IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jresou/v8y2019i3p125-d247224.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An Analysis of Operational Efficiencies in the Waste-to-Energy (WTE) Plants of Kaohsiung Municipality (Taiwan)

Author

Listed:
  • Wen-Tien Tsai

    (Graduate Institute of Bioresources, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Pingtung 912, Taiwan)

Abstract

As the second-largest city in Taiwan, the Kaohsiung municipality has faced serious environmental loadings in recent decades. Among them, waste management is a key issue because of large amount of urban and industrial waste produced daily. In this regard, waste-to-energy (WTE) systems adopting the best available control technology for air pollution is a win-win approach because it also generates electricity to mitigate the dependence on imported fossil fuels and the greenhouse gas emissions incidentally. In this work, the updated status of municipal solid waste (MSW) and WTE plants in Kaohsiung were analyzed to get the crux based on the official database. Using the operational data on the WTE plants over recent years (2003–2018), the analysis of operational efficiencies for the four WTE plants in Kaohsiung was addressed in the paper. It showed that their operational efficiencies, ranging from 0.287 to 0.568 kW-h/kg, indicated an approximate “bathtub curve” pattern. In addition, analyzing the project for revamping the Gangshan WTE plant showed a significant progress in operational efficiencies with a significant increase from 0.506 kW-h/kg in 2016 to 0.587 kW-h/kg in 2018. Finally, some recommendations on technological measures and regulatory incentives for upgrading the operational efficiencies of existing WTE plants were addressed in the work.

Suggested Citation

  • Wen-Tien Tsai, 2019. "An Analysis of Operational Efficiencies in the Waste-to-Energy (WTE) Plants of Kaohsiung Municipality (Taiwan)," Resources, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-13, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jresou:v:8:y:2019:i:3:p:125-:d:247224
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9276/8/3/125/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9276/8/3/125/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tsai, Wen-Tien & Kuo, Kuan-Chi, 2010. "An analysis of power generation from municipal solid waste (MSW) incineration plants in Taiwan," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(12), pages 4824-4830.
    2. Tsai, Wen-Tien & Chou, Yao-Hung & Lin, Chien-Ming & Hsu, Hsin-Chieh & Lin, Keng-Yu & Chiu, Chunh-Siang, 2007. "Perspectives on resource recycling from municipal solid waste in Taiwan," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(1-2), pages 69-79.
    3. Tsai, W. T. & Chou, Y. H., 2005. "Overview of environmental impacts, prospects and policies for renewable energy in Taiwan," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 119-147, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pirotta, F.J.C. & Ferreira, E.C. & Bernardo, C.A., 2013. "Energy recovery and impact on land use of Maltese municipal solid waste incineration," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 1-11.
    2. Tsai, Wen-Tien & Lin, Chih-Chung & Yeh, Ching-Wei, 2007. "An analysis of biodiesel fuel from waste edible oil in Taiwan," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 11(5), pages 838-857, June.
    3. Botakoz Suleimenova & Berik Aimbetov & Daulet Zhakupov & Dhawal Shah & Yerbol Sarbassov, 2022. "Co-Firing of Refuse-Derived Fuel with Ekibastuz Coal in a Bubbling Fluidized Bed Reactor: Analysis of Emissions and Ash Characteristics," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-11, August.
    4. Roy, S. & Lam, Y.F. & Hossain, M.U. & Chan, J.C.L., 2022. "Comprehensive evaluation of electricity generation and emission reduction potential in the power sector using renewable alternatives in Vietnam," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    5. Tsai, Wen-Tien, 2011. "An analysis of used lubricant recycling, energy utilization and its environmental benefit in Taiwan," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(7), pages 4333-4339.
    6. Valentine, Scott Victor, 2010. "A STEP toward understanding wind power development policy barriers in advanced economies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(9), pages 2796-2807, December.
    7. Zhang, Zhaoguo & Jin, Xiaocui & Yang, Qingxiang & Zhang, Yi, 2013. "An empirical study on the institutional factors of energy conservation and emissions reduction: Evidence from listed companies in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 36-42.
    8. Madeti, Siva Ramakrishna & Singh, S.N., 2017. "Online fault detection and the economic analysis of grid-connected photovoltaic systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 121-135.
    9. Kylie Ching Mun Wang & Khai Ern Lee & Mazlin Mokhtar, 2021. "Solid Waste Management in Small Tourism Islands: An Evolutionary Governance Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-26, May.
    10. Tsai, Wen-Tien, 2014. "Feed-in tariff promotion and innovative measures for renewable electricity: Taiwan case analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 1126-1132.
    11. Tsai, Wen-Tien & Lan, Haw-Farn & Lin, De-Tsai, 2008. "An analysis of bioethanol utilized as renewable energy in the transportation sector in Taiwan," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 12(5), pages 1364-1382, June.
    12. Bhutto, Abdul Waheed & Bazmi, Aqeel Ahmed & Zahedi, Gholamreza, 2011. "Greener energy: Issues and challenges for Pakistan--Biomass energy prospective," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(6), pages 3207-3219, August.
    13. Chang, Ching-Ter & Lee, Hsing-Chen, 2016. "Taiwan's renewable energy strategy and energy-intensive industrial policy," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 456-465.
    14. Damien Bazin & Emna Omri & Nouri Chtourou, 2015. "Solar Thermal Energy for Sustainable Development in Tunisia," Post-Print halshs-01070616, HAL.
    15. Haiqian Ke & Shangze Dai & Haichao Yu, 2022. "Effect of green innovation efficiency on ecological footprint in 283 Chinese Cities from 2008 to 2018," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 2841-2860, February.
    16. Juan Li & Keyin Liu & Zixin Yang & Yi Qu, 2023. "Evolution and Impacting Factors of Global Renewable Energy Products Trade Network: An Empirical Investigation Based on ERGM Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-27, May.
    17. Ma, Hengyun & Oxley, Les & Gibson, John & Li, Wen, 2010. "A survey of China's renewable energy economy," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 438-445, January.
    18. Chen, Falin & Lu, Shyi-Min & Wang, Eric & Tseng, Kuo-Tung, 2010. "Renewable energy in Taiwan," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(7), pages 2029-2038, September.
    19. Chen, Falin & Lu, Shyi-Min & Chang, Yi-Lin, 2007. "Renewable energy in Taiwan: Its developing status and strategy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 32(9), pages 1634-1646.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jresou:v:8:y:2019:i:3:p:125-:d:247224. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.