Evaluation and selection of regeneration of waste lubricating oil technology

Lubricant is one of the important resources that cannot be disposed of randomly due to the presence of pollutants. In response to economic efficiency and environmental protection, there is a growing trend of regeneration and reuse of waste lubricant. However, the technologies shall be compared to provide a useful reference for the use of waste lubricant. The major aim of this paper is to use analytic hierarchy process to select, analyze, and compare the regenerative technologies, thus laying a basis for the governmental bodies in policy making of lubricant recovery as well as for industrial operators in deciding the recovery methods.     

Waste management modeling by MARKAL model: A case study for Basilicata Region

Air pollution is one of the most pressing environmental problems which affects likewise urban, industrial and rural areas. Environmental planners, regulators and decision makers need reliable, scientifically based tools to find out strategies for controlling air pollution in a cost-effective way, taking into account the whole productive system. In this framework the basic elements of energy-environmental planning have to be extended to include also waste processing technologies amongst the usually considered pollution sources. Bottom-up optimizing models, based on linear programming techniques and customized for specific cases, represent a powerful tool in energy-environmental management. This paper focuses on the integrated modeling of material flows and energy system performed on a local scale case study (Basilicata Region, Southern Italy) using the linear programming model IEA-MARKAL. We have evaluated the feasibility of the model in representing the waste management system to estimate the environmental impact of the waste processing technologies in the context of the whole productive system. A sensitivity analysis has been carried out to emphasize the connections between tariffs, waste disposal technologies assessment and atmospheric emissions. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Assessment of plastic waste generation and its potential recycling of household solid waste in Can Tho City, Vietnam

Plastic solid waste has become a serious problem when considering the disposal alternatives following the sequential hierarchy of sound solid waste management. This study was undertaken to assess the quantity and composition of household solid waste, especially plastic waste to identify opportunities for waste recycling. A 1-month survey of 130 households was carried out in Can Tho City, the capital city of the Mekong Delta region in southern Vietnam. Household solid waste was collected from each household and classified into ten physical categories; especially plastic waste was sorted into 22 subcategories. The average household solid waste generation rate was 281.27 g/cap/day. The compostable and recyclable shares respectively accounted for high percentage as 80.74% and 11%. Regarding plastic waste, the average plastic waste generation rate was 17.24 g/cap/day; plastic packaging and plastic containers dominated with the high percentage, 95.64% of plastic waste. Plastic shopping bags were especially identified as the major component, accounting for 45.72% of total plastic waste. Relevant factors such as household income and household size were found to have an existing correlation to plastic waste generation in detailed composition. The household habits and behaviors of plastic waste discharge and the aspects of environmental impacts and resource consumption for plastic waste disposal alternatives were also evaluated.     

A thematic review of life cycle assessment (LCA) applied to pig production

Commercial livestock production is known to have significant impacts on the environment. Pig production is a complex system which involves the production of animal feed, transportation, animal rearing and waste management. One tool for assessing the environmental performance of such complex systems is life cycle assessment (LCA). LCA has been applied to pig production considerably to date. This paper provides a chronological review of state-of-the-art pig production LCAs under three themes: feed production; entire-system livestock rearing; and waste management. The study considers how LCA applications have addressed technological improvements in animal husbandry, and highlights methodological limitations, particularly related to cross-study comparisons. Recent research demonstrates crude protein reduction in feed and anaerobic treatment of pig excreta resulting in bioenergy production are the key targets for environmental performance improvements related to pig production.     

Circular economy application for a Green Stadium construction towards sustainable FIFA world cup Qatar 2022™

The construction industry is responsible for a significant amount of raw material consumption and environmental footprints. Therefore, sustainable construction became a hot topic, which strives to reduce material consumption, limit constructional waste disposal, and decrease contribution to climate change. In line with Qatar's commitment to organizing a sustainable FIFA World Cup in 2022, this study aims to conduct an environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) for the construction of the Education City Stadium. The work presented here provides the first empirical LCA for analyzing the environmental and economic impacts of circular economy application in a World Cup stadium. In this research, the cyclopean concrete (CYC) methodology was utilized, which incorporate the site excavated boulders with the concrete mix to cast the under-raft foundation of the stadium. This approach was compared to the conventional concrete (CC) casting approach to assess the extent to which the newly developed methodology can reduce the environmental and economic burdens. The obtained results have shown a 32% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions when adapting the CYC approach. Thus, the CYC holds a strong promise to achieve the required structural behavior with a low-cost alternative material from existing waste products in Qatar and a lower environmental impact than the CC.     

