Traditional Disposal Research Articles

Valorization of Grape by-Products

The by-products of processed grape (grape seeds and grape peels) can be recovered for further food applications. Extracts of grape by-products were obtained with solvents of different polarity (aqueous acetone, methanol and ethanol) and assayed for their total phenolic content and antioxidant activity. The high amount of total phenols was found in grape seeds. Higher yields of phenolic antioxidants were recovered with acetone. The recovery of phenolic antioxidants from the peels and seeds of processed grape could be a valuable alternative to traditional disposal routes (including landfill), in particular for cooking grape varieties. The recycling process could enhance the growth of traditional culinary markets thanks to the new business opportunities for the peel-derived and seed-derived materials.

Ablación láser de recubrimientos de politetrafluoretileno (PTFE) aplicados sobre sustratos EN AW-5251

Currently the most common used methods for removing PTFE rich coatings on metal substrates are: grinding, pyrolysis, chemical processes or a combination of these. While effective, all present serious difficulties. In this paper the use of laser ablation to remove PTFE rich coatings, which have previously been applied to sheets of aluminum magnesium alloy EN AW-5251 H34, is proposed. For this purpose the values of the yield strength, tensile strength, percent elongation, impact energy retained and hardness are analyzed. Equally, the grain size distribution at the microstructural level, the ASTM average grain size and distribution of constituent particles have been evaluated. Measurements were performed to three successive stages of application and laser coating removal. Moreover, the previous set of properties have been determined for the same substrates and stages but using pyrolysis to remove the coating. Comparison of the results shows that the removal by laser ablation does not cause any reduction in the properties of the substrates and may become an industrial alternative to traditional disposal procedures.

Experimental Study on Supercritical Water Oxidation of Paper Mill Sludge

Paper industry produces large amounts of sludge with about 65wt% moisture content. Due to its complex composition, the charge of traditional disposal method is high and easy to bring about secondary pollution. In this paper, the influences of temperature, oxidation coefficient and residence time on the performance of supercritical water oxidation (SCWO) of paper mill sludge were investigated. The results show that SCWO can almost completely eliminate organics in sludge and obtain transparent liquid products meeting relative national standards at 550°C, 5min with an oxidation coefficient of 3.0. However, during this process, TN changes to NH3-N, so NH3-N in liquid products increases with operation parameters, indicating the recalcitrant nature of NH3-N, and which needs further treatment.

EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF BEHAVIOUR OF POULTRY FEATHER FIBER - A REINFORCING MATERIAL FOR COMPOSITES

Currently, the abundant quantity of chicken feather produced annually by the poultry industry as a waste in worldwide, is a serious solid agricultural waste problem. The traditional disposal strategies of chicken feather were not environmental friendly. Exploitation of secondary application alone is not a solution to the problem of environmental; also it enhances the commercial value of feathers. In this study, a review on the behaviour of the chicken feather fibers was made to understand their usability as a reinforcing material for composite fabrication. Fibers of some critical length were estimated experimentally and calculated relative density. Tensile property of fiber, dimensional and strength of the quill was estimated. It was observed that, the quill diameters were varying with length, and all of them were not weighing same. Chemical resistivity and burning tests were conducted, and results were reported. Morphology of the nonwoven mats was studied.

Transnational Trafficking of Hazardous Waste from Developed to Developing Nations: Policies and Recommendations

Transnational trafficking of e-waste has become a rising problem over time as the amount of waste produced in developed countries increases. Over time, the focus has moved from traditional industrial waste disposal to e-waste disposal. This acceptance of hazardous waste often leads to adverse health effects in the importing nation. As a case study, the history, consequences, current policies, and recommendations for hazardous waste trafficking are considered in the context of West Africa. Following the analysis, it is clear that despite strong policies on the importers part, there are confounding factors, such as economic expansion and corruption, which continue to drive the import of e-waste. Therefore, the recommendations are addressed to exporting nations which generally have well-developed economies, political systems, and technology thus increasing the likelihood of control over the situation.

