Biodegradation and flushing of MBT wastes

Mechanical–biological treatment (MBT) processes are increasingly being adopted as a means of diverting biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) from landfill, for example to comply with the EU Landfill Directive. However, there is considerable uncertainty concerning the residual pollution potential of such wastes. This paper presents the results of laboratory experiments on two different MBT waste residues, carried out to investigate the remaining potential for the generation of greenhouse gases and the flushing of contaminants from these materials when landfilled. The potential for gas generation was found to be between 8% and 20% of that for raw MSW. Pretreatment of the waste reduced the potential for the release of organic carbon, ammoniacal nitrogen, and heavy metal contents into the leachate; and reduced the residual carbon remaining in the waste after final degradation from ～320 g/kg dry matter for raw MSW to between 183 and 195 g/kg dry matter for the MBT wastes.     

Land disposal of mixed human and animal wastes: A review

Combining septic tank effluent and animal wastes (mixed wastes) for eventual application to land is being proposed as an alternative wastewater disposal system. Both types of waste are spread on land separately, and private practice may be to mix and spread them together, but in most of the United States mixing of these wastes for land disposal is illegal. No research has been done to assess the hazards associated with spreading mixed wastes on land. The concern is with the impact on public health of adding septic tank effluent to animal wastes for disposal as animal wastes. The effects of pathogens already present in animal waste are presumably allowed for in current U.S. regulations.Pathogens in mixed wastes include viruses, bacteria and parasites. Viruses are not always present in on-site waste disposal systems, but when present are in high numbers. Most viral particles will pass through the septic tank and will remain viable. Transmission will be prevented if these particles are retained in soil or other solids until any of several factors deprive them of infectivity. As animals are the chief reservoir of most enteric bacteria that are pathogenic to man, no additional hazards from bacteria are expected in a mixed waste system. Some parasite eggs and cysts will settle into the bottom of the septic tank, but significant numbers will pass through and will remain viable. Retention with solids will minimize transmission through food and water. In all instances it is important to match land use and waste disposal carefully.     

Circulating fluidized bed incineration of industrial solid wastes

A pilot scale test facility of a circulating fluidized bed incinerator was established to generate design and operation data and help assess the technical feasibility for industrial applications. The use of high turbulence in the combustion zone and feeding an acid-capturer directly into the incinerator to absorb acid gases eliminates the costly afterburner and scrubber. This paper presents some systematic incineration tests of uniform industrial wastes such as paper mill sludge cake, rubber waste and petroleum coke. Sludge cakes with high moisture and low heating values can be treated to a low emission level by co-firing with coal. The high superficial gas velocity has improved combustion efficiency but increases NO_x emissions. However, sulphur content has almost no influence on sulphur retention. The problems of CO/NO_x emissions and circulation stability are also discussed.     

Waste plastics recycling by an entrained-flow gasifier

We studied an entrained-flow gasification process which efficiently converts waste plastics to energy at a high energy recovery rate. Waste plastics, after being shredded to <8 mm or <14 mm, were fed into an entrained-flow gasifier with air and oxygen. In the gasifier, organic substances were pyrolyzed, partially combusted, and then converted into synthetic gas (CO, H₂) at a high temperature (over 1600 K). The clarified gasification characteristics were that the lower heat value (LHV) of the product gas was over 4.2 MJ/Nm³ and the cold gas efficiency was approximately 60%. Other inert substances in the wastes such as ashes and metals were melted into slag and condensed on bag filters. The bag filters and a water scrubber removed impurities such as dusts, heavy metals, and hydrogen halides from the product gases. Solid hydrocarbons, which include char and soot, were removed at a hot cyclone and on the bag filters. Received: July 19, 2000 / Accepted: October 3, 2000     

Control of GHG emission at the microbial community level

All organic material eventually is decomposed by microorganisms, and considerable amounts of C and N end up as gaseous metabolites. The emissions of greenhouse relevant gases like carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxides largely depend on physico-chemical conditions like substrate quality or the redox potential of the habitat. Manipulating these conditions has a great potential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Such options are known from farm and waste management, as well as from wastewater treatment. In this paper examples are given how greenhouse gas production might be reduced by regulating microbial processes. Biogas production from manure, organic wastes, and landfills are given as examples how methanisation may be used to save fossil fuel. Methane oxidation, on the other hand, might alleviate the problem of methane already produced, or the conversion of aerobic wastewater treatment to anaerobic nitrogen elimination through the anaerobic ammonium oxidation process might reduce N2O release to the atmosphere. Changing the diet of ruminants, altering soil water potentials or a change of waste collection systems are other measures that affect microbial activities and that might contribute to a reduction of carbon dioxide equivalents being emitted to the atmosphere.     

