Peter Chromec, CEO, Hitachi Zosen Inova U.S.A., LLC

Advanced or New Thermal Treatment Technologies (NTTT) have been proposed by some to be the next generation method for sustainable treatment of waste. Based on the environmental standards applicable for mass burn plants in the 1970’s and 80’s, and on the demand for something different by some politicians and interest groups, many NTTT’s have been, and still are, proposed.

This presentation will categorize some NTTT concepts and compare them with operating gasification plants in Japan, as well as with modern mass burn plants in Europe. It will use the same system boundary limits and compare the concepts based on the same design basis regarding waste feed properties, such as composition, heat value and size of the waste fuel, as well as regarding utility and ambient conditions. The main focus will be on energetic and environmental performance, like net power production and generation of emissions and residues. Mass and energy balances will show where the main inefficiencies are in either process and what the expected overall efficiency can be.

Often these technologies base their performance expectations on literature data or on lab-scale tests only. Some have been tried out in rather small commercial sizes compared to existing mass burn plants. Some are operating, mainly in Japan, but some have also been built completely before they had to be dismantled again after unsuccessful commissioning. Many proponents of NTTT’s are making claims based on their own assumptions or system boundaries which make it difficult to compare the performance of such advanced systems within the whole waste management landscape from trash bag to (by-) product.