环境污染物的处理技术

综述了环境污染的治理方法，侧重介绍了生物技术在三废治理、土壤及地下水污染治理中的应用，并介绍了一些污染治理技术的典型应用。     

Monitoring bacterial community structure and variability in time scale in full-scale anaerobic digesters

Using a high-throughput pyrosequencing technology, this study assessed bacterial community structure and time-scale variability in great detail in seven full-scale anaerobic digesters operated variously in terms of influent substrate, digestion temperature, and reactor configuration. Pyrosequencing generated a total of 83,774 sequence reads from 40 digester sludge samples collected monthly for six months. The highest number of sequence reads were detected within Proteobacteria (20.5%), followed by those within Bacteroidetes (19.7%), Firmicutes (17.8%), and Chloroflexi (4.8%). The relative composition of bacterial populations was varied within the digesters as well as between the digesters, and the bacterial community structures were mainly influenced by digestion temperature. Detailed bacterial community structures were assessed by analyzing the operational taxonomic units (OTUs) based on 97% sequence similarity, which resulted in a total of 9051 OTUs. Among these, a total of 31 core OTUs were analyzed and inferred phylogenetically, which enabled us to classify the sequences within an unclassified phylum. Unclassified sequences were mostly affiliated with the sequences within Spirochaetes and Firmicutes. Interestingly, numerically dominant novel phylotypes (18% of the total sequence reads) presumably involved in anaerobic digestion within Spirochaetes were identified. Temporal variability was further explored using a non-metric multidimensional scaling ordination which demonstrated that the variability of the bacterial community within the digesters was smaller than between digesters. Correlation analysis demonstrated that digester performance and operational conditions affected the pattern of bacterial community in the ordination. Additionally, a multi-response permutation procedure revealed that the bacterial communities within the digesters were more similar than those belonging to other digesters statistically, demonstrating a patchiness of the digesters in the distribution of bacterial populations. Overall, this study revealed the correlation of bacterial community structure and time-scale variability with digester performance and operating conditions.     

Modeling Waste Incineration for Life-Cycle Inventory Analysis in Switzerland

This paper proposes a mathematical model for life-cycle inventory analysis (LCI) of waste incineration in Switzerland. In order to model conventional and new incineration technologies adequately, fundamental aspects of the different technologies relevant for the LCI are discussed. The environmental impact of these technologies strongly depends on the assessment of the long-term emissions of the solid incineration residues and is therefore related to value based decisions about the time horizon considered. The article illustrates that the choice of the landfill model has a significant influence on the results of life-cycle assessment of waste incineration.     

Planning effective industrial liquid waste controls in developing nations

The environmental planning principles described in this study address a problem which many developing nations face at some point along their industrialization process; alarming levels of water pollution, and limited background, expertize and organization to combat it effectively.A rapid pollution assessment methodology has been recently developed [1], [2], [3] enabling such countries to conduct valuable waste source inventories within reasonable time, with few people and little support. The present study describes how to use such inventory data in order to derive high priority waste control measures, formulate an effective national strategy for industrial waste control, organize meaningful industrial effluent survey and water monitoring programs, as well as lay down a rational land-use planning policy for industrial expansion.     

