Current Status of Waste-to-Energy in China

Innovative strategies are imperative to dispose of the growing municipal solid waste (MSW) through waste to energy (WTE) technology. The WTE progress in China deserves to receive particular attention as the rapid economic development with accelerated urbanization and industrialization leads to a tremendous amount of solid waste output, 203.62 million tons MSW in 2016. In recent years, the national and local government have both made tremendous effort to advance the development of waste-to-energy by issuing new waste management regulations, policies and WTE research projects. Based on these developments, an overview is needed to show the existing as well as new progress of WTE technologies in China. This paper summarizes the current status of solid waste including MSW and rural solid waste (RSW), introduces WTE capacity, several WTE incineration power plants and incinerator manufacturers in China. Besides, the paper shows some of the latest WTE progress including large capacity of domestic moving grate, high parameters of super-heated steam, ultra-low emission, mechanical biological treatment (MBT), new development in pyrolysis and gasification process, and fast continuous online dioxin monitoring.