Evaluating the energy demand for municipal solid wastes treatment facilities: A critical approach toward sustainable development

Assessment of the greenhouse effect impact of technologies used for energy recovery from municipal waste: A case for England

Review of numerical studies on thermal treatment of municipal solid waste in packed bed combustion

Purpose – Waste is a resource. Generating energy from waste instead of sending it to landfill avoids methane gas which equals 25 times CO2 in mass. In combination with the energy efficiency thresholds set in Waste Framework Directive, this could prevent up to a further 45 million tons of CO2 eq. per year. The purpose of this paper is to present the waste-to-energy (WTE) plants installed in ten European cities which have been selected among the most sustainable cities or among the best cities to live in. Design/methodology/approach – The work is based on literature review and a combination of several statistical data and reports that include the required data. Findings – The European Directives, along with the general thinking that wastes are resources and the effort to reduce the environmental impact in urban environment from waste management, were the driving forces. The most sustainable cities in EU considered that their sustainability is based also in energy recovery from wastes. All of them are using WTE facilities to treat a significant part of their waste in order to produce energy in the form of heat and electricity. And they do it in a very successful and environmental friendly way, as they mainly utilize the waste fractions that cannot be recycled or reused, and they do not landfill these resources. This approach is proving that the sustainable waste management cannot be achieved without WTE facilities, since a fraction of wastes consists of non-recyclable and non-reusable materials, which present significant heating value that cannot be neglected as an energy source. Originality/value – This paper presents the WTE plants installed in ten European cities which have been selected among the most sustainable cities or among the best cities to live in. This work aims to present the strong and successful relation between WTE and sustainability in the modern complex urban environment.

Background, Aim and Scope. Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) management system has an important role to reduce final disposal of MSW. Recently prevention of global warming in MSW transportation and treatment processes is also coming into important. Decision makers in local region should design the MSW management system that solves above issues, and is desirable for the region in cost constraint. But there are few studies taking into account regional MSW discharge and waste treatment properties and their perspective. In this study, we proposed a methodology to design environmentally and economically desirable MSW management systems in local region by applying Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and cost analysis.Materials and Methods. The central region of Iwate Prefecture was chosen as a case study. Firstly, we surveyed material and energy inputs/outputs in MSW transportation and treatment processes in the case study area. Then, Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) data of each process was calculated. Secondarily, scenarios involving several MSW management systems considering patterns of MSW treatment technologies and/or MSW segregation were designed. Results and Discussion. As a scenario analysis, Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, SOx/NOx emissions, final disposal and the cost was calculated when each scenario would be for the period from FY2005 to FY2030. From the results, we found that the MSW treatment system in which municipalities form communal MSW treatment mostly has an advantage than the municipality-based MSW treatment system in which municipalities treat MSW by themselves. We also found the trade-off relationship in the results; a system giving priority to gasification and melting facilities decreases the amount of final disposal and cost and increases GHG emissions, while another system giving priority to stoker type grate facility decreases GHG emissions and cost and increases the amount of final disposal. However this trade-off relationship is solved by enhancing waste segregation and/or bio-methanation of kitchen garbage. Additionally, we calculated the indicator value of environmental impact by the Distance-to-target method, and we evaluated a relationship between the indicator value and the cost. As the result, scenario involving the region-based MSW treatment system with bio-methanation is selected as a desirable MSW management system if reduction of final disposal is prioritize as the MSW treatment policy. Conclusions. In the actual fields, it is required not only quantatative evaluation environmental impact and cost but also qualitative investigation such as site selection of waste treatment facilities considering NIMBY phenomenon. Nonetheless, the methodology proposed in this paper is effective for local municipalities’ decision support.

Evaluation of the treatment of municipal solid waste as renewable energy resource in Campinas, Brazil

The incineration treatment of municipal solid waste is widely used, but gas-phase hydrogen chloride (HCl) generated during the incineration seriously threatens the heating surface of boiler tail, and even causes serious harm to environment. Through incineration experiments, this paper found that many factors (temperature, oxygen concentration, residence time and moisture content) affect the HCl emission characteristics in the process of municipal solid waste incineration treatment. In order to effectively cut back the HCl emission in incineration treatment of municipal solid waste, this paper proposes torrefaction and classification pretreatment of municipal solid waste. Torrefaction pretreatment has a significant inhibitory effect on HCl emission during the incineration of mixed municipal solid waste. At the same time, compared with the incineration treatment of mixed municipal solid waste, sawdust and plastic municipal solid waste of the same quality after classification pretreatment can effectively curb HCl emissions within the entire temperature range. In particular, HCl emissions are reduced by 35% during sawdust incineration treatment at 400°C. Furthermore, by studying the reaction mechanics of HCl generation during combustion at different temperatures, and the reaction rate of HCl generation is: mixed municipal solid waste >plastic >sawdust. Therefore, this paper believes that torrefaction and classification pretreatment of mixed municipal solid waste is beneficial to inhibit the precipitation of chlorine during the incineration process and promotes the resource utilization of municipal solid waste, which is of significant significance for energy conservation and emission reduction.

