The STF not only treats sludge by combustion. During the combustion process, the incinerators, turbines and condensers work together to turn the heat energy into electricity to fully meet the energy needs of the entire facility’s daily operation, making it a truly sustainable solution for waste management in Hong Kong. When running at full capacity, approximately 2 megawatts of surplus electricity is expected to be exported to the public power grid, enough to power up to 4,000 households.
Water from the condensers is first pre-heated by the hot flue gases, and then fed to the water pipes surounding the fluidized bed incinerators. The heat generated from sludge burning turns the water into steam, which is further super-heated to 380°C by the hot flue gases.
The high pressure super-heated steam drives the turbines and generators to convert the energy in the steam into electricity. Then the exiting low pressure steam passes through the air cool condensers and the condensed water is collected and returned to the boilers to continue power generation process.
