Location: Hartford County, Maryland
Time of Operation: Completed in 1988 and operated for 27 years. It was retrofitted to operate until 2032
Municipal
Hartford Waste-to Energy-Facility
Location: Toronto, Canada
Time of Operation: Over 30 years- Completed in 1992, it has been in continuous operation.
Municipal
Emerald Energy from Waste
The facility’s air quality control train was upgraded with an SCR in 2001 to meet the stringent requirements of the Ministry of the Environment Regulations. In some cases, air quality standards are more stringent than those of the USEPA.
The County saw a 90% reduction in the volume of waste entering the landfill because of this facility.
Specifications: 400-500 TPD Capacity 151,000 tons of MSW, industrial waste, tires, and other specialty waste per year from the Toronto metro area. Operated 24 hours per day, seven days per week Approximately 5 to 6 days of waste is stored within the building, which includes negative air pressure to keep dust and odors within the building. Approximately 7,500 tons of metal per year are recovered. White goods and propane tanks are separated from the waste before gasification. There is no front-end Material Recovery installed at this location. Most of metro Toronto participates in a Tri-Stream Recycling Program where most of the recyclable material is directed to a separate clean MRF, the largest in Canada. At the end of the gasification process in the primary chamber, a small amount (±7%) of vitrified and inert ash drops into a specially designed water-filled ash removal system below the primary chamber, which cools the ash and delivers it to a storage area pending final disposition. The ash is a safe, nonhazardous material suitable for use as landfill cover or as an aggregate in embankments or asphalt products.
Summary: The Emerald Energy from Waste Facility (Emerald Energy) is located in the suburban area of Toronto, Ontario, in the City of Brampton. Recently purchased from Algonquin Power Energy Fund by Upak Disposals, Emerald Energy is a privately-held waste collection and recycling company with a 45-year track record of success. Gordon Hoskinson invented the core pyrolytic gasification technology, which has been used by the plant for nearly 30 years; this plant is representative of Version 3 of the technology. (The current version is Version 5, which Hoskinson has perfected through continuous refinements and improvements. It is up to 25% more efficient than earlier versions and incorporates advances in materials and material handling). The project involves converting waste to electricity and steam for sale. Parameters include waste receiving, loading into gasification units, gasification and oxidation, heat recovery, steam and power production, air quality control and monitoring, and ash disposal. The Facility commenced initial operations in 1992 and included four 100-ton-per-day Consumat (A Gordon Hoskinson company) and technology two/stage gasification units with heat recovery boilers and a dual/train air quality control system consisting of evaporative cooling towers, PAC and hydrated lime reactors, and fabric filter bag houses.
Specifications: 300 TPD Capacity 115,000 tons of County MSW annually Operated 24 hours per day, seven days per week Approximately 5 to 6 days of waste is stored within the building, which includes negative air pressure to keep dust and odors within the building. Approximately 7,500 tons of metal per year are recovered. White goods and propane tanks are separated from the waste before gasification. There is no front-end Material Recovery installed at this location. Ash residue (±9%) generated by the facility is tested in accordance with guidelines promulgated by USEPA in 1994. The data from the tests conducted in accordance with the USEPA guidelines characterized the ash residue as non-hazardous. Since there is no front-end material recovery system in this facility, the resulting ash is screened to capture metals for recycling; the screened ash is used as alternative daily cover at the Harford County Landfill, thereby reducing the actual landfilling of the material.
Summary: The HWTEF was developed for Harford County by the Northeast Maryland Waste Disposal Authority (the Authority) under its revenue bond financing authority. The Authority owned the facility on behalf of Harford County and operated by Energy Recovery Operations, Inc. (EROI). It was decommissioned last year after more than 20 years of successful operations due to the U.S. Army not renewing the land lease upon which the facility operated. Harford County controlled all tonnage processed in the Facility. The facility began operations in 1988 using Hoskinson technology pyrolytic gasification units. The subsequent purchase of the facility by the county was completed during the summer of 2002, ensuring that the waste management needs of Harford County would continue to be met in an economically and environmentally safe manner. The facility was well maintained over its life; the Air Pollution Control Train was retrofitted in 2011 in anticipation of another 20 years of operation. The Harford facility annually processes approximately 115,000 tons of County waste collectively by its four gasification units. Approximately 700,000 lbs. of steam was produced annually from waste processing and sold to the Edgewood Area of the US Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground. Harford County and Baltimore City agreed through the Authority that some of the Harford WTE residual ash is beneficially used for alternative daily cover at the Baltimore City Quarantine Road Landfill. In return, Baltimore City sends used tires to the Harford WTE facility, thus removing the tires from the waste stream and allowing for the capture of the tires' energy value.