Waste Disposal Costs Research Articles

Lignite-Activated Carbon Grafted PAA Combined with Conventional Drinking Water Treatment Processes for the Emergency Removal of Trace Pb(II) Pollution

In response to the emergency treatment of trace Pb(II) pollution, taking cost and coordination with existing conventional processes into account, based on the lignite upgrading by-products (waste) as raw materials, a low cost adsorbent lignite-based activated carbon/polyacrylic acid (LAC/PAA) was developed by the in situ grafting of PAA on the surface of LAC. The declination of the pH from 8.71 for LAC to 4.83 for LAC/PAA and FT-IR analyses of LAC/PAA before and after Pb(II) adsorption confirmed the appearance of carboxyl groups on the surface of LAC/PAA. The adsorption experiments reveal that more than 90% of Pb(II) were removed by LAC/PAA within 20 min (only 31% for LAC). Its adsorption behavior obeys the Freundlich isotherm model (R2 = 0.973), and the adsorption kinetics agrees with the pseudo-second-order kinetic model (R2 = 0.961). The performances for the removal of Pb(II) in XJ River (South of China) were investigated for LAC/PAA and the conventional water treatment processes, respectively. Based on the results, a combination process (LAC/PAA adsorption + conventional water treatment) was developed, which achieved the best Pb(II) removal (99.8%) under a lower LAC/PAA and coagulant dosages (both 20 mg/L) at a pH of 10, 3 times better than that of the conventional water treatment processes (only 30%). Undoubtedly, the above results will provide significant technical support for the emergency treatment of trace Pb(II) pollution of drinking water. Moreover, converting the lignite upgrading by-products (waste) into LAC will add considerable economic value and reduce the costs of waste disposal.

Assessing the Regulatory Requirements of Lead-Based Perovskite Photovoltaics

Nicole Moody, Samuel Sesena, Dane W. deQuilettes, Benjia Dak Dou, Richard Swartwout, Anna Johnson, Udochukwu Eze, Roberto Brenes, Matthew Johnston, Vladimir Bulovic, and Moungi G. Bawendi are members of Tata-MIT GridEdge Solar, an interdisciplinary research program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology working toward scalable design and manufacturing of lightweight, flexible solar cells. Joseph T. Buchman and Christy L. Haynes are part of the Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology, a multi-institutional partnership aimed at understanding the fundamental chemical and physical processes that govern the transformations and interactions of nanoparticles in the environment.

Enhanced Yield of Bioactivities from Onion (Allium cepa L.) Skin and Their Antioxidant and Anti-α-Amylase Activities.

There is increasing concern for reduction of the ecological impacts of industrial waste caused by fruits and vegetables. To reduce costs of onion waste disposal while obtaining value-added products, onion skin can be used to extract quercetin, a natural flavonoid with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer effects. The aim was to optimize quercetin extraction from brown onion (Allium cepa L.) skin through investigation of the effects of different parameters on quercetin yield. Operational parameters for conventional maceration extraction and for ultrasound-assisted extraction were compared: solvent type, mass-to-liquid ratio, extraction time and temperature. Antioxidant capacity was determined using DPPH· radical scavenging assays and quercetin yield using HPLC/DAD. Anti-α-amylase activity of onion skin extracts was investigated using α-amylase inhibition assays. Optimal extraction conditions of quercetin from onion skin were obtained with maceration extraction, 50% ethanol, 1:100 mass-to-liquid ratio, 25 °C, for 15 min. Under these conditions, the antioxidant capacity (expressed as quercetin equivalents) was 18.7 mg/g and the mass fraction of quercetin was 7.96 mg/g. The onion skin extracts showed a dose-dependent relationship between dry extract concentration and α-amylase inhibition, which confirms that this onion skin extract can be considered as an anti-diabetes agent.