Municipal solid waste generation in growing urban areas in Africa: current practices and relation to socioeconomic factors in Jimma, Ethiopia

As one of cities in the developing countries, a rapid population growth and industrial activities pose many environmental challenges for Jimma city, Ethiopia. One aspect of urban growth posing a threat on sustainable development is poor solid waste management, which results in environmental pollution. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the quantity, composition, sources of waste generated, their current disposal practices, and to recommend appropriate management technologies. The total waste generated daily in Jimma city was ca. 88,000 kg, and the average per capita generation rate was 0.55?±?0.17 kg/capita/day. Eighty-seven percent of the waste was produced by households and 13% by institutions, and a negligible fraction (0.1%) was generated by street sweepings. During the rainy season, 40% more waste was generated than in the dry season because of the increased availability of agricultural food product. Further analysis showed that biodegradable organic waste constitutes 54% by weight with an average moisture content of 60% that falls within the required limits for composting. The nonbiodegradable components constitute 46% of which 30% of it was nonrecyclable material. Only 25% of the community uses municipal containers for disposal at the selected landfill site. Fifty-one percent of the households disposed their waste in individually chosen spots, whereas 22% burned their waste. Finally 2% of households use private waste collectors. The socioeconomic analysis showed that higher family income and educational status is associated more with private or municipal waste collection and less with the application of backyard or open dumping. These insights into generated waste and management practice in Jimma city allow making suggestions for improved collection, treatment, and disposal methods. A primary conclusion is that the biodegradable waste is a major fraction having suitable properties for recycling. As such an economic benefit can be obtained from this waste while avoiding the need for disposal.     

2006—2012年江苏省环境安全综合评估研究

从江苏省环境安全形势出发，借鉴“压力-状态-响应”（PSR）模型的框架思路，构建了环境安全度量的层次指标体系。从环境安全的压力、状态、响应3个方面确定相应的指数及对应的评估指标，通过基于德尔斐法的层次分析法确定权重，计算环境安全综合指数，并建立环境安全等级划分标准。应用建立的环境安全评估体系，对2006-2012年江苏省环境安全进行了评估。结果表明：2006-2012年，全省环境安全综合指数呈明显下降趋势，安全等级由中警状态好转为预警状态，江苏省环境安全形势不断改善。但2012年以来，大气灰霾、酸雨等复合型污染有所加重，环境安全接近中警状态，全省环境安全形势亟需进一步采取措施进行有效保障。     

Global warming potential of food waste through the life cycle assessment: An analytical review

Food loss and waste represent an increasing concern under social, economic and environmental perspective, either in developed or developing realities. It is estimated that more than 1.3 billion tons of food waste are generated along the whole food supply chain, from agricultural to final consumption stages, with associated environmental impacts estimated in approximately 3.3 Gigatons of CO₂ equivalent per year (6% of total anthropogenic greenhouse gases emissions). Indeed, food waste issue has been accounted among the 17 Sustainable Development Goals in terms of responsible production and consumption, with the aim of halving per capita global food waste and reduce food losses by 2030. The present paper, through a systematic, analytical and configurative review on food waste global warming potential, focuses on the role of Life Cycle Assessment and its related opportunities and challenges along upstream, core and downstream stages, considering at the same time the challenges embedded within alternative disposal technologies. Through the choice of 16 different research string and the selection of 33 papers out of more than 2000 articles between 2011 and 2021, the authors highlight the environmental impacts associated to food waste with regards to: (a) entire food baskets; (b) specific food commodities; (c) food service and households' experiences; (d) diverse disposal alternatives (e.g., anaerobic digestion, incineration, landfill), addressing future research and suitable opportunities to reach national and international sustainable goals.     

Optimal water and waste-load allocations in rivers using a fuzzy transformation technique: a case study

In this paper, a new methodology is developed for integrated allocation of water and waste-loads in river basins utilizing a fuzzy transformation method (FTM). The fuzzy transformation method is used to incorporate the existing uncertainties in model inputs. In the proposed methodology, the FTM, as a simulation model, is utilized in an optimization framework for constructing a fuzzy water and waste-loads allocation model. In addition, economic as well as environmental impacts of water allocation to different water users are considered. For equitable water and waste load allocation, all possible coalition of water users are considered and total benefit of each coalition, which is a fuzzy number, is reallocated to water users who are participating in the coalition. The fuzzy cost savings are reallocated using a fuzzy nucleolus cooperative game and the FTM. As a case study, the Dez River system in south-west of Iran is modeled and analyzed using the methodology developed here. The results show the effectiveness of the methodology in optimal water and waste-loads allocations under uncertainty.     

