While searching for possible sources of up-to-date Waste-to-Energy news and information for future postings, I came across a fascinating document titled 100 Years of Waste Incineration in Denmark. The document was written by Heron Kleis of Babcock & Wilcox Vølund and Søren Dalager of Rambøll. It traverses through the history of the use of incineration in Denmark, which began in 1903.
» 100 Years of Waste Incineration in Denmark (From Ramboll.dk)
Several interesting points included the fact that Danish incineration plants have, for the most part, always been waste-to-energy facilities. The first plant actually was a combined heat and electricity plant. Also, efforts have always been made in Danish plants to reduce the pollution produced by the incineration. Many of the early plants discussed in the article contain rudimentary emission control equipment, ahead of its time. There is a reference to the "filth in the British incinerators" compared with the cleanliness of the incineration plants in Cologne.
The old plants shown in the article do not have thick clouds of black smoke coming from their chimneys. I have seen pictures of old American incinerators such as the one that operated in Harrisburg, PA during the 1940s. The plant's stack belched an opaque cloud of black smoke. The photographer described the facility with something along the lines of "a long building with three holes in a concrete floor from which a hellish orange glow emitted, the waste to be burnt was thrown into these holes, and there were no railings encircling the holes."
The modern WTE facilities which are being built in Denmark, Sweden, Germany and throughout Europe are marvels of both engineering and architecture. I do believe that there will be a resurgence of WTE construction in the U.S. in the coming years, and I feel that cities such as New York will end up going with WTE as fossil fuel prices continue to fluctuate, problems with the long-haul llandfill system - "out of sight, out of mind" - become bigger, and addressing of the climate change issue becomes more widespread.