Wasteful or sensible? Donor imageries in İstanbul’s food banks

AbstractThis paper explores how the staff of İstanbul’s food banks perceive the donors and the donations. The paper begins by exploring the literature on food banks; what food banks recover and redistribute; and the role food banks play in managing food insecurity. Next, how these three issues are represented in different models of food banks are discussed: in the non-profit model, the donors are “socially aware citizens” who contribute to the common good by helping to feed the hungry; whereas, for the for-profit model they are “caring capitalists” doing their best to reduce their carbon footprint and eliminate food waste while effectively managing the costs of waste disposal. In the municipal social markets, in contrast, the donors are “prodigal consumers” who cannot make correct resource allocation decisions and waste food as a result. For all the models, the donors are predominantly individuals or households and waste generation is perceived as a consumer problem, whereas in practice the donors are mostly corporations giving away their surplus stock. The paper concludes by underlining that this misperception shifts the conversation on waste generation and management away from production and supply chain problems and disciplines individuals as consumers.

Evaluation Model of Residents’ Waste Classification Participation Degree Based on Investigation in Changzhi City

Source waste separation can greatly reduce the cost of solid waste treatment and disposal, and has considerable economic value. However, there are many kinds of domestic waste and their composition is complicated, which makes it difficult for residents to participate in it. As a collective behaviour of public participation, the difficulty of its existence can test the level of the role played by all participants. Therefore, based on the field research and literature comparison of Changzhi City, this paper establishes the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) evaluation model, and takes residents, government and market as the main participants to evaluate the classified participation of residents' garbage, and puts forward some suggestions to provide the basis for policy decision-making of public management in the field of environment.

Biochar Adsorbents with Enhanced Hydrophobicity for Oil Spill Removal

Oil spills can cause massive loss of aquatic life and are costly to fishing and tourism industries. Current oil spill cleanup methods can be very expensive, have secondary environmental impacts, or be difficult to implement. This study employed five different adsorbents 1. Commercially available Douglas fir biochar (BC), S.A ~695 m2/g, pore volume ~ 0.26 cm3/g and pore diameter ~13-19.5 Å), 2. BC modified with lauric acid (LBC), 3. iron oxide-modified biochar (MBC), 4. LBC-modified with iron oxide (LMBC) and 5. MBC modified with lauric acid (MLBC) for oil recovery. Transmission, engine, machine and crude oils were used to simulate oil spills and perform adsorption experiments. All five adsorbents adsorbed all four oils with only a slight pH dependence, fast kinetics (sorptive equilibrium reached before 15 mins) and high regression fits to the pseudo-2nd-order kinetic model. The Sips isotherm model oil sorption capacities were in the range ~3-11 g oil/1 g adsorbent. Lauric acid-decorated biochar was found to have a higher oil adsorption capacity than the undecorated biochar. Lauric acid enhances biochar hydrophobicity and reduces water influx into biochar's porosity preventing it from sinking for 3 weeks. These features were observed even at 2% wt. of Lauric acid (doesn't sink for 2 weeks). Magnetization by magnetite nano particle deposition onto BC and LBC allows the recovery of the exhausted adsorbent by a magnetic field. Adsorption was robust under pseudo environmental conditions using simulated sea water. Oil sorption was endothermic. The oil-laden adsorbents' heating values were obtained, suggesting using these spent adsorbents as a low-cost fuel after recovery. Oil recovery and cyclic adsorption-desorption was also demonstrated using toluene as the stripping agent. The initial and oil-laden adsorbents were characterized by SEM, TEM, EDX, FT-IR, XRD, BET, TGA, DSC, VSM magnetometry, elemental analysis and XPS.

Toward profitable and sustainable bioresource management in the Australian red meat processing industry: A critical review and illustrative case study

The Australian Red Meat Processing (RMP) industry is challenged with ever increasing environmental pressures to reduce their environmental footprint. Wastewater is high strength and requires quality treatment to prevent pollution of surface and ground waters; while much of the solid waste produced is organic and is suitable for land-based disposal. Stricter environmental standards and greater community expectations as well as increasing costs for water, energy and waste disposal require the reduction of resource consumption. This represents an opportunity for the RMP industry to adopt innovative technologies to use bioresources produced on site to increase the plants profitability. This article provides a critical review of solid and liquid waste management at RMP plants outlining the current trends in bioenergy, biofertiliser and value-add byproducts production. The review proceeds to place these developments through an illustrative case study of investigations undertaken at one of Australia’s largest RMP plants investigating technologies and processes to reuse, recycle, and dispose of organic liquid and solid waste. The three main lines of investigation include biogas optimization, reuse of paunch as a fertilizer and opportunities for blood products. Key results from the case study include: 1. Natural gas consumption could be offset with biogas to reduce yearly energy expenditure by up to a further ≈25% by operating lagoons under optimal mesophilic conditions (38 °C); 2. Nitrogen fertilizer replacement value of paunch was found to be comparable to other organic materials used for land application; and 3. The recovery of blood products can yield up to AUD10.5M pa for the enterprise.