In-situ emission characteristics of odorous gases from two food waste processing plants

Odorous gas emission is the main environmental concern of food waste treatment. Two typical food waste processing plants, one for animal feed production by hydrothermal hydrolysis + aerobic fermentation (Plant A), and the other for biogas production by anaerobic digestion (Plant B), were selected to conduct in situ monitoring of fugitive odorous gas emission for five consecutive days, and the emission characteristics of NH₃ and total volatile organic compounds (TVOC) were compared in this paper. The results showed that the two processes had different emission characteristics of odorous gases. Closed-operated hydrothermal hydrolysis had positive effects on overall fugitive odor control in plant A. Meanwhile, more fugitive odor gases may be released into the environment during the pretreatment with high-temperature and seemingly-open facilities in plant B. The emission strength of odor gases at night was generally lower than that in the day since more fresh food waste was received in the day and the higher temperature and lower air pressure in the day were favorable to gas emission. In general, the process of hydrothermal hydrolysis + aerobic fermentation was more advantageous in controlling odor than the process of anaerobic digestion.     

Leaching of inorganic contaminants from cement-based waste materials as a result of carbonation during intermittent wetting

Characterization of the leaching behavior of wastes is a crucial step in the environmental assessment for reuse or disposal scenarios. The release of inorganic contaminants from waste materials is typically evaluated by tank leaching of continuously water-saturated material. However, materials, in many field or management scenarios, experience cyclic wetting and drying under varied environmental conditions (i.e. variable relative humidity, atmospheric CO2 or CO2 from biologic activities). During periods of storage in an unsaturated environment, many processes may occur that can influence the release potential and release rate of inorganic constituents. The research presented here was carried out to examine how the phenomena of carbonation during drying influence the release of inorganic contaminants from Portland cement-based materials during cyclic wetting and storage. Batch equilibrium leaching tests were used to determine constituent solubility as a function of pH. Dynamic leaching tests on monolithic material were carried out to determine the rate of constituent release as a function of leaching time and intermittent storage conditions. This paper presents the results observed for three typical waste constituents, arsenic, cadmium and lead.     

Abundance of 14C in biomass fractions of wastes and solid recovered fuels

In recent years thermal utilization of mixed wastes and solid recovered fuels has become of increasing importance in European waste management. Since wastes or solid recovered fuels are generally composed of fossil and biogenic materials, only part of the CO₂ emissions is accounted for in greenhouse gas inventories or emission trading schemes. A promising approach for determining this fraction is the so-called radiocarbon method. It is based on different ratios of the carbon isotopes ¹⁴C and ¹²C in fossil and biogenic fuels. Fossil fuels have zero radiocarbon, whereas biogenic materials are enriched in ¹⁴C and reflect the ¹⁴CO₂ abundance of the ambient atmosphere. Due to nuclear weapons tests in the past century, the radiocarbon content in the atmosphere has not been constant, which has resulted in a varying ¹⁴C content of biogenic matter, depending on the period of growth. In the present paper ¹⁴C contents of different biogenic waste fractions (e.g., kitchen waste, paper, wood), as well as mixtures of different wastes (household, bulky waste, and commercial waste), and solid recovered fuels are determined. The calculated ¹⁴C content of the materials investigated ranges between 98 and 135 pMC.     

