Large Scale Co-combustion Demonstration of Electrical and Electronic Shredder Residue at the Wuerzburg Municipal Solid Waste Incinerator (MHKW)

In a controlled test campaign, a broad consortium of international stakeholders has demonstrated the effects of end-of-life electrical and electronic equipment shredder residue (ESR) on the performance of a large scale municipal solid waste energy recovery combustor MHKW in Wuerzburg, Germany. The ESR was highly concentrated with electrical and electronic plastics. Three test conditions were investigated: 1) base case without additional electrical and electronic shredder residue; 2) addition of 11 weight percent ESR containing E&E plastics; 3) addition of 26 weight percent ESR with E&E plastics. The fact that some electrical and electronic equipment is already in the mixed MSW feed to many waste-to-energy plants made the testing important for the MHKW operator as well as for the local regulatory authorities (EPA). The tests investigated the effect of ESR on plant operations, air emissions (acids, organics, and metals), and ash characteristics, and on the destruction efficiencies for several chlorinated and brominated substances present in the ESR. The large scale test used 103 tons of ESR derived from 650 tons of a typical mix of information technology equipment, consumer electronics, small household appliances, and other products. The ESR was supplied by Electrocycling in Germany. The tests were successfully completed from an operational standpoint without long time delays and did not show any mechanical blockage during the test in spite of the high heating value, 23 GJ/t, of the ESR. The grate was operated at close to 90 percent throughput