Waste Management and Climate Change

Waste management has at least five types of impacts on climate change, attributable to: (1) landfill methane emissions; (2) reduction in industrial energy use and emissions due to recycling and waste reduction; (3) energy recovery from waste; (4) carbon sequestration in forests due to decreased demand for virgin paper; and (5) energy used in long-distance transport of waste: A recent USEPA study provides estimates of overall per-tonne greenhouse gas reductions due to recycling. Plausible calculations using these estimates suggest that countries such as the US or Australia could realise substantial greenhouse gas reductions through increased recycling, particularly of paper.     

Waste Management and Climate Change

Waste management has at least five types of impacts on climate change, attributable to: (1) landfill methane emissions; (2) reduction in industrial energy use and emissions due to recycling and waste reduction; (3) energy recovery from waste; (4) carbon sequestration in forests due to decreased demand for virgin paper; and (5) energy used in long-distance transport of waste: A recent USEPA study provides estimates of overall per-tonne greenhouse gas reductions due to recycling. Plausible calculations using these estimates suggest that countries such as the US or Australia could realise substantial greenhouse gas reductions through increased recycling, particularly of paper.     

Packaging glass contained in the heavy residual fraction refused by Portuguese Mechanical and Biological Treatment plants

Mechanical and Biological Treatment (MBT) is an important strategy to manage Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) in Europe. The presence of recyclable materials on MSW depends on different factors such as inefficiencies in the Municipal Solid Waste collecting schemes and to the low level of citizenship environmental education. Among other products, MBT plants produce a residual fraction, named here as heavy residual fraction, that contains a significant amount of packaging glass which in Portugal is currently landfilled. This material is not recycled because it is heavily contaminated with other materials, preventing its processing in Material Recovery Facilities (MRF).In this paper the characterization, including particle size and composition, of the residual fraction of six Portuguese MBT plants is presented. The relevant variables that determine the heavy residual fraction characteristics were identified. It was observed that the MBTr particle size distribution is different and depends mainly on the place on the flowsheet where the MBTr exits the process, which is determined by the type of biological process and by the aperture of the last screen where the product passes through. The content in glass varies from 33 to 83%. These values are mainly related with the upstream glass sorting and with the efficiency of the recovery of the organic fraction which is the glass main contaminant. The second main contaminant is “stones”.The quantity of glass contained in this product in all the plants that will be in operation in Portugal in 2014 was estimated. The work shows that if all the 48,000 of glass could be recovered the Portuguese recycling rate would increase by 4.4%.     

Municipal solid waste management in South Africa: from waste to energy recovery through waste-to-energy technologies in Johannesburg

ABSTRACT

“Waste-to-energy” (WTE) technologies have been presented as one of the avenues to improve the management of solid waste whilst promoting clean and healthy urban environments through the recovery of waste and generation of energy. Research suggests that with the right investment in technologies and institutional changes, waste can potentially become a resource that can contribute to the socio-economic development of cities. It is in this context that this paper presents a review of the literature on WTE technologies and their implications on sustainable waste management in urban areas. The paper particularly contributes to our understanding of WTE technologies and its potential on Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM) in Johannesburg, South Africa. It is estimated that the city of Johannesburg’s landfills airspace will be completely depleted by year 2023. This projection becomes a motivation for the identification of suitable WTE alternative avenues to manage waste in the city. The paper argues that WTE technologies can contribute significantly to sustainable waste management, economic growth, ecological and environmental well-being.     

Potential energy production from organic waste and its environmental and economic impacts at a tertiary institution in Palestine

Municipal solid waste (MSW) is one of the most well-known biomass resources that can be utilized to produce renewable energy. Numerous countries are plagued by the proliferation of waste, particularly organic waste that can be utilized for energy recovery. Palestine suffers from inefficient solid waste management, and only recently have a few projects focused on bioenergy production been implemented. Throughout the years, the city of Tulkarm experiences power outages which cause a challenge to the Palestine Technical University-Kadoorie campus in Tulkarm. Thus, the possibility of energy recovery from the organic portion in Palestine Technical University-Kadoorie was evaluated. The analysis of an economic impact included discussions of a number of economic aspects, including Levelized cost of energy, internal rate of return, present worth, annual worth, and payback period. On the other hand, a carbon dioxide savings analysis and gas emission were evaluated. The outcomes of the energy optimization demonstrated that the suggested system could supply the institution with an average of roughly 7 MWh of electrical energy. According to the economic study, this project offers 0.25 million dollars in present value, 0.144 million dollars in annual value, a 13 percent internal rate of return, a payback period of 6 years, and a levelized cost of energy of 0.11 dollars for each kWh generated. Additionally, the environmental assessment revealed that this system might reduce CO₂ emissions by around 8,343,778 tons. For effective waste management, energy recovery, and emission reduction, it is advised to implement anaerobic digestion technology.     