Determination of specific gravity of municipal solid waste

This investigation was conducted to evaluate experimental determination of specific gravity (G_s) of municipal solid waste (MSW). Water pycnometry, typically used for testing soils was adapted for testing MSW using a large flask with 2000 mL capacity and specimens with 100–350 g masses. Tests were conducted on manufactured waste samples prepared using US waste constituent components; fresh wastes obtained prior and subsequent to compaction at an MSW landfill; and wastes obtained from various depths at the same landfill. Factors that influence specific gravity were investigated including waste particle size, compaction, and combined decomposition and stress history. The measured average specific gravities were 1.377 and 1.530 for as-prepared/uncompacted and compacted manufactured wastes, respectively; 1.072 and 1.258 for uncompacted and compacted fresh wastes, respectively; and 2.201 for old wastes. The average organic content and degree of decomposition were 77.2% and 0%, respectively for fresh wastes and 22.8% and 88.3%, respectively for old wastes. The G_s increased with decreasing particle size, compaction, and increasing waste age. For fresh wastes, reductions in particle size and compaction caused occluded intraparticle pores to be exposed and waste particles to be deformed resulting in increases in specific gravity. For old wastes, the high G_s resulted from loss of biodegradable components that have low G_s as well as potential access to previously occluded pores and deformation of particles due to both degradation processes and applied mechanical stresses. The G_s was correlated to the degree of decomposition with a linear relationship. Unlike soils, the G_s for MSW was not unique, but varied in a landfill environment due both to physical/mechanical processes and biochemical processes. Specific gravity testing is recommended to be conducted not only using representative waste composition, but also using representative compaction, stress, and degradation states.     

电解铝工业危险废物处理技术的发展方向

针对电解铝工业产生的大量含氟危险废物,综述了国内外该类危险废物处理技术的发展历程和研究进展,并就目前国内电解铝工业危险废物的两种典型处理工艺进行了对比分析。指出:分类处理和浮选—浸出是目前处理电解铝工业危险废物的最佳工艺;湿法处理是实现电解铝工业危险废物资源化的技术发展方向;有价元素的进一步高效回收需要对工艺条件进行精细控制,从理论层面和分子水平进行深入研究。     

Long-term thermophilic mono-digestion of rendering wastes and co-digestion with potato pulp

In this study, mono-digestion of rendering wastes and co-digestion of rendering wastes with potato pulp were studied for the first time in continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) experiments at 55 °C. Rendering wastes have high protein and lipid contents and are considered good substrates for methane production. However, accumulation of digestion intermediate products viz., volatile fatty acids (VFAs), long chain fatty acids (LCFAs) and ammonia nitrogen (NH₄-N and/or free NH₃) can cause process imbalance during the digestion. Mono-digestion of rendering wastes at an organic loading rate (OLR) of 1.5 kg volatile solids (VS)/m³ d and hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 50 d was unstable and resulted in methane yields of 450 dm³/kg VS_fed. On the other hand, co-digestion of rendering wastes with potato pulp (60% wet weight, WW) at the same OLR and HRT improved the process stability and increased methane yields (500–680 dm³/kg VS_fed). Thus, it can be concluded that co-digestion of rendering wastes with potato pulp could improve the process stability and methane yields from these difficult to treat industrial waste materials.     

Selective separation of virgin and post-consumer polymers (PET and PVC) by flotation method

More and more polymer wastes are generated by industry and householders today. Recycling is an important process to reduce the amount of waste resulting from human activities. Currently, recycling technologies use relatively homogeneous polymers because hand-sorting waste is costly. Many promising technologies are being investigated for separating mixed thermoplastics, but they are still uneconomical and unreliable. At present, most waste polymers cause serious environmental problems. Burning polymers for recycling is not practiced since poisonous gases are released during the burning process. Particularly, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) materials among waste polymers generate hazardous HCl gas, dioxins containing Cl, etc., which lead to air pollution and shorten the life of the incinerator. In addition, they make other polymers difficult to recycle.Both polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and PVC have densities of 1.30–1.35 g/cm³ and cannot be separated using conventional gravity separation techniques. For this reason, polymer recycling needs new techniques. Among these techniques, froth flotation, which is also used in mineral processing, can be useful because of its low cost and simplicity.The main objective of this research is to recycle PET and PVC selectively from post-consumer polymer wastes and virgin polymers by using froth flotation. According to the results, all PVC particles were floated with 98.8% efficiency in virgin polymer separation while PET particles were obtained with 99.7% purity and 57.0% efficiency in post-consumer polymer separation.     

