On March 11, China’s first engineering laboratory for waste incineration—National Engineering Laboratory for Waste Incineration & Equipment—was established at Zhejiang University. The laboratory will carry out research into core technology and equipment development in the field of waste incineration.
With the constant improvement of people’s living standards, the amount of rubbish and dangerous waste is on the increase, thus bringing in its wake the severity of environmental pollution. Harmless disposal of rubbish and dangerous waste has become a critical ecological issue. Many cities find themselves in an awkward predicament of “being surrounded by rubbish”. According to Yan Jianhua, Vice President of Zhejiang University and Director of National Engineering Laboratory for Waste Incineration & Equipment, the annual volume of urban rubbish and that of dangerous waste in China add up to 180 million tons and 36 million tons respectively. They are primarily disposed of by means of incineration. Thus, key technological breakthroughs and industrial promotion in waste incineration will play a crucial role in environmental governance and energy conservation.
The National Engineering Laboratory for Waste Incineration & Equipment aims at constructing a research and application platform and carrying out research into relevant technologies, techniques and equipment so as to tackle a series of problems, including low stability in incineration of rubbish and dangerous waste, serious secondary pollution and low efficiency of energy utilization.