The objectives of this project were to evaluate the feasibilities of the transformations from refuse incinerators to bio-energy centers, to draw up preliminary proposals for bio-energy centers, and to draft a promotion plan that is expected to be submitted by the Environmental Protection Administration to the Executive Yuan for approval. By the development of bio-waste renewable energy centers and the introduction of advanced technologies on waste treatment together with effective utilizations of bio-energy from agricultural residues, the aim of improving the recycling rate and the environmental quality would be achieved and our country would move towards the goal of “zero waste”. The bio-waste renewable energy centers would also be helpful for the utilization of renewable energy, the development of biomass energy and the promotion of CO2 reduction policy. The refuse would still be the main feedstock of bio-waste renewable energy centers. As for the agricultural and forest residues, in accordance with the survey based on data of 2008, this project suggested to take rice straw as top priority since the estimated bio-energy potential of the rice straw was accounted for 60% of the total agricultural and forest residues. Due to the policy of increasing grain production, there would be very limited cultivated lands available for the growing of energy plants. Since the estimated energy value of biomass yield was so slight, the growing of energy plants as supplementary materials for the bio-waste renewable energy centers was not practical except for demonstration purpose. According to the outcomes of this project, the recommended conversion technologies for the bio-waste renewable energy centers were the mechanical heat treatment (MHT) process combined with torrefaction facility, which would convert refuse or biomass into a fuel product called “bio-coal”. The bio-coal could substitute the fossil coal in power plants or cogenerations with the advantages of economics, efficiency and future development. It was found that there was no urgent demand of transforming the existing refuse incinerators and the incinerators still had more than one million tons of surplus capacity per year. While taking into consideration of the utilization of surplus capacity and the fact that MHT combined with torrefaction for bio-coal production from bio-waste was still an innovative technology to be validated, this project suggested first promoting the incineration of rice straw and carrying out pilot programs for validations on MHT and torrefaction technology. Second, constructing a demonstration facility, and finally promoting transformation of refuse incinerators to bio-waste renewable energy centers based on the actual conditions of each incinerators.

Refuse incinerator；bio-coal；co-combustion；mechanical heat treatment；torrefaction；gasification；rice straw