Innovation in the Malaysian Waste-to-Energy Sector: Applications with Global Potential

Incineration of municipal solid waste in Malaysia: Salient issues, policies and waste-to-energy initiatives

“…A premier policy mechanism called Small Renewable Energy Power (SREP) program was implemented by the national government to promote smallscale renewable electricity in Malaysia from 2001 to 2010 [25,26]. One of SREP's main objectives was to promote Malaysia's Fifth Fuel Policy of diversifying from oil, gas, coal, and conventional hydroelectricity into alternative renewable energy sources such as biomass, biogas, municipal solid waste, solar, and mini-hydroelectricity and achieving 5 % of national electricity supply from renewable resources by 2005 [27]. This program was not a success, though it did churn out a few viable renewable energy initiatives such as incineration of MSW and landfill gas capture (the former will be further discussed as follows).…”

“…It is important to note that RDF is basically a specialized subset of WTE technology in which the latter requires more pre-processing steps prior to actual incineration. although it should be noted that its maximum rated capacity is 1,000 tons of MSW per day and 8.9 MW of electricity generation [27]. The facility employs in excess of 200 people and exports approximately 5 MW to the national grid.…”

“…Another advantage afforded by this facility is its capability of incorporating visual, mechanical and magnetic sorting of MSW to ensure that only materials with high caloric value are combusted [27]. This benefit is made more apparent in light of the highly heterogeneous Malaysian MSW which contain high organic content.…”

“…This benefit is made more apparent in light of the highly heterogeneous Malaysian MSW which contain high organic content. It is, nonetheless, important to point out, that its combustion process is not carbon neutral; incineration of one ton of municipal waste produces about one ton of carbon dioxide albeit this quantity is much less than if waste was left to degrade in an open landfill [27].…”

“…There are two good examples of such initiatives in Malaysia; Bukit Tagar and Air Hitam sanitary landfills located in Hulu Selangor and Puchong, respectively. In the case of the former, approximately 3,600 m 3 /hr of landfill gas (60% methane) is captured to generate power through a 1-MW gas engine while unused methane is destroyed using flares [27]. For the Air Hitam sanitary landfill, its gas contains about 55% methane and its generated 2 MW energy is transported to the national grid [25].…”