Thermal valorization of post-consumer film waste in a bubbling bed gasifier

The use of plastic bags and film packaging is very frequent in manifold sectors and film waste is usually present in different sources of municipal and industrial wastes. A significant part of it is not suitable for mechanical recycling but could be safely transformed into a valuable gas by means of thermal valorization. In this research, the gasification of film wastes has been experimentally investigated through experiments in a fluidized bed reactor of two reference polymers, polyethylene and polypropylene, and actual post-consumer film waste. After a complete experimental characterization of the three materials, several gasification experiments have been performed to analyze the influence of the fuel and of equivalence ratio on gas production and composition, on tar generation and on efficiency. The experiments prove that film waste and analogue polymer derived wastes can be successfully gasified in a fluidized bed reactor, yielding a gas with a higher heating value in a range from 3.6 to 5.6 MJ/m³ and cold gas efficiencies up to 60%.     

Heavy metal leaching from hydroxide, sulphide and silicate stabilised/solidified wastes

A synthetic, mixed-metal solution has been stabilised by treatment with sodium hydroxide, sodium sulphide, and sodium silicate, respectively. The three stabilised filter cakes have subsequently been solidified using additions of ordinary Portland cement and pulverised fuel ash (PFA) which are typically used in UK solidification operations. Both the stabilised filter cakes and the solidified wastes have been subjected to an equilibrium extraction test, a modified TCLP test, and a series of single-extraction, batch leach tests using an increasingly acidic leachant. Metal release was found to be primarily dependent on the pH of the leachate. Under mildly acidic conditions, the percentages leached from the stabilised and the stabilised/solidified wastes were comparable for most metals. A high-volume fraction of these solidified wastes is occupied by the stabilised filter cake. When they are broken up and tested in single-extraction leach tests, the primary effect of the cementitious additives is to increase the pH of the leachate so that most heavy metals remain insoluble. When tested under acidic leachate conditions, copper, lead, and mercury were found to be particularly well retained within sodium sulphide stabilised wastes. Under similar test conditions, cadmium was leached at very low levels from the sodium silicate stabilised waste.     

拜耳法赤泥制备三聚磷酸铝

拜耳法赤泥经石灰石烧结改性、盐酸浸取及碱液处理等工序得到氢氧化铝干胶,再以氢氧化铝干胶和工业磷酸为原料,通过中和反应、缩合反应和水化反应合成三聚磷酸铝.经单因素条件实验和正交实验得到最佳工艺条件为:磷酸体积(mL)与氢氧化铝干胶质量(g)的比3,中和反应温度常温,缩合反应温度290℃,缩合反应时间4h.在最佳工艺条件下合成的试样中,Al2O3和P2O5的含量与工业三聚磷酸铝ATP-200相近,经IR分析,该试样即为三聚磷酸铝.盐雾试验结果表明合成的三聚磷酸铝的防腐性能达到ATP-200的性能指标.     

Revisiting the elemental composition and the calorific value of the organic fraction of municipal solid wastes

In this work, the elemental content (C, N, H, S, O), the organic matter content and the calorific value of various organic components that are commonly found in the municipal solid waste stream were measured. The objective of this work was to develop an empirical equation to describe the calorific value of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste as a function of its elemental composition. The MSW components were grouped into paper wastes, food wastes, yard wastes and plastics. Sample sizes ranged from 0.2 to 0.5 kg. In addition to the above individual components, commingled municipal solid wastes were sampled from a bio-drying facility located in Crete (sample sizes ranged from 8 to 15 kg) and were analyzed for the same parameters. Based on the results of this work, an improved empirical model was developed that revealed that carbon, hydrogen and oxygen were the only statistically significant predictors of calorific value. Total organic carbon was statistically similar to total carbon for most materials in this work. The carbon to organic matter ratio of 26 municipal solid waste substrates and of 18 organic composts varied from 0.40 to 0.99. An approximate chemical empirical formula calculated for the organic fraction of commingled municipal solid wastes was C₃₂NH₅₅O₁₆.     

