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.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to