From Cradle to Grave? On Optimal Nuclear Waste Disposal

This paper analyses socially optimal nuclear plant operation and nuclear waste management. Two waiting rules are derived: the first characterizes the optimal continuation of electricity production, and the second gives the optimal nuclear waste disposal date. Both rules balance the cost and benefit of either continuing production or delaying waste disposal into a deep geological repository. In addition, multiple regulatory options are investigated. The optimized waste storage and disposal cost forms the payment that should be collected from the nuclear power firm into a nuclear waste fund. The properties of this payment and other regulatory options including a tax to be paid at the shutdown date of the plant are investigated, and it is shown that the money can be collected by a plant-specific constant fee targeted at firm’s profit or output. Numerical illustration shows that waste disposal to a deep geological repository is a cost-minimising solution only with very low interest rates. For interest rates above one percent it is optimal to store the waste in an on ground storage facility in perpetuity.

Assessing the Impact of Garbage Classification on China’s Economic Environment

This article mainly studies the impact of waste classification on China’s economy and environment. For the economy, the annual per capita waste removal volume, waste disposal cost, and waste disposal profit from 2008 to 2017 were selected as the three input indicators, and GDP was used as the output value. A BP neural network model based on GM (1,1) was established. The GM (1,1) model is used to predict the values of the three indicators in the next five years. The relationship between GDP and the three input indicators is determined using the BP neural network. The three indicators are substituted into the model to obtain the GDP in the next five years. value. As for the environment, the number of resource processing plants, resource processing capacity, and resource processing capacity are selected as three input indicators, and the per capita green space area is used to measure the impact on the environment. The same method is used to predict the per capita public green area in the next five years. The results show that garbage classification will have a beneficial impact on China’s economy and environment, but the impact will weaken year by year.

Econometric Analysis of Municipal Waste Collection and Disposal Costs

持続可能な廃棄物処理を行う上で，廃棄物の収集運搬や処理の方法が費用に与える影響を把握することは重要である。廃棄物処理費用に関する既存の計量経済分析では，収集運搬・中間処理・最終処分の部門ごとの分析や，単独で事業を行う市町村と一部事務組合等との比較検討は不充分であった。本研究では，収集運搬・中間処理・最終処分の部門ごとに，単独で廃棄物処理事業を行う市町村と一部事務組合等の違いも考慮して，一般廃棄物の収集運搬・処理費用に関する計量経済分析を行った。分析の結果，収集運搬・中間処理・最終処分の全部門で規模の経済が確認され，特に中間処理と最終処分でそれが顕著であることがわかった。単独で収集・処理を行う市町村と比べ，組合等では収集運搬に係る平均費用が低く，また全部門で規模の経済の効果がより大きいことを明らかにした。組合等における費用削減要因として，委託費抑制による可能性を指摘した。

Modification of the cement stone active silm of urban treatment facilities

The use of recycled sludge from wastewater and products based on it in concrete is caused by an increase in the production of activated sludge in cities of millions and the restriction of free land for its disposal. The main components of activated sludge and fiber are SiO2, CaO, Al2O3, Fe2O3, MgO and P2O5, which allow the pozzolanic mechanism to manifest itself in a hardening cement matrix. Thus, activated sludge and fiber can be used as a modifier of the structure of hardening concrete. The use of municipal wastewater treatment plants in the production of building materials reduces the cost of waste disposal, social tension and solve problems related to environmental protection.

