MHIEC Receives Order to Improve Core Equipment at Municipal Solid Waste Incineration Facility in Yokohama

Yokohama's Tsuzuki Incineration Plant was designed and constructed by MHI and completed in March 1984. The current incineration facilities consist of three stoker furnaces with 400tpd processing capacities and related equipment. Power generation capacity of the plant's steam turbine generator is 12 megawatts (MW).

The newly ordered work is to consist of replacement and revamping of the plant's core equipment, including facilities for combustion, combustion gas cooling and waste heat utilization as well as electrical instrumentation. Output of the steam turbine will be increased to 13MW and the on-site power generation ratio will be enhanced to permit increased revenues from the sale of electricity. Higher equipment energy efficiency will be achieved through the adoption of high-efficiency motors and inverters in all equipment. The adoption of MHIEC's patented "combustion control system," which contributes to stable combustion, will reduce the volume of waste gas through low-air-ratio operation and promote less energy consumption by ventilators, etc. Together these features will enable a greater than 20% (approx. 2,500 tons) reduction in carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions per year, contributing to curbing of global warming.

Recently the number of projects to modify and improve existing MSW incineration plants, both to extend their operational lives and to reduce their impact on global warming, is in an increasing trend as local governments face tight budgets that make it difficult to construct new facilities. Moves in this direction are also gathering further momentum with the central government's introduction in 2010 of a state subsidy system created to promote operational life extension and enhance energy savings of waste treatment facilities^*2.

MHIEC took over MHI's waste treatment plant business in 2008, acquiring MHI's technological development capabilities in environmental systems and its abundant expertise in the construction and operation of waste management facilities both in Japan and overseas. On the strength of these assets, MHIEC today is in a prime position to provide comprehensive solutions encompassing all aspects from plant construction to operation.

Leveraging this latest order and its solid track record, going forward MHIEC will proactively propose further energy-saving enhancements and system 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 in this field 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.

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 (city, town or village) governments that seek to extend the operational life of their MSW facilities are eligible to receive subsidies covering one-third to half of the project cost, dependent on the CO₂ reduction rate.