Research on Techniques of Environment Comprehensive Management and Municipal Solid Waste Filling Mining

Aiming at the present situation of surface construction damage and pollution by coal mining, introduced the application situation of filling mining technology. In view of China's municipal solid waste present situation, proposed the bag filling mode in coal mine gobs, and put forward the reasonable filling process and filling system design. It is more helpful to deal with the city garbage on a large scale by combining the garbage stowing with the treatment of mine gobs than traditional waste disposal methods, such as burying, compost piling and burning also can effectively control the surface subsidence issues, and it is very significant to science and environment.

A Comparison on Tailings Treatment and Disposal of Aba Lead-Zinc Concentrator

Tailings from Aba zinc-lead concentrator cannot be discharged in tailings dam by traditional wet disposal method due to the location restriction and environmental consideration. Treatment and disposal of the tailings become a serious problem that should be solved. Through investigation of tailings disposal in similar concentrators of China, a joint process of dewatering by hydrocyclones and pressure filters has put forward, in which a dry material can be obtained and disposed in dry manner, and the water produced in the process can be reused. This process is expected to set a good example for concentrators where construction of tailings dam is impossible

Experiment Research on the Mechanics Properties of Urban Garbage Blocks

A municipal solid waste treatment method named stacking landfill of garbage block is brought forward. Garbage blocks were made and a series of tests have been carried out by orthogonal tests method in lab. Test results indicate the early compressive strength of garbage blocks increases quickly, and more slowly in the later period. The compressive strength for 3 days curing age is about 40% ~ 45%s of that for 28 days curing age. The compressive strength for 5 days curing age is about 50%~ 60% of that for 28 days curing age. The compressive strength for 7 days curing age is about 60%~70% of that for 28 days curing age. The rank of the influence degree of the accession material to the compressive strength for 5 days curing age was are the mass of cement, the mass of waste type, compressive stress size, the mass of water, the mass of lime. Stacking landfill of garbage blocks differs from traditional landfill disposal which is a new type of classifier ecological landfill method. It can effectively reduce the volume of urban waste, and the waste can easily be stored and disposed.

Composites can be recycled

The question of how to dispose of end-of-life thermoset composites parts is growing in importance. Traditional disposal routes such as landfill and incineration are becoming increasingly restricted, and composites companies and their customers are looking for more sustainable solutions. The European Composites Industry Association (EuCIA) addressed this issue at its Information Day – Competitive Composites: Sustainability and Recycling Challenges – held at the European Parliament in Brussels in May. Amanda Jacob reports.

Environmental Hazards of Waste Disposal Patterns—A Multimethod Study in an Unrecognized Bedouin Village in the Negev Area of Israel

ABSTRACT The Bedouin of the Negev region of Israel are a formerly nomadic, indigenous, ethnic minority, of which 40% currently live in unrecognized villages without organized, solid waste disposal. This study, using both quantitative and qualitative methods, explored the transition from traditional rubbish production and disposal to current uses, the current composition of rubbish, methods of waste disposal, and the extent of exposure to waste-related environmental hazards in the village of Um Batim. The modern, consumer lifestyle produced both residential and construction waste that was dumped very close to households. Waste was tended to by women who predominantly used backyard burning for disposal, exposing villagers to corrosive, poisonous, and dangerously flammable items at these burn sites. Village residents expressed a high level of concern over environmental hazards, yet no organized waste disposal or environmental hazards reduction was implemented.

Seaport performance analysis using robust non-parametric efficiency estimators

Seaport services have been developing year on year, playing an increasingly important role in the economy and the transportation markets of each country. This increases interest in measuring their performance. This paper evaluates the performance of a set of European seaports by means of robust non-parametric approaches. Using order-m and bootstrap procedures, the major problems of traditional data envelopment analysis and free disposal hull methods – concerning noise, presence of outliers and the ‘curse of dimensionality’ – are overcome. With this study considerable levels of inefficiency were found in the European seaports sector.

Evaluation of resource recovery through a Waste-to-Energy plant operating with municipal solid waste

On 1 December 1984, an inter-local joint enterprise agreement was entered into between the Alexandria Sanitation Authority and the Arlington Solid Waste Authority (the 'Authorities'). The Joint Enterprise was formed to design, construct, equip, test and operate a solid waste to energy facility having an installed capacity of 975 tons per day of mixed Municipal Solid Waste (MSW). Alexandria/Arlington plant has had high availability rates (92?96%); the last three years. The Alexandria/Arlington plant also produces enough electricity to power the plant itself and over 20,000 homes. The use of a Waste to Energy disposal system coupled with strong recycling programs has resulted in positive environmental impacts compared to traditional landfill disposal. It also has resulted in significant electrical energy generation.

