Wheelabrator Falls Inc.
Wheelabrator Falls Inc.
Located in Falls Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, the Wheelabrator Falls waste-to-energy facility provides dependable, environmentally safe disposal of municipal solid waste for the Bucks County Area, while generating clean, renewable electricity for sale to the local utility. Owned and operated by Wheelabrator, Wheelabrator Falls processes up to 1,500 tons per day of municipal solid waste. Wheelabrator has an electric generating capacity of 53,000 kilowatts; the equivalent of supplying the electrical needs of 60,000 Pennsylvania homes.
Wheelabrator Falls is also America’s first commercial waste-to-energy facility with a first privately initiated, totally integrated Materials Recovery Facility (MRF). The communities of Bucks County send their recyclables and non-recyclable trash to the same location. This instantly translates into substantial collection savings and increased recycling rates for the county year-after-year. The MRF utilizes state-of-the-art technology for sorting and processing commingled recyclables and is capable of processing up to 200 tons per day of recyclables into clean, marketable secondary materials supplementing the county’s existing recycling program.
GENERAL
Area Served: Eastern Pennsylvania
Type of Contract: own and operate
Start-up: 1994
RECYCLING
Type of Service: Materials Recovery Facility (MRF)-200 tons per day:
- Glass
- Ferrous and non-ferrous metals
- Newspapers, corrugated, other grade
REFUSE COMBUSTION
Type of System: Mass-burn, water wall boilers
Boiler Operation: 24 hours per day, 7 days per week
Process Lines: 2 @ 750 tons per day each
Feed System: Overhead cranes with ram feeders
Grate Design: Von Roll reciprocating grates
Combustion Temperature: 2000°F+
Waste Volume Reduction: 90%
AIR QUALITY CONTROL
Type of Equipment: Dry scrubbers, fabric filters, SNCR (NOx controls), carbon injection
ENERGY PRODUCTION
Type of Energy: Electric power
Steam Flow to Turbine: 416,000 pounds per hour @ 1300 psig/930*F
Electric Generating Capacity: 53 megawatts/60,000 homes
Cooling System: Mechanical draft cooling tower
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