ME Students Tour Waste Management Company

• Mechanical
• Engineering
• AK
• Gupta
• ENME
• 489W

Professor A.K. Gupta and his ENME 489W Students

On March 6, 2009, Professor Ashwani Gupta, a Distinguished University Professor of Mechanical Engineering, and his students from ENME 489W (Thermal Destruction of Wastes: Pollution and Waste Technology) visited Wheelabrator Technologies, Inc., a renewable energy generation company, (Wheelabrator is a division of waste and environmental services giant Waste Management, Inc.). The purpose of this tour was to watch the actual practice of converting waste into thermal energy, which is then converted into steam and electricity.

Wheelabrator Technologies’ Baltimore location produces a maximum of 60 MW of electricity per hour, the equivalent to providing electricity to approximately 60,000 homes. The facility also sells steam to downtown Baltimore for heating and cooling purposes.

In ENME 489W, students learn an understanding of thermal destruction, incineration and combustion of solid waste and the fundamentals of waste properties and their use as a renewable source of energy. This is beneficial to the students, as they can apply their classroom instruction to the industrial practice of waste management, as seen on the tour.

"Luckily, no student experienced any characteristic bad smell or odor at the facility!" noted Professor Gupta.

Published April 21, 2009