Suehiro Otoma*, Yasufumi Mori*, Tomonori Asou**, and Ryoji Samejima**

* Div. of Social and Environmental Systems, National Institute for Environmental Studies
** Div. of Energy and Environmental Development, Takuma Co., Ltd.

+ Correspondence should be addressed to Suehiro Otoma:
(16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305 Japan)

Abstract

Using the heat from waste incineration to generate electricity requires the addition of generating equipment, and the manufacture, construction, and operation of this equipment also uses energy. In this study, we examined the life cycle energy balance in relation to repowering, which is meant to increase MSW generating efficiency, as well as reburning, which is aimed at limiting both NOx and dioxin emissions. We found that these are effective methods for energy recovery, and that gas turbines combined with waste incinerators for repowering had the optimum size to improve overall efficiency.

Key words: municipal solid waste, power generation, repowering, reburning, LCA