Greater Detroit Resource Recovery Facility/Detroit Incinerator (Detroit, Michigan)

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Constructed in 1986-1989, by the City of Detroit, the incinerator is the largest incinerator in the U.S. In 1991, the City sold the facility but remained responsible to pay off the bond holders who financed its construction.

The incinerator is currently operated by the Michigan Waste Energy firm which is a subsidiary of Covanta Energy. This large New Jersey firm specializes in producing energy from waste, that is, they are a refuse derived fuel firm.

The Detroit incinerator was designed with three large furnaces capable of burning 4,000 tons of trash every day. Environmental restrictions now permit the operation of only two furnaces simultaneously so about 2,800 tons are burned daily. Trucks dump the city’s solid waste at the incinerator. It goes on to a conveyor belt and metal objects are sucked out. The solid waste is then shredded and pulverized for burning in a furnace at a temperature of 2,300 degrees. Pipes conveying water through the furnace generate steam that is then used to propel a turbine that produces electricity. The facility generates both steam and electricity that are sold to Michigan Consolidated Gas/Detroit Edison for as much as $40 million annually.