Environmental performance evaluation of large-scale municipal solid waste incinerators using data envelopment analysis

Journal Article · Thu Jul 15 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · Waste Management

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2010.02.002· OSTI ID:21357688

Chen, H -W ^[1]; Chen, J -C ^[2]; Tsai, S -J ^[1]

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1. Department of Environmental Engineering and Management, Chao-Yang University of Technology, Taichung 413, Taiwan (China)
2. Department of Environmental Engineering and Science, Fooyin University, 151 Chin-Hsueh Rd., Ta-Liao, Kaohsiung 831, Taiwan (China)

Limited to insufficient land resources, incinerators are considered in many countries such as Japan and Germany as the major technology for a waste management scheme capable of dealing with the increasing demand for municipal and industrial solid waste treatment in urban regions. The evaluation of these municipal incinerators in terms of secondary pollution potential, cost-effectiveness, and operational efficiency has become a new focus in the highly interdisciplinary area of production economics, systems analysis, and waste management. This paper aims to demonstrate the application of data envelopment analysis (DEA) - a production economics tool - to evaluate performance-based efficiencies of 19 large-scale municipal incinerators in Taiwan with different operational conditions. A 4-year operational data set from 2002 to 2005 was collected in support of DEA modeling using Monte Carlo simulation to outline the possibility distributions of operational efficiency of these incinerators. Uncertainty analysis using the Monte Carlo simulation provides a balance between simplifications of our analysis and the soundness of capturing the essential random features that complicate solid waste management systems. To cope with future challenges, efforts in the DEA modeling, systems analysis, and prediction of the performance of large-scale municipal solid waste incinerators under normal operation and special conditions were directed toward generating a compromised assessment procedure. Our research findings will eventually lead to the identification of the optimal management strategies for promoting the quality of solid waste incineration, not only in Taiwan, but also elsewhere in the world.

• OSTI ID: 21357688
• Journal Information: Waste Management, Journal Name: Waste Management Journal Issue: 7 Vol. 30; ISSN WAMAE2; ISSN 0956-053X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ASIA
CALCULATION METHODS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHINA
COMBUSTION
COST
DATA ANALYSIS
DEMAND
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
ECONOMICS
EFFICIENCY
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
EUROPE
FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY
INCINERATORS
INDUSTRIAL WASTES
ISLANDS
JAPAN
LAND RESOURCES
MANAGEMENT
MONTE CARLO METHOD
OXIDATION
POLLUTION
RANDOMNESS
RESOURCES
SOLID WASTES
STEADY-STATE CONDITIONS
SYSTEMS ANALYSIS
TAIWAN
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTES
WESTERN EUROPE