Waste-to-Energy

Oklahoma waste-to-energy facility celebrates 30 years of operation

Morristown, New Jersey-based Covanta’s Tulsa, Oklahoma, energy-from-waste facility celebrated 30 years of operations in December 2016.

Since 1986, the facility has processed approximately 9 million tons of waste and has generated the equivalent of 4 million megawatt hours of electricity.

The Covanta Tulsa Renewable Energy facility processes 1,125 tons per day of municipal solid waste, generating up to 265,000 pounds per hour of steam.

A portion of the steam powers a turbine and in turn, generates energy that is sold to the Public Service Co. of Oklahoma. The remaining steam is exported to Holly Frontier Inc., a neighboring refinery, offsetting the refinery’s need to use fossil fuels to supply its energy needs.

The facility also is a large recycler of metal—recovering 168,000 tons of ferrous metal over the past 30 years, or enough steel to build more than 140,000 cars.

To commemorate 30 years of sustainable operations, Covanta Tulsa has partnered with nonprofit Up With Trees, also located in Tulsa, and plans to donate 30 food-bearing trees to Eugene Field Elementary School in Tulsa over the next several years.