Lausselet Carine, Cherubini Francesco, Del Alamo Serrano Gonzalo, Becidan Michael, Strømman Anders Hammer
Industrial Ecology Program, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NTNU, Trondheim, Norway.
Industrial Ecology Program, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NTNU, Trondheim, Norway.
Waste Manag. 2016 Dec;58:191-201. doi: 10.1016/j.wasman.2016.09.014. Epub 2016 Sep 24.
Waste-to-Energy (WtE) plants constitute one of the most common waste management options to deal with municipal solid waste. WtE plants have the dual objective to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills and simultaneously to produce useful energy (heat and/or power). Energy from WtE is gaining steadily increasing importance in the energy mix of several countries. Norway is no exception, as energy recovered from waste currently represents the main energy source of the Norwegian district heating system. Life-cycle assessments (LCA) of WtE systems in a Norwegian context are quasi-nonexistent, and this study assesses the environmental performance of a WtE plant located in central Norway by combining detailed LCA methodology with primary data from plant operations. Mass transfer coefficients and leaching coefficients are used to trace emissions over the various life-cycle stages from waste logistics to final disposal of the ashes. We consider different fractions of input waste (current waste mix, insertion of 10% car fluff, 5% clinical waste and 10% and 50% wood waste), and find a total contribution to Climate Change Impact Potential ranging from 265 to 637gCOeq/kg of waste and 25 to 61gCOeq/MJ of heat. The key drivers of the environmental performances of the WtE system being assessed are the carbon biogenic fraction and the lower heating value of the incoming waste, the direct emissions at the WtE plant, the leaching of the heavy metals at the landfill sites and to a lesser extent the use of consumables. We benchmark the environmental performances of our WtE systems against those of fossil energy systems, and we find better performance for the majority of environmental impact categories, including Climate Change Impact Potential, although some trade-offs exist (e.g. higher impacts on Human Toxicity Potential than natural gas, but lower than coal). Also, the insertion of challenging new waste fractions is demonstrated to be an option both to cope with the excess capacity of the Norwegian WtE sector and to reach Norway's ambitious political goals for environmentally friendly energy systems.
垃圾焚烧发电（WtE）厂是处理城市固体废物最常见的垃圾管理方式之一。WtE厂有双重目标，即减少送往垃圾填埋场的垃圾量，同时生产有用的能源（热能和/或电能）。WtE产生的能源在一些国家的能源结构中日益重要。挪威也不例外，因为目前从垃圾中回收的能源是挪威区域供热系统的主要能源来源。在挪威背景下，对WtE系统的生命周期评估（LCA）几乎不存在，本研究通过将详细的LCA方法与来自工厂运营的原始数据相结合，评估了位于挪威中部的一座WtE厂的环境绩效。传质系数和浸出系数用于追踪从垃圾物流到灰烬最终处置的各个生命周期阶段的排放。我们考虑了不同比例的输入垃圾（当前的垃圾混合物、添加10%的汽车绒毛、5%的医疗废物以及10%和50%的木材废物），发现气候变化影响潜力的总贡献范围为每千克垃圾265至637克二氧化碳当量，每兆焦热能25至61克二氧化碳当量。所评估的WtE系统环境绩效的关键驱动因素是输入垃圾的碳生物源部分和较低的热值、WtE厂的直接排放、垃圾填埋场重金属的浸出以及在较小程度上消耗品的使用。我们将我们的WtE系统的环境绩效与化石能源系统进行了基准对比，发现尽管存在一些权衡（例如，对人类毒性潜力的影响高于天然气，但低于煤炭），但在大多数环境影响类别中，包括气候变化影响潜力，WtE系统的表现更好。此外，事实证明，添加具有挑战性的新垃圾成分既是应对挪威WtE部门产能过剩的一种选择，也是实现挪威在环保能源系统方面雄心勃勃的政治目标的一种选择。
