Back to Frankie's
ESL Worksheets

The Incineration Process at Tuas Incineration Plant

  1. During your visit to Tuas Incineration Plant, you made notes about the incineration process. However, the technical information you received was quite complex and perhaps difficult to understand. A much simpler description of the process will be adequate for your report.

    Note: you can see an excellent diagram of the incineration process on the National Environment Agency website http://www.nea.gov.sg/interactive/. (Click on "Solid Waste Management" and then select the icon representing incineration plants.) However, you need Macromedia Flash and Shockwave to view this.

    Task 1

    Look at the notes below. They are in the wrong order. Rearrange them so that they are in chronological order.

    • Ash transported by vibrating conveyor belts to ash pit (along the way, ferrous scrap metal picked up by electromagnetic separators and metal later recycled)
    • Refuse incinerated at 800-1,000ºC, producing super-heated steam (this drives a steam turbine à produces electricity for plant and for S’pore Power)
    • Ash taken by barge to Pulau Semakau Landfill
    • Refuse trucks arrive @ incin. plant
    • Gases from incin. process pass through electrostatic precipitator (neutralises acidic compounds and causes dust to settle before gases are emitted through tall chimneys into atmosphere)
    • Crane grabs refuse and transfers it to incin.
    • Trucks tip waste into refuse bunker (24 truck bays in Refuse Reception Hall)
    • Trucks weighed on weighbridge (again as they leave)

    Task 2

    Now that your notes are in the correct order, use them to make a flowchart showing the incineration process. (You may wish to add graphics to the flowchart.) First of all, however, you need to turn the notes into proper sentences. For example, the note "Refuse trucks arrive @ incineration plant" becomes: Refuse trucks arrive at the incineration plant. (NB: Look out for "passive" forms such as "The trucks are weighed".)

    ADDITIONAL NOTES THAT MAY BE USEFUL FOR YOUR REPORT

    • Volume of waste produced in Singapore 1970-2000:
      • 1970 – 1,278 tonnes per day
      • 1980 – 2,573 tonnes per day
      • 1990 – 5,695 tonnes per day
      • 2000 – 7,651 tonnes per day
      • 2002 – 7,192 tonnes per day (the govt. believes the lower figure for 2002 demonstrates that waste minimisation and recycling programmes are becoming successful)
    • 92% of all solid waste was incinerated in 2002; the remainder was taken to Pulau Semakau landfill site
    • 54.7% of this solid waste was generated from residential premises, food centres and markets. Commerical and industrial premises accounted for the remaining 45.3%.
    • The average amount of domestic refuse generated per person per day in 2002 was 0.94 kilogrammes.
    • 4 incineration plants (Ulu Pandan 1979; Tuas 1986; Senoko 1992; Tuas South 2000)
    • The I.P.s generate 1,300 Kw of electricity per year (i.e. about 2-3% of the total power used in Singapore)
    • The I.P.s recover about 25,000 tonnes of ferrous scrap metal per year
    • Tuas I.P. employs 141 staff (mostly engineers) and operates all year round
    • Tuas I.P. incinerates 1,700 tonnes of refuse per day
    • Ash and non-incinerable waste (e.g. concrete rubble from construction sites) are transported to Pulau Semakau/Pulau Sakit (about 25 kms from the mainland)
    • When the Pulau Semakau landfill is full up, it will cover an area of 350 hectares and may be turned into a golf course or a marina with holiday chalets
    • Four private refuse collection companies collect waste from houses, condominiums and commercial premises. They also collect recyclable materials from households.

     

    Frankie Meehan