Technological review on enhancing the energy efficiency of MSW incineration plant

Incineration is one of the methods in providing an efficient management of the municipal solid waste problem. At the same time, the energy released during the combustion of the waste can be harnessed for heat and generation of electricity. While there is potential for improved harnessing of electricity, the high chloride and sulphate content found in the waste limited the steam temperature to the current 400°C due to corrosion issues. Another limiting factor is the fluctuation in the gas temperature, which resulted in an unstable supply of heat to the heat exchangers. This paper briefly reviews the corrosion mechanism and the issues related to the temperature fluctuation from the combustion. This paper also discusses the current and new technologies used to overcome the corrosion attack on the ferrous surface and the temperature fluctuation.