Geospatial strategy for sustainable management of municipal solid waste for growing urban environment

This paper presents the implementation of a Geospatial approach for improving the Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) disposal suitability site assessment in growing urban environment. The increasing trend of population growth and the absolute amounts of waste disposed of worldwide have increased substantially reflecting changes in consumption patterns, consequently worldwide. MSW is now a bigger problem than ever. Despite an increase in alternative techniques for disposing of waste, land-filling remains the primary means. In this context, the pressures and requirements placed on decision makers dealing with land-filling by government and society have increased, as they now have to make decisions taking into considerations environmental safety and economic practicality. The waste disposed by the municipal corporation in the Bhagalpur City (India) is thought to be different from the landfill waste where clearly scientific criterion for locating suitable disposal sites does not seem to exist. The location of disposal sites of Bhagalpur City represents the unconsciousness about the environmental and public health hazards arising from disposing of waste in improper location. Concerning about urban environment and health aspects of people, a good method of waste management and appropriate technologies needed for urban area of Bhagalpur city to improve this trend using Multi Criteria Geographical Information System and Remote Sensing for selection of suitable disposal sites. The purpose of GIS was to perform process to part restricted to highly suitable land followed by using chosen criteria. GIS modeling with overlay operation has been used to find the suitability site for MSW.     

Application of processed organic municipal solid waste on agricultural land – a scenario analysis

Source separation, composting and anaerobic digestion, with associated land application, are increasingly being considered as alternative waste management strategies to landfilling and incineration of municipal solid waste (MSW). Environmental life cycle assessments are a useful tool in political decision-making about waste management strategies. However, due to the diversity of processed organic MSW and the situations in which it can be applied, the environmental impacts of land application are very hard to determine by experimental means. In the current study, we used the agroecosystem model Daisy to simulate a range of different scenarios representing different geographical areas, farm and soil types under Danish conditions and legislation. Generally, the application of processed organic MSW resulted in increased emissions compared with the corresponding standard scenarios, but with large differences between scenarios. Emission coefficients for nitrogen leaching to the groundwater ranged from 0.03 to 0.87, while those for nitrogen lost to surface waters through tile drains ranged from 0 to 0.30. Emission coefficients for N₂O formation ranged from 0.013 to 0.022 and for ammonia volatilization from 0.016 to 0.11. These estimates are within reasonable range of observed values under similar conditions. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis showed that the estimates were not very sensitive to the mineralization dynamics of the processed organic MSW. The results show that agroecosystem models can be powerful tools to estimate the environmental impacts of land application of processed MSW under different conditions. Despite this, agroecosystem models have only been used to a very limited degree for this purpose.     

Micro-treatment options for components of organic fraction of MSW in residential areas

There is a growing interest in management of MSW through micro-treatment of organic fraction of municipal solid wastes (OFMSW) in many cities of India. The OFMSW fraction is high (>80%) in many pockets within South Indian cities like Bangalore, Chikkamagalur, etc. and is largely represented by vegetable, fruit, packing and garden wastes. Among these, the last three have shown problems for easy decomposition. Fruit wastes are characterized by a large pectin supported fraction that decomposes quickly to organic acids (becomes pulpy) that eventually slow down anaerobic and aerobic decomposition processes. Paper fraction (newsprint and photocopying paper) as well as paddy straw (packing), bagasse (from cane juice stalls) and tree leaf litter (typical garden waste and street sweepings) are found in reasonably large proportions in MSW. These decompose slowly due to poor nutrients or physical state. We have examined the suitability of these substrates for micro-composting in plastic bins by tracking decomposition pattern and physical changes. It was found that fruit wastes decompose rapidly to produce organic acids and large leachate fraction such that it may need to be mixed with leachate absorbing materials (dry wastes) for good composting. Leaf litter, paddy straw and bagasse decompose to the tune of 90, 68 and 60% VS and are suitable for composting micro-treatment. Paper fractions even when augmented with 10% leaf compost failed to show appreciable decomposition in 50 days. All these feedstocks were found to have good biological methane potential (BMP) and showed promise for conversion to biogas under a mixed feed operation. Suitability of this approach was verified by operating a plug-flow type anaerobic digester where only leaf litter gathered nearby (as street sweepings) was used as feedstock. Here only a third of the BMP was realized at this scale (0.18 m³ biogas/kg VS 0.55 m³/kg in BMP). We conclude that anaerobic digestion in plug-flow like digesters appear a more suitable micro-treatment option (2–10 kg VS/day) because in addition to compost it also produces biogas for domestic use nearby.     