Recycling and reuse of industrial wastes in Taiwan

Eighteen million metric tons of industrial wastes are produced every year in Taiwan. In order to properly handle the industrial wastes, the Taiwan Environmental Protection Administration (Taiwan EPA) has set up strategic programs that include establishment of storage, treatment, and final disposal systems, establishment of a management center for industrial wastes, and promotion of recycling and reuse of industrial wastes. The Taiwan EPA has been actively promoting the recycling and reuse of industrial wastes over the years. In July 1995 the Taiwan EPA amended and promulgated the Criteria for the Industrial Waste Storage, Collection and Processing Facility, July, 1995 that added articles related to general industrial waste recycling and reuse. In June 1996 the Taiwan EPA promulgated the Non-listed General Industrial Waste Reuse Application Procedures, June, 1996, followed by the Regulations Governing the Permitting of Hazardous Industrial Waste Reuse, June 1996, setting up a full regulatory framework for governing industrial waste reuse. To broaden the recycling and reuse of general industrial wastes, the Taiwan EPA has listed 14 industrial waste items for recycling and reuse, including waste paper, waste iron, coal ash, tempered high furnace bricks (cinder), high furnace bricks (cinder), furnace transfer bricks (cinder), sweetening dregs, wood (whole/part), glass (whole/part), bleaching earth, ceramics (pottery, brick, tile and cast sand), individual metal scraps (copper, zinc, aluminum and tin), distillery grain (dregs) and plastics. As of June 1999, 99 applications for reuse of industrial wastes had been approved with 1.97 million metric tons of industrial wastes being reused.     

Gasification and smelting system using oxygen blowing for plastic waste including polyvinyl chloride

A new type of waste gasification and smelting system using oxygen blowing based on high-temperature metallurgy, was developed by Sumitomo Metals, Japan. This system can steadily gasify and melt not only municipal waste, but also plastic waste and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) waste by using a top-blow oxygen lance together with sideways-blow oxygen lances. As a result of gasification in the high-temperature reducing atmosphere and rapid gas cooling, dioxin-free, high-calorie purified gas was produced. Ash components in the wastes were smelted in a high-temperature reducing atmosphere, and high-quality slag free of heavy metals was produced. Most of the chlorine in the wastes was converted into hydrogen chloride in the off gas. The hydrogen chloride can be recovered as hydrochloric acid or chlorine, which are recyclable to PVC manufacturing.     

Pyrolysis of waste tyres: A review

Approximately 1.5 billion tyres are produced each year which will eventually enter the waste stream representing a major potential waste and environmental problem. However, there is growing interest in pyrolysis as a technology to treat tyres to produce valuable oil, char and gas products. The most common reactors used are fixed-bed (batch), screw kiln, rotary kiln, vacuum and fluidised-bed. The key influence on the product yield, and gas and oil composition, is the type of reactor used which in turn determines the temperature and heating rate. Tyre pyrolysis oil is chemically very complex containing aliphatic, aromatic, hetero-atom and polar fractions. The fuel characteristics of the tyre oil shows that it is similar to a gas oil or light fuel oil and has been successfully combusted in test furnaces and engines. The main gases produced from the pyrolysis of waste tyres are H₂, C₁–C₄ hydrocarbons, CO₂, CO and H₂S. Upgrading tyre pyrolysis products to high value products has concentrated on char upgrading to higher quality carbon black and to activated carbon. The use of catalysts to upgrade the oil to a aromatic-rich chemical feedstock or the production of hydrogen from waste tyres has also been reported. Examples of commercial and semi-commercial scale tyre pyrolysis systems show that small scale batch reactors and continuous rotary kiln reactors have been developed to commercial scale.     

Greenhouse gases emission from municipal waste management: The role of separate collection

The municipal solid waste management significantly contributes to the emission in the atmosphere of greenhouse gases (e.g. CO₂, CH₄, N₂O) and therefore the management process from collection to treatment and disposal has to be optimized in order to reduce these emissions. In this paper, starting from the average composition of undifferentiated municipal solid waste in Italy, the effect of separate collection on greenhouse gases emissions from municipal waste management has been assessed. Different combinations of separate collection scenarios and disposal options (i.e. landfilling and incineration) have been considered. The effect of energy recovery from waste both in landfills and incinerators has also been addressed. The results outline how a separate collection approach can have a significant effect on the emission of greenhouse gases and how wise municipal solid waste management, implying the adoption of Best Available Technologies (i.e. biogas recovery and exploitation system in landfills and energy recovery system in Waste to Energy plants), can not only significantly reduce greenhouse gases emissions but, in certain cases, can also make the overall process a carbon sink. Moreover it has been shown that separate collection of plastic is a major issue when dealing with global warming relevant emissions from municipal solid waste management.