Landfilling is the most applied solid waste management method in developing countries, which leads to a large amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It is thus imperative to develop strategies for evaluating different economically viable waste management scenarios to mitigate GHG emissions. According to the Paris Agreement, Kazakhstan planned to decrease GHG emissions by 25% by 2050 as compared to 1990 levels, while reaching carbon neutrality by 2060. In this context, we herein propose four different scenarios for municipal solid waste (MSW) treatment and three scenarios for sewage sludge (SS) treatment with the aim of evaluating the GHG potential for Astana, the capital city of Kazakhstan, using the (solid waste management) SWM-GHG calculator developed by the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research. The MSW treatment scenarios include: (A) 15% recycling of secondary materials and 85% landfilling of remaining MSW; (B) 30% recycling of secondary materials; 70% sanitary landfilling with biogas collection; (C) 30% recycling and 70% biological stabilization and landfilling without biogas collection; and (D) 30% recycling, 20% composting, and 50% (waste-to-energy) WtE incineration. The sewage sludge management scenarios include (1) 100% landfilling; (2) 100% WtE incineration; and (3) co-incineration of sewage sludge and coal. The results reveal that more complex scenarios lead to extensive ecological benefits; however, there are economic constraints. Based on the analysis of the proposed scenarios, we recommend the optimal strategy for MSW treatment to be 30% recycling with biological stabilization that has a total cost of EUR 16.7 million/year and overall GHG emissions of −120 kt of CO2 eq/year. In terms of sewage sludge management, the addition of coal to sewage sludge simplifies the combustion process due to the higher heat capacity. Considering lower cost and higher energy recovery, it is recommended as a favorable process.

This study focuses on application of formulated microbial consortium for the treatment of domestic solid wastes and makes it as manure for agriculture. In that context treatment by Formulated Microbial Consortium, along with Bio Fertilizer Microorganisms has been tried for treatment of municipality solid waste. Basically, this technology is using natively available microorganisms. The cultured microbial solution was used for treatment of municipal solid wastes. In the first heap, there was no treatment had been done which was called control. The second heap was treated with formulated microbial consortium containing nine microbes which were focused on decomposition and treatment of municipal solid waste. The third heap was treated with Formulated Microbial Consortium along with Bio Fertilizer Microorganism which was mainly focused on enrichment of nutrients. After treatment parameter has been analysed to evaluate the performance of the microbial consortium. After the investigation, the nutrients level was increased in the third heap and the composting time considerably decreased which increased the hope to treat municipal solid wastes effectively. The results showed significant (p<0.05) differences in the amount of available and total NPK levels.

Spatiotemporal patterns and drivers of carbon emissions from municipal solid waste treatment in China

Cost-effectiveness of GHG emission reduction measures and energy recovery from municipal waste in Croatia

China's changing city-level greenhouse gas emissions from municipal solid waste treatment and driving factors

Structure characteristics and development sustainability of municipal solid waste treatment in China

Repercussions of COVID-19 pandemic on municipal solid waste management: Challenges and opportunities

Biodrying process: A sustainable technology for treatment of municipal solid waste with high moisture content

The municipal solid waste (MSW) treatment is capable of significantly boosting healthy and orderly urban development. Urban dwellers act as generators and direct beneficiaries of the effectiveness of waste management. The present study aims to determine the impact of environmental benefits and institutional trust on residents’ willingness to participate in MSW treatment (willingness to be paid (WTA) and willingness to pay (WTP)) by complying with micro-survey data from residents of four districts in Beijing, with the use of the tobit model. In addition, environmental benefits and institutional trust interaction effects are incorporated into the analysis. As revealed from the results: (1) positive environmental benefits can significantly decrease WTA and increase WTP; negative environmental benefits significantly increase WTA and decrease WTP. (2) Institutional trust is capable of significantly decreasing WTA and increasing WTP. (3) When positive environmental benefits and institutional trust are incorporated, residents have significantly lower WTA and noticeably higher WTP; when negative environmental benefits and institutional trust are incorporated, WTA of the population is significantly higher and their WTP is significantly lower. Besides, years of education and household status negatively affect residents’ WTA, in which households with higher incomes have relatively higher WTP for engagement in waste management. The mentioned findings place the following stresses: (1) improving the positive environmental benefits of urban living and establishing a system of compensation for negative environmental benefits, (2) creating a good climate of trust in the system and elevating the level of trust in the system among residents and (3) raising residents’ awareness of environmental protection and enhancing the effectiveness of urban waste management.