Study on Factors Influencing Waste Disposal Cost and Optimize in FMCG Industry in Sri Lanka

Waste is one of the greatest difficulties confronted by people in any country where waste contaminates indigenous habitat with devastating results if the authorities fail to take care accurately. In any case, it appears to be practically unavoidable that our general public, manufactures, industrial businesses etc. produces waste whereas only can be minimized hence the point of this rationale thesis has been to explore how to recover the material assets by rethinking waste as an asset. The study primarily focuses on two stakeholders, mainly FMCG companies in Sri Lanka who produces numerous waste per month and secondly the study focuses on professional recyclers who have ability to recycle under proper long-term agreements with unwavering trust. This paper investigates a way of sustainably disposing product wastes of FMCG companies and also the determinants of waste disposal cost and ways of optimizing in fast moving goods industry in Sri Lanka. Thus, two questionnaires were distributed focusing on FMCG players and professional recyclers within Sri Lanka to measure determinants of waste disposal cost as well as to identify a strategy to aid generating profits instead of previously used cost generative process of direct disposing the FMCG wastage. Thus, factor analysis was conducted using two hundred and ten responses and the analysis extracts seven major factors as determinants to the waste disposal cost. This study concluded a successful waste disposal strategy as sorting and recycling where can change the current game play of the FMCG companies to a new direction.

Factors Affecting Waste Disposal Cost in Supply Chain Operations and Ways of Optimising: Pharmaceutical Industry

CINEC Academic Journal is a peer reviewed open access multidisciplinary journal published by the CINEC Campus, Malabe, Sri Lanka. CINEC Academic journal publishes papers on all aspects of higher education streams in humanity and education, social sciences, business and management, engineering, information technology, health and medical sciences, maritime sciences and maritime engineering.

Tannery wastewater as nutrient supply in production of biogas from solid tannery wastes mixed through anaerobic co-digestion

The possibility of using tannery raw wastewater as substitute for the nutrient supply in the anaerobic co-digestion of two tannery solid waste was investigated with regard to energy efficiency, waste treatment efficiency and economic efficiency. The results showed that the use of tannery wastewater as a source of nutrients for the AD of solid tannery waste proved to be adequate from the point of view that the three residues are being treated simultaneously. There was a biogas production of only 1.9±0.3mL/VSS. However, the percentage of methane in the biogas reached 33 % at the beginning of the process, proving that there was methanogenic activity and that AD established. The cost analysis showed that there is a great reduction in the cost of wastewater treatment and solid waste disposal of 23 % and 18 %, respectively, in terms of electricity consumption and 11 % and 8 % respectively in terms of thermal consumption.

Potential of waste activated sludge to accumulate polyhydroxyalkanoates and glycogen using industrial wastewater/liquid wastes as substrates.

Recovery of the organics in industrial wastewaters/liquid wastes as polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) and/or glycogen (GLG) in waste activated sludge is a useful strategy to not only improve the resource value of waste activated sludge but also reduce the energy and cost of waste disposal and wastewater treatment. This study aimed to evaluate the potential of activated sludge to accumulate PHA and GLG using complex substrates (actual and simulated industrial wastewaters/liquid wastes) in addition to various simple organic substrates (organic acids, saccharides, and glycerol). The 24 h PHA and GLG accumulation experiments resulted in the accumulation of up to 25.5%, 6.0% and 14.1% of polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), polyhydroxyvalerate (PHV) and GLG, respectively, from simple substrates, and up to 9.8%, 0.1% and 14.6%, respectively, from complex substrates. The results indicated that activated sludge can accumulate PHA and GLG even from complex wastewater substrates, although the accumulated PHA and GLG levels were not sufficiently high. The results also indicated that the PHA and GLG accumulation abilities of activated sludge from complex substrates can be drastically enhanced by a short-term acclimation to the corresponding substrate. This study will present the practical implications for value-added resource production through the combined use of waste activated sludge and industrial wastewaters.

Bio-agent de retanare utilizat in procesarea pieilor si procedeu de obtinere

Currently, the leather industry has to deal with very high costs for waste treatment and disposal. As a result, it is recommended to subject the organic protein waste from tanning to biochemical treatments for recycling in the industry. The degree of novelty lies primarily in the fact that the starting point of the promoted technologies is obtaining new complex products by processing organic waste and using it in tanneries. The lime fleshings resulting from the hide fleshing operation represents the highest amount of reusable leather material of approx. 25%. This paper presents an innovative process for the biochemical degradation of hide waste resulting from hide fleshing in order to obtain a retanning/filling agent used in leather processing.

