Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Thermal Treatment of Non-Recyclable Municipal Waste

Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Thermal Treatment of Non-Recyclable Municipal Waste

Článek WoS

This paper thoroughly analyses factors affecting production of greenhouse gases from waste treatment of residual municipal waste. The analysis is conducted so that the environmentally-friendly decision making criteria may be later implemented into an optimization task, which allocates waste treatment plants’ capacities. A simplified method of life cycle assessment (LCA) is applied in this paper to describe environmental impact of the allocation on the environment. Global warming potential (GWP) is employed as a unit to quantify greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions. Objective of this paper is to identify the main environmental burdens and credits measured by GWP for the three fundamental methods for treatment of residual waste unsuitable for material recovery. The three fundamental methods are waste-to-energy (WTE), landfilling and mechanical-biological treatment (MBT) with subsequent utilization of refuse-derived fuel. Composition of the waste itself and content of fossil-derived carbon and biogenic carbon are important parameters to identify amounts of GHG that are produced from all the three treatment methods. In case of WTE, subsequent use of the energy, e.g. in district heating systems in case of heat, is another important parameter to be considered. GHG emissions from landfilling are majorly affected by amounts of captured landfill gas versus released landfill gas. GHG emissions from mechanical-biological treatment are mostly affected by combustion of solid alternative fuels and subsequent co-generation of heat and power. Conclusion of this paper provides assessment of the potential benefits of the results in optimization tasks for planning of overall strategy in waste management.

This paper thoroughly analyses factors affecting production of greenhouse gases from waste treatment of residual municipal waste. The analysis is conducted so that the environmentally-friendly decision making criteria may be later implemented into an optimization task, which allocates waste treatment plants’ capacities. A simplified method of life cycle assessment (LCA) is applied in this paper to describe environmental impact of the allocation on the environment. Global warming potential (GWP) is employed as a unit to quantify greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions. Objective of this paper is to identify the main environmental burdens and credits measured by GWP for the three fundamental methods for treatment of residual waste unsuitable for material recovery. The three fundamental methods are waste-to-energy (WTE), landfilling and mechanical-biological treatment (MBT) with subsequent utilization of refuse-derived fuel. Composition of the waste itself and content of fossil-derived carbon and biogenic carbon are important parameters to identify amounts of GHG that are produced from all the three treatment methods. In case of WTE, subsequent use of the energy, e.g. in district heating systems in case of heat, is another important parameter to be considered. GHG emissions from landfilling are majorly affected by amounts of captured landfill gas versus released landfill gas. GHG emissions from mechanical-biological treatment are mostly affected by combustion of solid alternative fuels and subsequent co-generation of heat and power. Conclusion of this paper provides assessment of the potential benefits of the results in optimization tasks for planning of overall strategy in waste management.

Waste management, greenhouse gases, global warming potential, allocation planning, waste-to-energy.

Waste management, greenhouse gases, global warming potential, allocation planning, waste-to-energy.

FERDAN, T.; PAVLAS, M.; NEVRLÝ, V.; ŠOMPLÁK, R.; STEHLÍK, P.

2019

01.12.2018

2095-0187

Frontiers of Chemical Science and Engineering

12

4

Čínská lidová republika

815

831

17

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11705-018-1761-4