Possible solutions for sludge dewatering in China

In China, over 1.43×107 tons of dewatered sewage sludge, with 80% water content, were generated from wastewater treatment plants in 2007. About 60% of the COD removed during the wastewater treatment process becomes concentrated as sludge. Traditional disposal methods used by municipal solid waste treatment facilities, such as landfills, composting, or incineration, are unsuitable for sludge disposal because of its high water content. Disposal of sludge has therefore become a major focus of current environmental protection policies. The present status of sludge treatment and disposal methodology is introduced in this paper. Decreasing the energy consumption of sludge dewatering from 80% to 50% has been a key issue for safe and economic sludge disposal. In an analysis of sludge water distribution, thermal drying and hydrothermal conditioning processes are compared. Although thermal drying could result in an almost dry sludge, the energy consumption needed for this process is extremely high. In comparison, hydrothermal technology could achieve dewatered sewage sludge with a 50%–60% water content, which is suitable for composting, incineration, or landfill. The energy consumption of hydrothermal technology is lower than that required for thermal drying.

Aquatic worms grown on biosolids: Biomass composition and potential applications

The increasing production of biological waste sludge from wastewater treatment plants is a problem, because stricter legislation inhibits the use of traditional disposal methods. The use of the aquatic worm Lumbriculus variegatus can minimise sludge production. Because the worms can feed and grow on this waste sludge, valuable compounds that are present in the sludge can be recovered by the worms. This paper describes a systematic approach for finding possible applications of the produced biomass. The worm biomass mainly consists of protein and smaller fractions of fat, sugar and ash. It also contains low concentrations of heavy metals. The potential produced amount is relatively small, compared to other waste streams, and is produced decentrally. Therefore, the most promising applications are specific components of the biomass, for example specific amino acids or fatty acids. However, until the process is optimized and there is a stable supply of worms, the focus should be on simple applications, later on followed by specific applications, depending on the market demand. Worm biomass grown on clean sludges has a broader application potential, for example as consumption fish feed.

Identification of optimal poultry litter biorefinery location in Alabama through minimization of feedstock transportation cost

AbstractThe estimated amount of poultry litter produced annually in Alabama is more than 1,250,000 tons. This large amount results in significant litter management challenges. Currently, poultry producers are facing many regulatory issues and challenges with respect to environmental impacts of litter management. Commercialization and implementation of environmentally benign biorefinery technologies have the potential to generate electric power (including on‐site power) and heat as well as transportation fuels, hydrogen, valuable chemicals, and fertilizer from poultry litter economically while addressing environmental problems caused by traditional disposal practices.In this study, poultry litter generated annually in northern and southern Alabama was documented on the basis of published literature, and transportation cost of poultry litter is minimized for both north and south Alabama by the selection of the best large‐scale biorefining facility location and optimal feedstock allocation using mathematical optimization techniques. The available portion of the existing poultry litter feedstock for a large scale biorefinery is found to be an important factor in determining transportation cost. Transportation cost increases several fold as the local feedstock availability for biorefining reduces from 100 to 50%. Optimum facility locations for both north and south Alabama were found within a 10 mile radius for three different poultry litter feedstock availabilities. © 2008 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 2008

Composting clam processing wastes in a laboratory- and pilot-scale in-vessel system

Waste materials from the clam processing industry (offal, shells) have several special characteristics such as a high salinity level, a high nitrogen content, and a low C/N ratio. The traditional disposal of clam waste through landfilling is facing the challenges of limited land available, increasing tipping fees, and strict environmental and regulatory scrutiny. The aim of this work is to investigate the performance of in-vessel composting as an alternative for landfill application of these materials. Experiments were performed in both laboratory-scale (5L) and pilot-scale (120L) reactors, with woodchips as the bulking agent. In the laboratory-scale composting test, the clam waste and woodchips were mixed in ratios from 1:0.5 to 1:3 (w/w, wet weight). The high ratios resulted in a better temperature performance, a higher electrical conductivity, and a higher ash content than the low-ratio composting. The C/N ratio of the composts was in the range of 9:1-18:1. In the pilot-scale composting test, a 1:1 ratio of clam waste to woodchips was used. The temperature profile during the composting process met the US Environmental Protection Agency sanitary requirement. The final cured compost had a C/N ratio of 14.6, with an ash content of 167.0+/-14.1g/kg dry matter. In addition to the major nutrients (carbon, nitrogen, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, sulfur, and sodium), the compost also contained trace amounts of zinc, manganese, copper, and boron, indicating that the material can be used as a good resource for plant nutrients.

