Potential for solid waste use as an energy source in Texas. Project N/T-10, final report

Technical Report · Fri Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 1974

OSTI ID:7188490

Halligan, J E; Huffman, W J

The municipal and agricultural wastes of Texas represent two significant resources that could help alleviate the energy shortage. These resources can be utilized for the production of process gases (methane, steam, etc.) or converted to petrochemical feedstocks (ammonia, ethylene, etc.). The solid refuse produced by a family of four Texans (4 tons per year) has the potential of supplying 33 percent of the household's annual heating requirements supplied by the natural gas system. The average composition, heat content, and amount of municipal, industrial, and agricultural wastes being generated in Texas are summarized. Energy conversion sites are discussed. Front-end processing of municipal solid waste, organic fraction or direct energy utilization, pyrolysis and partial oxidation, and biochemical processing are technologies assessed. The economics of each energy recovery technology is considered. The legal problems and legislative requirements are compared with similar efforts elsewhere. James E. Halligan presents a statement on solid waste use for energy generation and conservation in Appendix I. Calculations of energy potential from solid waste for Texas are made in Appendix II. Appendix III contains a discussion on the corrosion potential in utility boilers firing a mixture of fossil fuel and municipal solid waste and recommendations are given. The operation of the Nashville Thermal Transfer Corporation Central Heating and Cooling Service Project is reported in Appendix IV. The economics of resource recovery from municipal solid waste is discussed in Appendix V. 60 references. (MCW)

• Research Organization: Texas Tech Univ., Lubbock (USA)
• OSTI ID: 7188490
• Report Number(s): NSF-RA-N-74-255
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

03 NATURAL GAS
030300 -- Natural Gas-- Drilling
Production
& Processing
09 BIOMASS FUELS
090400 -- Solid Waste & Wood Fuels-- (-1989)
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
291000 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Conservation
299003* -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Unconventional Sources & Power Generation-- Other-- (-1989)
AGRICULTURE
ECONOMICS
ENERGY CONSERVATION
ENERGY SOURCES
FLUIDS
FOSSIL FUELS
FUEL GAS
FUELS
GAS FUELS
GASES
MUNICIPAL WASTES
NATURAL GAS
NORTH AMERICA
PETROCHEMICALS
PETROLEUM PRODUCTS
PROCESSING
PRODUCTION
SOLID WASTES
SOUTHWEST REGION
TEXAS
USA
WASTES