Abstract
This paper focuses on current issue of waste-to-energy (WTE) facility planning supported by modern computational tools. Waste management in many countries of the European Union will have to undergo a significant change in the coming years, which will include the diversion from dominant municipal solid waste (MSW) landfilling to other treatment options (e.g. material and/or energy recovery). For example, the Czech Republic (CZE), which is used in this article as a model region, will have to divert from landfilling more than 3 000 kt/y of MSW by 2020. The only viable alternative is building new WTE facilities to meet this target which entails considerable investment costs and opens the potential for application of optimization procedures. An optimization task aiming at this crucial task is introduced and further discussed in the article. Important background information, which creates a necessary set of inputs for finding realistic solutions, is presented at the same time. Afore mentioned set includes: The potential of convenient waste for energy production in the considered region, Technology development influencing plant performance, Energy products export possibilities - the existence of district heating (DH) networks for generated heat utilization, Forecasting of prices development in the future, Financial sustainability of the project.
The results of several studies from different fields (waste management, DH) are summarized in the article for this purpose. The knowledge gained from this article is further used for the development and practical application of computational tool. The tool supports choice of optimal design parameters of individual WTE facility.
