Copenhagen Climate Change Conference Day 4 ~ Ryan Sullivan

Today we toured Amagerforbaendings waste to energy plant where they transform waste into eco-friendly electricity and district heating. Their furnaces have a capacity of 440,000 tones of waste per year corresponding to around 10% of all incinerated waste in Denmark. The plant operates 24 hours a day every day of the year. The plant produces enough electricity to power 25% of the district heating used in Copenhagen.

First the garbage is put into a holding Silo where it waits to be taken into the process. In the silo due to a couple of factors it actually heats up to around 40-60 degrees Celsius. The garbage then goes into the furnace system where in about 2 hours at between 950-1050 degrees celcious as it is incinerated. From the furnace waste incineration flue gasses are led to a horizontal boiler consisting in of two radiation passes. The boiler super heaters, a convention process further heats the steam into high-pressure steam of 380 degrees Celcious and 45 bar by means of heat exchange with the flue gas. This process produces 53 tonnes of high pressure steam per hour. From this joint steam line the steam is distributed into two turbines of 20 MW and 8.5MW respectively. Any left over steam due to current needs of the city is then diverted for heating purposes and not just to power the turbine electric generator.
　
When I asked to is this not a poison filled process in regards to air pollutants from incinerating the garbage the plant officials said no. Since the garb age is burnt at a very precise temperature not higher or lower it gives minimal time to actually produce any toxic gasses or airborne by-product. Also the tall smoke stacks from the plant are lined with a special carbon fibre material to capture any remaining particles as well as to be used as a heat exchanger to heat large amounts of water to provide to the city. So this plant really thinks of every last micron of energy from start to stop. This is the type of technology we need along with many other long term sustainable energy projects in Canada. Fossil fuel is a dying breed and in a contractual stage, so lets get with the times and lead the way. Because the countries that do not act, will be left in the dark quite literally.