A Life Cycle Assessment of Flue Gas Treatment Technologies for Municipal Solid Waste Incineration in China: Cost and Environmental Benefits and Regional Adaptability

To balance environmental compliance
and industrial sustainability
in flue gas treatment from waste incineration, this study systematically
evaluates the application patterns and environmental-economic impacts
of eight mainstream technologies based on survey data from more than
300 incineration plants across China. Findings indicate that Selective
noncatalytic reduction + semidry + dry + activated carbon injection
+ bag dust + selective catalytic reduction constitutes the dominant
configuration nationwide (accounting for over 50%). Research indicates
that the T6(Selective noncatalytic reduction + semidry + dry + activated
carbon injection + bag dust + selective catalytic reduction + wet),
demonstrates optimal performance across multiple environmental metrics.
Considering both operational costs and external costs, the T6 process
costs 87.9 CNY, making it the most cost-effective option. Notably,
following the implementation of the T6 replacement, NOX emissions will decrease by 8.2 × 104 tons, and SO2 emissions will decrease by 3.87 × 104 tons.
It also exhibits the lowest values across key performance indicators
such as global warming potential (GWP), primary energy demand, and
water use, resulting in the smallest indirect emissions. Scenario
simulations indicate that promoting technological iteration effectively
reduces acidification potential (AP) and GWP. Scenario 3, featuring
T6 replacement, achieves optimal emission reduction efficiency, reducing
2.16 × 104 tons SO2 eq and 2.01 ×
105 tons CO2 eq. However, GWP exhibits a complex
pattern of rising initially and then declining during this process
due to the combination of multiple methods and the use of chemical
agents. Furthermore, technology upgrade pathways must be tailored
to city scale: first-tier cities with annual incineration volumes
exceeding one million tons demonstrate significant economies of scale,
while smaller towns require cross-regional collaboration to control
costs. This study ultimately provides critical scientific support
for developing differentiated technology upgrade strategies to achieve
the synergistic goals of pollution reduction and carbon mitigation.