Waste to energy in the field of thermal processing of waste

Thermal treatment of waste is accompanied by the release of a considerable quantity of heat that depends on the heat value of the waste being processed. Heat is released by burning the combustible part of the waste as well as by burning an auxiliary fuel in the case of processing low heat value waste. An important task of process-technology solution is to utilize efficiently the heat value of the products of incineration and this way partially compensate for the costs of waste thermal treatment. This contribution deals with energy consumption in relation to utilization of heat value of thermal decomposition products produced from waste in cases of two different waste processing technologies. The alternatives assessed differ in the regime of waste destruction. The first alternative is an incineration plant operating under oxidizing regime, the second one is an incineration plant performing thermal decomposition in a gasification reactor as the first stage of the process.