Application of molecular technologies to monitor the microbial content of biosolids and composted biosolids

Disposal of human biosolids is a source of concern for public health and the environment. Composting appears to be an interesting alternative to traditional disposal methods as it can decrease the load of human pathogenic microorganisms often present in biosolids and yield an end-product rich in nutrients for use as a soil supplement. Assessing the exact microbial content of biosolids, both for biosafety and operational reasons, has traditionally relied on the use of standard microbiological methods. Recent developments in molecular-based technologies now offer more rapid and specific monitoring of microorganisms in biosolids than culture-based methods. In this study, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) was adapted to monitor the succession of bacteria in composted biosolids through different steps of compost production. Secondly, a TaqMan quantitative real time PCR (qPCR) approach was developed to detect and quantify the presence of Salmonella species, a model human pathogenic bacterium, susceptible to be found in biosolids. DGGE results indicated that the bacterial content of composted biosolids of different ages belongs to various taxa and significantly changes with age. qPCR results indicated that the quantity of Salmonella species found in composted biosolids ranging from 1 to 24 months significantly decreases with composting time.

Evaluating Traditional and Innovative Concentrate Treatment and Disposal Methods for Water Recycling at Big Bear Valley, California

Evaluating Traditional and Innovative Concentrate Treatment and Disposal Methods for Water Recycling at Big Bear Valley, California

A RADIOACTIVE METAL PROCESSING INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE SOURCE

The current U.S. economic environment for the disposition of radioactive waste, including very-low-activity metals, is currently experiencing relatively low radioactive disposal costs and readily available disposal space. Despite the recent market increase in demand for recycled scrap metal commodities, there is still little change in the behavior of the nuclear industry (including radioactive waste processors and radioactive scrap metal recyclers) to pursue the recycling of potentially contaminated scrap metal. The relatively low cost of traditional radioactive waste disposal combined with the perceived risks associated with recycling of previously contaminated metals means that most U.S. radioactive facility managers and stakeholders will elect not to recycle. Current technology exists and precedence has been set for prescreening (by means of bulk radioactive assay techniques) scrap metal that is not contaminated and diverting it to industrial landfills for disposal. Other processes also allow some radiologically contaminated metals to be melted and recast into products with low, but acceptable, activity levels for restricted use in the nuclear industry. A new concept is being considered that would create a centralized licensed facility for the process and disposition of "very-low-activity" metals for "directed first use." The advantages to this type of approach would include a standardized method for licensing the clearance process.

Olive mill wastewater treatment: an experimental study

Olive oil production, one of the main agro-industries in Mediterranean countries, generates significant amounts of olive mill wastewaters (OMWs), which represent a serious environmental problem, because of their high organic load, the acidic pH and the presence of recalcitrant and toxic substances such as phenolic and lipidic compounds (up to several grams per litre). In Italy, traditional disposal on the soil is the most common way to discharge OMWs. This work is aimed at investigating the efficiency and feasibility of AOPs and biological processes for OMW treatment. Trials have been carried out on wastewaters taken from one of the largest three-phase mills of Italy, located in Quarrata (Tuscany), as well as on synthetic solutions. Ozone and Fenton's reagents applied both on OMWs and on phenolic synthetic solutions guaranteed polyphenol removal efficiency up to 95%. Aerobic biological treatment was performed in a batch reactor filled with raw OMWs (pH = 4.5, T = 30 degrees C) without biomass inoculum. A biomass rich of fungi, developed after about 30 days, was able to biodegrade phenolic compounds reaching a removal efficiency of 70%. Pretreatment of OMWs by means of oxidation increased their biological treatability.