Municipal Solid Waste Management Technologies Research Articles

A planning model for using municipal solid waste management technologies- considering Energy, Economic, and Environmental Impacts in Tehran-Iran

Municipal solid waste can be considered both an opportunity and a threat. If it is not managed properly, it will cause pollution. On the other hand, it is a significant source of raw materials and energy. This paper aims to develop a multi-period multi-objective linear programming model to design a municipal waste management planning model. Cost, air pollution, and volume of waste constitute the objectives. Incineration, gasification, anaerobic digestion, landfill with and without gas recovery, recycling, and composting are the candidate technologies. Two scenarios, including examining all technologies and removing recycling and composting from the options, are considered. Incineration and gasification with average capacities of 31.8 MW and 10.4 MW were the first scenario’s energy generation systems. On the other hand, in the second scenario, incineration, gasification, and anaerobic digestion with average capacities of 62.4 MW MW, 30.8 MW, and 59.8 MW, respectively, were the proposed options for energy production. All in all, results indicated that recycling and composting are preferable for waste management in Tehran; besides, among energy production technologies, incineration and anaerobic digestion are the best systems for the non-biodegradable and biodegradable portion of waste, respectively.

Municipal solid waste generation, composition, and management: the global scenario

PurposeDue to the increasing population and prosperity, the generation rate of municipal solid waste (MSW) has increased significantly, resulting in serious problems on public health and the environment. Every single person in the world is affected by the municipal solid waste management (MSWM) issue. MSWM is reaching a critical level in almost all areas of the world and seeking the development of MSW strategies for a sustainable environment. This paper aims to present the existing global status of MSW generation, composition, management and related problems.Design/methodology/approachA total of 59 developed and developing countries have been grouped based on their gross national income to compare the status of various MSWM technologies among them. A total of 19 selection criteria have been discussed to select appropriate MSWM technology(s) for a city/town, which affects their applicability, operational suitability and performance. All risks and challenges arising during the life cycle of the waste to energy (WtE) project have also been discussed. This paper also gives a comparative overview of different globally accepted MSWM technologies and the present market growth of all WtE technologies.FindingsIt was found that most developed countries have effectively implemented the solid waste management (SWM) hierarchy and are now focusing heavily on reducing, reusing and recycling of MSW. On the other hand, SWM has become very serious in low-income and low-middle-income countries because most of the MSW openly dumps and most countries are dependent on inadequate waste infrastructure and the informal sector. There are also some other major challenges related to effective waste policies, availability of funds, appropriate technology selection and adequacy of trained people. This study clears the picture of MSW generation, composition, management strategies and policies at the worldwide context. This manuscript could be valuable for all nations around the world where effective MSWM has not yet been implemented.Originality/valueThis study clears the picture of solid waste generation, composition, management strategies and policies at the worldwide context. This manuscript could be valuable for all nations around the world where effective MSWM has not yet been implemented. In this study, no data was generated. All supporting data were obtained from previously published papers in journals, the outcomes of the international conferences and published reports by government organizations.

The potential of a sustainable municipal waste management system for Santiago de Chile, including energy production from waste

BackgroundDue to a rapid urbanization process in the Metropolitan Region of Santiago de Chile (MRS), the amount of municipal solid waste (MSW) generated has increased considerably within the last years. MSW should be managed properly in order to achieve sustainable development. The purpose of this study is to analyze MSW management in MRS on the basis of three different explorative scenarios for the year 2030.MethodsThe Integrative Sustainability Concept of the Helmholtz Association provided a conceptual framework for the study and was used to evaluate the scenarios. One important topic within the field of management of MSW in the year 2030 will be the contribution of waste treatment technologies to energy production, e.g., by the use of landfill gas and by separated collection of biowaste followed by anaerobic treatment.ResultsThe largest sustainability deficits in the scenarios are the small proportion of MSW being pre-treated before final disposal and the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with MSW disposal. MSW management technologies taken into consideration were mechanical biological treatment, energy recovery from MSW in anaerobic digestion plants with biogas production, the production of refuse-derived fuel and its use as a secondary fuel, as well as electricity generation from landfill gas. Energy generation from MSW in 2030 will be about 6% of electricity consumption in 2010.ConclusionsThe three scenarios show some sustainability deficits. Even so, there are some improvements such as the reduction of GHG emissions and - even though marginal - energy supply for MRS from renewable energy sources.

Energy recovery potential and life cycle impact assessment of municipal solid waste management technologies in Asian countries using ELP model

Natural resource scarcity and the effects of environmental destruction have pushed societies to use and reuse resources more efficiently. Waste should no longer be seen as a burden but rather as another source of material such as energy fuel. This study analyzes the potential of three waste management scenarios that include the combination of four waste management technologies - incineration with energy recovery, composting, anaerobic digestion, and sanitary landfill gas collection - as ways to recover energy and material from municipal solid waste. The study applies the environmental load point (ELP) method and utilizes municipal waste characteristics and composition from India, Indonesia, and China as case studies. The ELP methodology employs integrated weighting in the quantification process to get a one-unit result. This study particularly uses analytic hierarchical process questionnaires to get the weighting value of the nine impact categories: energy depletion, global warming, ozone depletion, resource consumption, ecosystem influence, water pollution, waste disposal, air pollution, and acid rain. The results show that the scenario which includes composting organic waste and sanitary landfill with gas collection for energy recovery has medium environmental impact and the highest practicability. The optimum material and energy potential is from the Chinese case study in which 254 tonnes of compost fertilizer and 60 MWh of electricity is the estimated output for every 1,000 tonnes of waste treated.

Mobilizing resources to collect municipal solid waste: illustrative East Asian case studies *

Experience in several East Asian countries of collecting and disposing of municipal solid waste (MSW) through the mobilization of locally available resources is discussed. These resources are represented by various stakeholders in MSW management, namely, the public sector, the formal private sector, the informal private sector and community and non-governmental organizations. Attention is given to the nature of MSW, the nature and role of each major MSW stakeholder, the constraints to the development of partnerships among MSW stakeholders, illustrative case studies of MSW resource mobilization in East Asia and lessons learned from these experiences. Among the lessons learned are the critical importance of: (1) a service-oriented collaboration between public MSW authorities and other MSW community resource stakeholders; (2) the involvement of all MSW stakeholders in MSW decision-making; (3) the selection of affordable and sustainable MSW management technologies; and (4) the identification and recovery of MSW investment, collection and disposal costs.

Mobilizing resources to collect municipal solid waste: illustrative East Asian case studies

Experience in several East Asian countries of collecting and disposing of municipal solid waste (MSW) through the mobilization of locally available resources is discussed. These resources are represented by various stakeholders in MSW management, namely, the public sector, the formal private sector, the informal private sector and community and non- governmental organizations. Attention is given to the nature of MSW, the nature and role of each major MSW stakeholder, the constraints to the development of partnerships among MSW stakeholders, illustrative case studies of MSW resource mobilization in East Asia and lessons learned from these experiences. Among the lessons learned are the critical importance of: (1) a service-oriented collaboration between public MSW authorities and other MSW community resource stakeholders; (2) the involvement of all MSW stakeholders in MSW decision- making ; (3) the selection of affordable and sustainable MSW management technologies; and (4) the identification and recovery of MSW investment, collection and disposal costs.