钻井废物综合治理技术的应用

针对急需解决的钻井废水、废气治理问题,以钻井作业大功率柴油机废气余热回收利用为出发点,研制了钻井废水废气综合治理设备。通过现场试验对钻井废水、废气治理效果及噪声影响的分析,试验结果表明,日处理钻井废水可达11～13m3/d,柴油机废气中污染物排放有一定程度的降低,柴油机高频噪声得到较明显降低,并有利于增加柴油机扭距。     

深圳市南山区碳平衡测算研究

运用《省级温室气体清单编制指南》、《IPCC国家温室气体清单指南》和相关文献推荐方法,利用南山区能源消费数据、工业产品量、废弃物处理量、森林面积和海洋面积等基础数据,对南山区能源利用过程、工业生产过程和产品使用、废弃物处理等3大类碳源温室气体排放量以及区域森林(包括湿地)、城市绿地和海域等3大类碳汇储存量进行了测算,计算表明南山区年碳排放总量达到756.17万t,该测算为南山区未来区域碳减排提供基础数据依据。     

Alternative energy balances for Bulgaria to mitigate climate change

Alternative energy balances aimed to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are developed as alternatives to the baseline energy balance. The section of mitigation options is based on the results of the GHG emission inventory for the 1987–1992 period. The energy sector is the main contributor to the total CO₂ emissions of Bulgaria. Stationary combustion for heat and electricity production as well as direct end-use combustion amounts to 80% of the total emissions. The parts of the energy network that could have the biggest influence on GHG emission reduction are identified. The potential effects of the following mitigation measures are discussed: rehabilitation of the combustion facilities currently in operation; repowering to natural gas; reduction of losses in thermal and electrical transmission and distribution networks; penetration of new combustion technologies; tariff structure improvement; renewable sources for electricity and heat production; wasteheat utilization; and supply of households with natural gas to substitute for electricity in space heating and cooking. The total available and the achievable potentials are estimated and the implementation barriers are discussed.

     

Techno-economic analysis and environmental impact assessment of energy recovery from Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) in Brazil

Due to the lack of appropriate policies in the last decades, 60% of Brazilian cities still dump their waste in non-regulated landfills (the remaining ones dump their trash in regulated landfills), which represent a serious environmental and social problem. The key objective of this study is to compare, from a techno-economic and environmental point of view, different alternatives to the energy recovery from the Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) generated in Brazilian cities. The environmental analysis was carried out using current data collected in Betim, a 450,000 inhabitants city that currently produces 200 tonnes of MSW/day. Four scenarios were designed, whose environmental behaviour were studied applying the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology, in accordance with the ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 standards. The results show the landfill systems as the worst waste management option and that a significant environmental savings is achieved when a wasted energy recovery is done. The best option, which presented the best performance based on considered indicators, is the direct combustion of waste as fuel for electricity generation. The study also includes a techno-economical evaluation of the options, using a developed computer simulation tool. The economic indicators of an MSW energy recovery project were calculated. The selected methodology allows to calculate the energy content of the MSW and the CH₄ generated by the landfill, the costs and incomes associated with the energy recovery, the sales of electricity and carbon credits from the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The studies were based on urban centres of 100,000, 500,000 and 1,000,000 inhabitants, using the MSW characteristics of the metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte. Two alternatives to recovering waste energy were analyzed: a landfill that used landfill biogas to generate electricity through generator modules and a Waste-to-Energy (WtE) facility also with electricity generation. The results show that power generation projects using landfill biogas in Brazil strongly depend on the existence of a market for emissions reduction credits. The WtE plant projects, due to its high installation, Operation and Maintenance (O&M) costs, are highly dependent on MSW treatment fees. And they still rely on an increase of three times the city taxes to become attractive.     

有色金属行业CO2排放估算方法研究

通过对国内外有色金属行业温室气体排放估算方法研究现状的分析,将联合国政府间气候变化专门委员会(IPCC)温室气体排放清单指南、国际有色行业协会和环境科学研究中的一些常用算法,总结归纳应用于有色金属行业温室气体的排放量估算,从估算方法和结果上分析各种方法的优缺点和使用条件。以原铝生产CO2排放估算为例,对有色金属温室气体排放进行实证分析,为有色金属行业温室气体排放估算提供参选方法,促进有色金属工业的节能减排。