As the amount of business waste is overtaking incinerator capacity, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) is promoting turning business refuse into solid recovered fuel (SRF).
Turning waste into energy can resolve waste disposal challenges and reduce fossil fuel use, EPA Deputy Minister Shen Chih-hsiu (沈志修) said on Friday.
Twenty-six percent of all waste incinerated last year came from commercial and industrial sources, Shen said, citing EPA data.
The power generation efficiency of incinerating regular waste is about 20 percent, but it can be increased to 30 percent via treatment, he added.
SRF is created from combustible components of waste, including plastics, biodegradable material, paper and metal.
It has a low environmental impact and low cost, and can be used as a substitute fuel in high-efficiency boilers and combustion facilities, emitting far less carbon than coal, Shen said.
Using SRF in industrial burners could lighten the load on incinerators, he added.
“At the moment, there is not enough capacity to handle household waste,” Shen said. “Hopefully, high-caloric refuse will not be incinerated, increasing capacity for household waste.”
About 2 million tonnes of business waste is incinerated every year, 700,000 tonnes of which can be turned into SRF, Department of Waste Management Director-General Lai Ying-ying (賴瑩瑩) said.
The EPA and the Ministry of Economic Affairs would work together to develop the field, Lai added.
Ling Yung-sheng (凌韻生), director of the Industrial Development Bureau’s Sustainable Development Division, said that the manufacturing sector produces more than 17 million tonnes of waste every year.
Through experimentation, testing and help from the EPA in establishing regulations, refuse can be transformed from a burden into an energy source, he said.
It could also form a new industrial supply chain, generating more economic benefits, he added.
“Waste is a misplaced resource,” Industrial Technology Research Institute green energy division deputy director Wan Hao-peng (萬皓鵬) said. “If it can be transformed into energy, new industrial applications could be developed.”
The institute has been researching SRF since 2001, Wan said, estimating that the nation is capable of transforming about 2.7 million tonnes of business waste into about 370 megawatts of energy, enough to power nearly 600,000 homes.
The paper, fabric and cement industries are contributing the most to SRF production, Shen said, expressing the hope that more industries would join in.
The EPA estimated that next year, 390,000 tonnes of waste would be transformed into fuel, increasing to 470,000 tonnes by 2023.
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
RSS