The Solid Waste Authority of Palm County Florida’s Renewable Energy Facility 2 (REF 2) is a $672,000,000, state-of-the-art waste-to-energy facility located on 24 acres. The REF 2 project is the first of its kind in more than 25 years, and the most advanced, efficient, cleanest and greenest waste-to-energy power plant in the world, according to the Solid Waste Association of North America’s Applied Research Foundation. Located south of and across the street from an affluent golf course and neighborhood, immediately adjacent to the Palm Beach source for drinking water. REF-2 was the first waste to energy facility in the US to utilize selective catalytic reduction (SCR) in its emissions control system.
The facility generates 100 megawatts of electricity for the people in Palm Beach County. That's enough electricity to provide power for an estimated 68,000 homes and businesses, or about all the homes in Boca Raton.
At capacity, REF 2 will process more than one million tons (907,200,000 kg) of post-recycled municipal solid waste annually and 2,700 metric tons daily, more than 660 curbside trucks worth of trash every day!
REF 2 was designed and constructed with the most advanced pollution control measures of its kind for a waste-to-energy facility. Those measures include: 1) The use of carbon powder to remove mercury and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from ash after combustion, 2) Utilization of lime slurry to control acid gases and sulfur dioxide (SO2) in the Spray Dryer Absorbers (SDA), 3) Baghouses that filter fly ash, lime and carbon powder and prevent the release of particulates, and 4) The use of ammonia to turn nitrogen oxide (NOx) into harmless nitrogen and water (H2O) vapor in the Selective Catalytic Reduction System (SCR); REF 2 is the first waste-to-energy facility in the United States to reduce NOx emissions using SCR.
REF 2 provides 129,001 kg/h steam capacity per boiler which can be used for heating and cooling homes, sidewalks and businesses.
https://swa.org/Facilities/Facility/Details/Renewable-Energy-Facility-2-11