid have been produced and they were not up to specification. The future of this project is unknown. Numerous modifications will be required to correct deficiencies that are known at this time. Occidental is studying the system deficiencies and should ascertain the viability of continuing with the process this year. EPA has started an evaluation of the process. Wilmington, Delaware. 1,000 TPD. This demonstration project will recover energy in the form of superheated steam for industrial process use and codispose of 50 tpd of dry sewage sludge. The steam will be generated by a waterwall combustor firing processed waste Ccrude fluff RDF) . The sludge will be co-combusted in the steam generator and/or composted in controlled aerobic digesters to produce marketable humus. Ferrous metals, aluminum, and glass will also be recovered. ------- Unprocessed Waste - i'lass Burning Herrick. New York. 600 TPD. 1952. Two batch fed refractory wall incinerators with, waste heat boilers. Produces wet steam for inhouse generation of electricity. Very old technology. Plant will be shut down when Hempstead plant comes on line. Chicago, Illinois. (Southwest plant) 1,200 TPD. 1963. Old design refractory incinerator with waste heat boiler. Wet steam used for in-plant use. Chicago, Illinois. (Northwest plant.) 1,600 TPD. 1971. Modern waterwall unit. Chute to stack components designed by Martin (large European system builder}. Pro- duces wet steam for in-plant use. Steam market was not developed when system was first put on line. However, a steam line is being built to a nearby industrial user. Meets pollution standards. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. 720 TPD. 1972. Another Martin unit. Wet steam for in-plant use. Steam line under construction to tie into existing distribution system to industrial users. Sludge codisposal module under construction (see codisposal). Plant undergoing modernization program to optimize steam production. Two furnaces. Meets air emissions standards. Oceanside, New York. 750 TPD. 1965. Orginally had three batch feed refractory furnaces, two with waste heat boilers. The two with heat recovery have been replaced with waterwall units and continuous feed. American A&E design. Wet steam used for in-plant electricity generation. Plant has had many problems with corrosion and erosion of boiler tubes. New ESP's are meeting State emissions standards. Saugus, Massachusetts. 1,200 TPD. 1976. Most modern waterwall unit in the United States. Von Roll design. Pri- vate plant. Joint venture of Uheelabrator-Frye and DeMateo Construction Co. Superheat steam - 845F - exported to GE plant about 1 mile away and used for electricity generation, process and space heat, and turbine testing. Largest Von Roll furnaces (two) to date. Has had superheater and grate problems. Appear solved by using special alloys. Plant has not run at capacity as yet because of solid waste nonavaila- bility. GE does not always take full load of steam. Met emission standard of .05gr/DSCF. ------- Nashville, Tennessee. 400 TPD. 1974. Two waterwall furnaces; A&E design; B&W boiler; Detroit stoker grates. Superheat steam for downtown heating loop. Steam also runs chiller for downtown cooling loop. Four pipe distribution system belongs to Nashville Thermal Co. (the public utility that runs the plant) . No dump fee; however. City pays an annual subsidy to "Thermal." Plant had major problems during start-up that required expensive modifications. Air pollu- tion devices (low energy scrubbers) were ineffective and were replaced with ESP's. Stack test at .02gr/DSCF. This is the cleanest stack on a waterwall unit anywhere in the world. This plant was not designed to the state-of-the-art and problems will probably continue to appear and require correction. Braintree, Massachusetts. 240 TPD. 1971. This small waterwall (one furnace) has been supplying wet steam to an industrial customer. Plant after modifications to the ESP's meets Mass, emissions standards. Norfolk, Virginia. 360 TPD. 1967. U.S. Navy Plant. Burns shipyard waste (one furnace) (dunnage, etc.) and supplies wet steam to ships in port. Supplies about 10% of yard demand. Portsmouth, Virginia. 175 TPD. 1978. U.S. Navy plant. In shake-down. At shipyard. Same principle as plant at Norfolk. Hampton, Virginia. 400 TPD. Joint project of NASA, USAF, and the city. Two 200 TPD furnaces to be operated at 160 TPD. A&E design. Steam for NASA complex. Under construction. Processed Waste - Primary Fuel These plants, all of which are under construction, prepare the waste by shredding, some air classification, magnetic metals removal, and screening, and bum the predominantly organic material in a hog fuel type boiler with a grate to produce steam. Normally the shredded waste (coarse RDF) is the only fuel, but a few plants are under design that plan a 50-50 mixture of coal and coarse RDF. The fuel can also be produced by wet pulping, as developed in Franklin. This approach is being implemented in Hempstead. Two processing lines feeding one boiler are typical. Akron, Ohio. 1,000 TPD. Superheat steam for