Technology Innovation in Incinerator Fly Ash Sintering and Melting Brings Regional GHG Mitigation and Economic Benefits

Municipal
solid waste incinerator fly ash (IFA) reutilization is
energy-intensive with expenditure and secondary fly ash (Sec-FA) generation.
Technology innovation and deployment are necessary for better IFA
reutilization. Herein, potential benefits of technology innovation
by fuel substitution, waste heat recovery and Sec-FA reuse of preferable
plasma melting, fuel melting, and sintering technologies were evaluated
by life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle costing (LCC). Results
show that fuel melting and sintering could gain more environmental
and economic benefits, respectively Technology innovation could bring
environmental benefits and approximately 132 to 173 RMB/t IFA of economic
profitability, among which waste heat recovery could gain 32–36%
of economic optimization effect. A regional technology transition
in China from plasma melting to fuel melting and technology innovation
with waste heat and Sec-FA recovery shows GHG mitigation (0.48–0.79
Mt/yr) and economic benefits (322.21–537.02 million RMB/yr).
Policy scenarios indicated that enterprise will lose approximately
360.70 RMB/t IFA if zero-subsidy is provided.