Developing a Decision-Support System for Waste Management in Aluminum Production

Industrial enterprises constitute a major portion of the world’s economy, as well as a large proportion of a country’s businesses and total employment. In Turkey, industrial enterprises are underdeveloped in terms of knowledge, skill, capital, and particularly accessing and benefiting from the advantages provided by modern information and communication technologies. Aluminum manufacturing has been reported to be the largest industry in Turkey with respect to production volumes and application fields. However, aluminum production is known to be an important contributor to environmental pollution, and the relative contribution of other related enterprises to the total industrial environmental impact is unknown. Environmental pollution sources can typically be classified into three categories: gaseous emissions, solid wastes, and wastewaters. The types of wastes produced by aluminum production vary based on the process line used, the variety of target products produced, and the production capacity of a given plant. As the capacities of facilities grow, the type and amount of waste become more variable. Therefore, the primary objective of this study is to determine the priority of each waste type in aluminum manufacturing industries. This study was conducted in the Industrial Zone of Kayseri in Turkey. Three different facilities that range in size from large to small based on their production volume, plant capacity, and variety of production are selected for this study. The priority of waste types was determined by combining the AHP and PROMETHEE II multicriteria decision methods. While wastewater was categorized as having the highest priority in large facilities, solid waste was determined to be the highest priority in medium and small facilities.     

Estimation of Biogas Production Rate in a Thermophilic UASB Reactor Using Artificial Neural Networks

Biogas production rate was modeled and estimated in a thermophilic upflow anaerobic sludge blanket digester. Data set covers a time period of both steady-state conditions and an abnormal operation condition, i.e., organic loading shocks. Multilayer neural networks topology was used as the modeling tool. Half of the experimental data were used for the training of the model and the remaining half were used for the testing stage. Model results were evaluated from the point of view of both steady conditions and abnormal conditions. It was seen from the time series trends of the estimated data that biogas production rates at steady state operation conditions were closely estimated by the model while the results for organic loading shocks were sufficiently followed. Artificial neural network models gave encouraging estimation results for the online control of thermophilic reactors.     

Strategic Management Decision Support System: An Analysis of the Environmental Policy Issues

In this paper we present a new approach for modeling environmental problem as a bilevel programming problem. To the authors best knowledge, this is the first attempt to use bilivel techniques to tackle such problems. We derive at solution to help decision makers to cope with environmental policy issues. San Francisco, Bay Area is used as a real world example with the solution to their environmental problem.California is presently faced with a serious deficit of solid waste treatment and disposal facilities. Federal legislation has sought to compel the States to assure the capacity to treat and dispose of their own wastes and the California Legislature has enacted laws requiring the counties to initiate programs so that they can treat and dispose of their own wastes. Neither the federal nor the State programs have met with success in California. California continues to ship greater and greater amounts of waste out-of-state, and the majority of California counties have not instituted plans acceptable to the State government regarding the treatment and disposal of their own wastes.In the few cases where sitting and licensing programs have been proposed, the policy-makers charged with their evaluation have proceeded with largely intuitive, non-quantitative evaluation of policy options, often ignoring most of the financial and environmental implication of their decisions.We have developed a strategic management decision model that can evaluate multiple solid waste management options from both economic and environmental standpoints. Examples of problems a quantitative model might evaluate include the economic and environmental impacts of multiple treatment or disposal facilities as opposed to only one site; the environmental impact of taxing dirty waste streams, thus encouraging waste treatment and/or minimization on-site; and the social risk resulting from transportation risks assuming one or more multiple treatment or disposal sites or the use of alternative transportation routes.Because of extensive information presently available for the San Francisco Bay region, we have investigated the regional waste management problem there under several different treatment and disposal scenarios. As appropriate, results from this regional model and from authors earlier work [1] will be applied to California as a whole.