urban and industrial heating and cooling. Iron recovery. Construction to be completed this year. ------- Albany, New York. 750 TPD. RDF prepared at one site; shipped across town to boiler located adjacent to State office buildings. Steam used for heating and cooling. Ferrous recovery. Possible nonferrous recovery from boiler bottom ash. To be operational in 1980. Ilempstead, New York. 2,000 TPD. Wet pulping process. Fuel fraction dewatered to 50% moisture and burned in a hog fuel boiler. Superheated steam to generate electricity sold to the grid. Generators belong to electric utility. Ferrous, aluminum and glass recovery. Operational in early 1979. Niagara .Falls, New York. (Hooker Chemical). Construction just started. Privately owned; to supply steam to chemical plant. Norfolk, Virginia. 2,000 TPD, plus coal for topping and backup. Three stoker furnaces. Superheat steam for electric generation and back pressure steam. Electricity and steam used at Naval shipyard. Construction to start shortly. Processed Waste - Supplemental Fuel (RDF) All plants are based on the St. Louis demonstration and mechanically separate the organic (fuel) fraction from the noncombustible or heavy fraction. The fuel produced is a fluff RDF (except Bridgeport - dust RDF) and is burned in suspension as a supplement to coal in large electric utility boilers. All plants use the same general processing philosophy, although the individual processing steps vary from plant to plant. The processes are size reduction (shredding) (SH); air density separation (air classification) (A/C); screening (SC); trommeling (T); ferrous (magnetic metals) removal (M); aluminum recovery (AL); and glass recovery (usually as an aggregate) (G). Ames, Iowa. 170 TPD. 1975. SH; M; SC (to be added in fall 1979); SH; and A/C. AL and G module not operating. One processing line. RDF used at municipal power plant in spreader stoker boilers and a suspension fired boiler modified with dump grates. EPA evaluations ongoing; reports available from Office of Research and Development, Cincinnati (EPA 600/2-77-205). Chicago (Crawford), Illinois. 1,000 TPD. 1977. In shakedown. SH; M; A/C; and SH. M from A/C heavy fraction also. Two processing lines. RDF to be used at Commonwealth Edison's Crawford plant. EPA evaluation planned. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 1,200 TPD. 1977. In start-up. Undergoing some modifications to increase RDF quality. SH; A/C; SH; M; and SC. M, AL, and G from heavy fraction. Two lines. RDF used at Wisconsin Electric*s South Creek plant. ------- Bridgeport, Connecticut. 1800 TPD. Under construction. Start-up late 1978. SH; SC; A/C'" dryer; addition of chemical embrittlement agent; heated ball mill pulverizer; SC. M, G, and AL from heavy fraction. Two lines. Powdered RDF (Eco- Fuel II - propriatary process) used at United Illuminating Devon plant. Monroe County/ New York. 2,000 TPD. Under construction. Shake-down in 1979. SH; A/C; SC; and SH. M, G, and AL from heavy fraction. Two lines. RDF used at Rochester Gas and Electric *s plant z Lane County (Eugene) , Oregon. 500 TPD. In start-up. SH; SC; A/C; and SH. M from heavy fraction. One processing line. No market for RDF yet. Probably will be burned along with wood waste (hog fuel) in University of Oregon plant or other hog fuel boiler in area. RDF fuel value based on price of hog fuel, not coal. EPA evaluation planned. Starved Air Modular Incinerators with Heat Recovery These devices are shop fabricated, small, two chambered, non-agitated bed, incinerators with waste heat boilers, placed in the hot flue gas stream. Their maximum design throughput is a nominal one ton per hour. Originally, the units were batch fed and operated cyclically (charge, burn, cool down, remove ash) ; however, the state-of-the-art is now continuous feed and continuous ash removal and all new systems built in the last year reflected this advancement. Because the bed is not agitated and waste heat boilers are used in lieu of waterwalls, these units are not as efficient in energy production or burnout quality as water- wall combustion units. However, their costs are much lower and they do not require air pollution control equipment in many areas. Siloam Springs, Arkansas. 20 TPD. 1975. Two Consumat Units. Cyclic. Wet steam to cannery. Blytheville, Arkansas. 50 TPD. 1975. Four Consumat Units. Cyclic. Wet steam to light industrial customer. ------- Groveton, New Hampshire. 30 TPD. 1975. Two ECP units. Cyclic. Wet steam to paper plant. Units operate 4 1/2 days per week on plant waste (paper, sawdust, etc.). 1 day per week on MSW. North Little Rock, Arkansas. 100 TPD. 1977. Four Consuiaat units. Continuous operation. Two units feed 1 boiler. Wet steam to a creosoting plant. Plant waste which consists mostly of wood scrap from ends of railroad ties is burned in the incinerators. Twenty five percent of heat input at times comes from wood waste. EPA evaluation is underway. Will be completed in spring 1979. Crossville, Tennessee. 60 TPD. 1978. Two Farrier units. Continuous operation. Wet steam to rubber plant. Plant rubber waste is burned with the MSW at the 25 per- cent rate. Salem, Virginia. 