MHIEC Receives Order from Kagoshima City to Refurbish Hokubu Waste-to-Energy Plant -- Renovation to Extend Service Life of Facility with Processing Capacity of 530 tpd --

Tokyo, January 25, 2021 – Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Environmental & Chemical Engineering Co., Ltd. (MHIEC), a Group company of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI), has received an order from Kagoshima City for refurbishment of its Hokubu Waste-to-Energy (WtE) Plant. The order calls for renovation of the facility’s stoker type incinerator, capable of processing 530 tonnes per day (tpd)(Note1), to extend the plant’s service life and enhance its energy efficiency. The contract is valued at 6.75 billion Japanese yen, with completion scheduled for February 2026.

Under the newly concluded contract, the service life of Kagoshima’s Hokubu WtE Plant will be extended through refurbishment of main equipment: including the waste receiving hopper as well as all equipment handling combustion, combustion gas cooling, flue gas treatment, waste heat recovery, ventilation, ash treatment, water supply and electrical instrumentation. To increase energy efficiency, high-efficiency motors and inverters will be newly adopted throughout the facility. The introduction of a low-temperature catalyst in the plant’s desulfurization equipment, a proprietary technology of MHIEC, will enhance the facility’s heat recovery ratio, while a low-air-ratio combustion system will improve combustion and enhance boiler efficiency. By increasing the steam turbine output from 8,700 kilowatts (kW) to 10,005 kW, CO₂ emissions will be annually reduced by more than 10%, helping to curb global warming.

The Hokubu WtE Plant was originally designed and constructed by MHI. On completion in March 2007, the facility incorporated two stoker type incinerators each providing a processing capacity of 265 tpd, plus related equipment. It offered an electricity generation capacity of 8,700 kW. Today, renovation of WtE plants is increasing as operators seek to extend the service life of their facilities and reduce their environmental impact. The trend has accelerated further following establishment of a related subsidy program(Note2) by the Japanese national government in fiscal 2010.

MHIEC succeeded to MHI’s environmental protection business in 2008, taking over its accumulated technological development capabilities in environmental protection systems as well as its broad expertise in the construction and operation of waste management facilities both in Japan and overseas. Based on this strong track record, MHIEC is well positioned to propose and provide comprehensive solutions encompassing all aspects from plant construction to operation.

Going forward, on the strength of this record and boosted by this latest contract, MHIEC will pursue additional refurbishment projects to enhance the energy efficiency and stable operation of existing waste treatment plants. It will also proactively propose solutions for lowering maintenance expenses and other lifecycle costs, in a robust quest to attract new orders.

• 1A stoker furnace is the main type of WtE plant. Waste is combusted as it moves along on a fire grate made of heat-resistant castings.
• 2This program, administered by Japan’s Ministry of the Environment, centers on fostering improvements to existing facilities for more effective use, and as a measure to mitigate climate change in the waste management sector. Municipal governments seeking to extend the service life of their WtE facilities and implement climate change countermeasures are eligible for subsidies on projects that will reduce CO₂ emissions (promoting the introduction of leading-edge facilities), or grants for establishing a sound material-cycle society, equivalent to one-half or one-third of project costs.