Bio-agent de retanare utilizat in procesarea pieilor si procedeu de obtinere

Currently, the leather industry has to deal with very high costs for waste treatment and disposal. As a result, it is recommended to subject the organic protein waste from tanning to biochemical treatments for recycling in the industry. The degree of novelty lies primarily in the fact that the starting point of the promoted technologies is obtaining new complex products by processing organic waste and using it in tanneries. The lime fleshings resulting from the hide fleshing operation represents the highest amount of reusable leather material of approx. 25%. This paper presents an innovative process for the biochemical degradation of hide waste resulting from hide fleshing in order to obtain a retanning/filling agent used in leather processing.

Recycling municipal solid waste utilizing gasification technology: a case study

Reliable, affordable, and clean energy supply is of considerable importance for the society, economy, and the environment. Renewable energy sources can provide several times the world’s energy demand. Biomass energy is considered a promising clean energy option for the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and energy dependency. Among feasible technologies, biomass gasification has been considered as an enabling technology for municipal solid waste (MSW) conversion systems. The synthesis gas produced in waste-to-energy gasification of MSW can lead to their increased role in electricity generation in the future and reduces waste disposal costs. In this study, a thermodynamic equilibrium model was developed based on the downdraft fixed-bed gasifier to evaluate the effect of waste moisture content on synthesis gas composition. Besides, the equilibrium temperature of the gasifier and heating value of synthesized gas from the downdraft fixed-bed gasifier have been analyzed. Municipal solid waste of Tehran is considered as the main feed of the proposed system. The modeling results showed reasonable agreement with the experiment. The effect of operating condition on fuel moisture content and gasifier temperature was investigated. The effect of fuel moisture content on syngas compositions was also studied. The hydrogen content in the synthesis gas composition increases slightly initially to 17.9% (in moisture content 18%) but then starts reducing again. Besides, the effect of reactor temperature on synthesis gas composition was investigated.

How blameless are hospitals in climate change? An example of a province in Turkey

Abstract Starting from the 1970s, the discussion about the negative effects of human activity on the world has accelerated and with a increasingly raised voice and it has been noted that the natural balance of our world was being altered. The World Health Organization has focused its policies and directives on strategies aimed on dealing with climate change (and its impact on human health), and diseases related to air pollution and implementing health-related sustainable development goals in climate friendly-hospitals. Hospitals exist to treat patients, but they also pollute the environment because hospitals consume a lot of energy and water and produce hazardous waste. These organizations need to work hard to improve their carbon footprints. The study investigated practices at 21 public hospitals in Konya, Turkey. Results show that domestic waste was on average 54.83 tons per year, medical waste was 33.59 tons per year and packing waste was 24.36 tons per year. It was determined that medical waste disposal costs on average of €26,800 per annum, and the amount of medical waste per bed was 1.15 kilograms per annum. According to 2014 medical waste data the average medical waste per bed of these hospitals in Konya province is less than the average in Turkish public hospitals, in which it is 1.18 kilograms per bed. The hospitals in our study were found to be especially inadequate at water management and did not pay much attention to green practices.

Statistical optimization of titanium recovery from drinking water treatment residue using response surface methodology

Water treatment plants generate vast amounts of sludge and its disposal is one of the most expensive and environmentally problematic challenges worldwide. As sludge from water treatment plants contains a considerable amount of titanium, both can create serious environmental concerns. In this study, the potential to recover titanium from drinking water treatment residue was explored through acid leaching technique. Statistical design for the optimization of titanium recovery was proposed using response surface methodology (RSM) based on a five-level central composite design (CCD). Three independent variables were investigated, namely the acid concentration (3 M–7 M), temperature (40 °C – 80 °C) and solid/liquid ratio (0.005–0.02 g/mL). According to the analysis of variance (ANOVA), the p-value (<0.0001) indicated the designed model was highly significant. Optimization using RSM gave the best fit between validated and predicted data as elucidated by the coefficient of determination with R2 values of 0.9965. However, acid concentration and solid/liquid ratio showed an initial increase in titanium recovery followed by recovery reduction with increasing concentration and ratio. Quadratic RSM predicted the maximum recovery of titanium to be 67.73% at optimal conditions of 5.5 M acid concentration, at a temperature of 62 °C with a solid/liquid ratio of 0.01 g/mL. The verification experiments gave an average of 66.23% recovery of titanium, thus indicating that the successfully developed model to predict the response. This process development has significant importance to reduce the cost of waste disposal, environmental protection, and recovery of economically valuable products.