A review of energy recovery from waste in China

Although municipal solid waste (MSW) disposal in Europe and other developed countries has led to a widespread production of solid recovered fuel (SRF) and its incineration in various technical combustion processes, such developments have not yet occurred that widely in developing and transitional economies. This article puts mass-burn technologies and SRF into a China perspective, reviewing issues from technology application problems to emerging trends and future perspectives. Over the last two decades, growing waste volumes have prompted a move to waste incineration, especially in the large densely populated first-tier cities. However, with an organic fraction above 70% and a resulting water content of up to 65%, it is still argued that MSW in China is too moist for incineration. The introduction of mechanical biological treatment (MBT) or mechanical physical stabilization (MPS) technology for SRF production could provide the solution, either by offering further pre-drying options to mass-burn incinerators or by creating SRF to be burnt in co-incineration plants. First experiences of MBT and MPS technologies show promising results in terms of the capacity to deal with organic waste fractions, but the further disposal/utilization of the plants’ output stream has not yet been fully addressed.