100 TPD. 1978. Four Consumat units. Continuous operation. Wet steam to rubber company. Presently in shake-down. Genesee County, Michigan. 100 TPD. Two 50 TPD Consumat units. Under construction. In addition to the above listed units, 2O to 40 of the small systems are operating on in-house waste at industrial facilities and institutions. Some of the more noteworthy locations are: the Pentagon; Andrews Air Force Base (U.C.); Mayport, Florida, Havy Base (U.C.); Rockwell Plant, Marysville, Ohio (EPA evaluation underway) ; Moore plant, Bonesdale, Pennsylvania; John Deere Plant, Dubuque, loway and Briggs— Stratton Plant, Michigan. Pyrolysis There are no pyrolysis plants in commercial operation today. Baltimore and the small modular incinerators could be considered pyrolysis plants because a combustible gas is produced in the primary chamber and burned in another. How- ever, this is not really pyrolysis. The Union Carbide Purrox Plant, South Charleston, West Virginia, is a 200 TPD pilot plant that has operated for periods of up to 90 days. It is ready for commercialization at this time, although Union Carbide has not as yet sold one. Codisposal Franklin, Ohio. 50 TPD MSW/10 dry TPD sludge. 1971. Sludge at 5% solids is mixed with pulped MSW a.t 2Q% solids and the mixture is dewatered to 45% solids in a cone press ------- and combusted in a single fluidized bed furnace. No energy is recovered; however, the solid waste provides the energy necessary to burn the wet sludge. Duluth, Minnesota. 400 TPD MSW/66 dry TPD sludge. Under construction. 20% solids vacuum filtered sludge is combusted with RDF in two fluidized bed furnaces. Steam recovered is used for heating and cooling the plant buildings and to drive steam powered plant equipment. EPA evaluation planned. Central Contra Costa County (Concord), California. Proof of concept demonstration. RDF was used as a fuel in lieu of natural gas in a multiple hearth sludge furnace. Furnace was operated in a starved air mode (pyrolysis) . Technique is being replicated at a new advanced wastewater treatment plant in California and is being considered in a number of other locations. None are under construction as yet. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. 14 dry TPD sludge. Sludge drying and disposal module being built next to the waterwall combustion unit. The sludge, at 5% solids, will be pumped from the POTP a few blocks away to vacuum filters. After dewatering to 20% solids/ the sludge enters one of four steam heated Bethlehem "porcupine" dryers. The dryers will use 20,000 pounds of steam an hour. The moisture evaporated from the sludge will be condensed in a contact condenser with the liquids going gack to the POTP. The gases will be com- busted in the furnace. The dry sludge, at 10% moisture, will be burned in the furnace along with solid waste. Glen Cove, New York. 250 TPD MSW/25 dry TPD sludge. Construction to start late summer, 1977. A single refrac- tory wall solid waste mass burning unit with a waste heat boiler. Wet steam will generate electricity for the POTP. Sludge will be vacuum filtered to 20% solids and metered into the furnace in such a way that it will remain on top of the bed of refuse and burn. Other Pompano Beach, Florida. Department of Energy project. Recovery of methane gas from anerobic digestion of solid waste and sewage sludge in a closed vessel. This H&D project is under construction/shake-down and should start up this year. ------- Palos Verdes, California. Methane recovery from an existing landfill. Started up in 1975. Determine generation rates, life, economics, etc., of concept. Materials Recovery The following plants recover materials from municipal solid waste. Some of these plants could recover energy in the form of RDF if and when markets are located. In addition to these, approximately 40 landfill shredding plants recover ferrous metals. Baltimore County, Maryland. 550 tpd. 1976. This is a demonstration plant funded by Maryland Environmental Services, a State agency. The plant is basically an RDF plant with ferrous, aluminum and glass recovery. The SDF is presently landfilled, but it has been test burned at various facilities. There are plans to build a boiler to generate steam for a possible customer at some time in the future. Ferrous is sold and glass and aluminum recovery is carried out on an experimental basis. Hew Orleans, Louisiana. 650 tpd. 1978. National Center for Resource Recovery demonstration plant. Recovering ferrous, aluminum, nonferrous and glass. Organic fraction used in landfill/land reclamation operation. Organic fraction could be upgraded to RDF and burned if suitable market is located. Probably after land reclamation project is completed. Altoona, Pennsylvania. 30 tpd. 1963. Small composting plant. Only municipal solid waste composting plant left in operation. Compost used as a carrier in light weight fertilizer mixes (lawn and garden products) . Operated by private company. Takes organic waste from city, about 50 percent of city's total. ------- |