Three waste processing plants earn Facility Recognition Awards

ASME acknowledged three facilities for their developments in the waste-processing field at the 14th North American Waste-to-Energy Conference, which was held last month in Tampa, Fla.

At the conference, the Society's Solid Waste Processing Division (SWPD) presented three SWPD Facility Recognition Awards in the categories of Combustion and Material Recovery.

In the Combustion category, which encompasses all thermal-processing facilities that use non-fossil fuels, the division selected the Covanta-Southeastern Connecticut Regional Recovery Facility (Covanta SECONN) as the winner of the Large Combustion Facility award.

The Covanta-Southeastern Connecticut Regional Recovery Facility was the winning plant in the Large Combustion Facility award.

Covanta SECONN is a modern, mass burn waste-to-energy facility that began commercial operation in 1992. The plant operates year-round and processes roughly 250,000 tons at 5,000 Btu per pound of municipal solid waste per year.

The unit has been rated as a U.S Department of Labor Office of Safety and Health Administration Voluntary Protection Programs (OSHA VPP) Star site since 1995, and an OSHA VPP "Star Among Stars" site four years in a row. Currently, the facility has run for four years without an employee or contractor OSHA reportable injury. In addition, the plant's average boiler availability has been above 96 percent for the past four years.

Covanta SECONN's innovative contributions to the solid waste-processing field include a residue building floor-repair system that employs bridge decking, and a record of zero discharge of storm water from developed site areas.

Honorable mention in the Combustion category went to the Union County Resource Recovery Facility in Rahway, N.J. The plant is owned by the Union County Utilities Authority, and is operated by Covanta Union Inc.

The Union County Resource Recovery Facility, winner of the honorable mention for Large Combustion Facility.

The facility, now in its 13th year of operation, consists of three individual combustion trains. The plant currently processes more than 1,500 tons of solid waste each day. Refuse, which is delivered to the facility primarily by standard packer trucks and transfer trailer vehicles, is reduced approximately 90 percent in volume during the combustion process.

The plant's innovations include a reverse osmosis system for water treatment, an up-flow design scrubber, extensive corrosion mitigation programs, and a supplemental waste feed for special wastes.

The division selected the Polk County Solid Waste Recovery Plant in Minnesota as the winner in its Material Recovery Facility category, which includes all non-thermal processing facilities that recover materials from the waste tream.

According to the Solid Waste Processing Division, the facility is the first of its kind in Minnesota that is located in front of a waste combustor and removes almost all non-burnable items from the waste stream prior to incineration.

The Polk County Solid Waste Recovery Plant

Polk County owns and operates two starved air mass burn municipal solid waste combustors, each rated at 40 tons per day processing capacity serving a five-county region in northwest Minnesota. In 1996, the county designed and constructed a materials recovery facility in front of the waste combustors, primarily to remove problem items causing excess maintenance and downtime in the burning chambers. The facility was also used to extract high BTU content materials to increase the plant's overall processing capacity.

The facility's technical achievements are reflected in the simplicity of the process, which maximizes the use of mechanical separation in the trammel, the magnets, and the eddy current separator, according to the division.

Since the materials recovery facility's startup in 1996, Polk County has collected nearly $5 million in steam sales and more than $2.5 million from the sale of recyclable materials.

The facilities were selected based on the following criteria: success in reaching the facility's goals; innovative and technical contributions to solid waste processing; environmental performance; health and safety records at the facility; facility economics; and the facility's role in integrated waste management.

Nominations for the 2007 ASME Facility Recognition Awards are now being accepted, and are due on March 21, 2007. Any Solid Waste Processing Division member in good standing may nominate a facility for the award. Self-nominations by facility personnel are also welcome.

For more information, or to obtain an award nomination form, visit the ASME Solid Waste Processing Division Web site, at http://divisions.asme.org/swpd/awards/fraward.html, or contact Nat Egosi, (631) 756-1060, ext. 108; e-mail Negosi@rrtenviro.com.

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