MHIEC Receives Order for Plant Modification Work in Akita, Japan, To Extend Operational Life of Municipal Solid Waste Incineration Facility -- 144 Ton/day Capacity Nanbu Garbage Disposal Center --

Tokyo, August 28, 2012 – Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Environmental & Chemical Engineering Co., Ltd. (MHIEC), a wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI), has received an order from an association of local municipal offices in the Noshiro-Yamamoto area of Noshiro City, in Japan's Akita Prefecture, for modification work to improve core equipment of a municipal solid waste (MSW) incineration plant at its Nanbu Garbage Disposal Center. The modification of the stoker furnace (Notes 1) type incineration plant, which has a 144 tons per day (tpd) processing capacity and is now in its 18th year in operation, is aimed at not only extending the plant's operational life but also furthering its energy-saving capability. The modification work is slated for completion in March 2015.

The incineration plant, which MHI originally completed in March 1995, consists mainly of two units of a 72 tpd Mitsubishi-Martin stoker furnace and other peripheral systems. The modification work ordered calls for renewal and conversion of major components of the incineration equipment, flue-gas treatment system, ventilation system and electrical instrumentation. Through adoption of inverter motor controls, the refurbished plant will boost energy savings and cut CO2 emissions by 5.3 parsent (approx. 128 tons) per year, thus helping to prevent global warming. With adoption of MHIEC's patented Hybrid Bag Filter, which employs a catalyst bag filter, the new plant's flue-gas treatment system will eliminate the need for activated carbon, which has been used to remove dioxin from the flue gas, and thereby contribute to reducing plant operation costs.

The association of local municipal offices in the Noshiro-Yamamoto area is a broad-based union established by Noshiro City and three nearby towns – Fujisato, Mitane and Happo – in order to perform cross-regional administrative work. The association handles garbage and night-soil treatment as well as nursing care and emergency service activities within its area.

Recently the number of projects to modify and improve waste treatment facilities, not only to extend their operational lives but to make them more environmentally compatible, has been in an increasing trend as local governments face tight budgets that make it difficult to construct new facilities. Moves have gathered further momentum with the central government's introduction in 2010 of a state subsidy system to promote operational life extension and enhance energy savings of waste treatment facilities (notes 2).

MHIEC, established in 1976, took over MHI's waste treatment plant business in 2008. Leveraging MHI's environment-related technologies and abundant knowhow in the construction and operation of waste management facilities both in Japan and overseas – strengths derived from the company's long record of operations in the field – MHIEC is in a solid position to provide comprehensive solutions, from initial design and engineering through operation.

The latest order represents the second of this kind placed to MHIEC in the current business year: earlier this month it received an order from Oita City for modification of an incineration plant there. Capitalizing on these two consecutive orders and its own strong track record in previous orders for operational life extension projects, MHIEC will aggressively propose further energy-saving enhancements and improvements for stable operation at existing waste treatment facilities as well as ways to reduce lifecycle costs, including maintenance and management costs, in a quest to expand its business further.

(Notes 1) A stoker furnace is a common feature of MSW incineration plants. In a stoker furnace, MSW is combusted as it moves along on a fire grate made of heat-resistant castings.

(Notes 2) This program, which falls under the jurisdiction of Japan’s Ministry of the Environment, targets effective use and improvement of existing waste treatment facilities as a contribution to the prevention of global warming. Local governments (city, town or village) that seek to extend the operational life of their general waste processing facilities are eligible to receive subsidies covering one-third to half of the project cost, dependent on the CO2 reduction rate.

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