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Contribution to a low-carbon society from improving exergy of waste-to- energy system by upgrading utilization of waste
Abstract
Efficient energy recovery from burnable solid waste is considered an important component in a low-carbon society. Herein, we discuss the optimization of energy recovery from waste and how to reduce the environmental load of waste. First, we introduce the concept of upgrading waste-to-energy (WtE) processes to improve the exergy efficiency of society as a whole and provide guidance for selecting and combining the most appropriate technology for transforming waste-to-energy. We then propose a methodology called resource life-cycle assessment (LCA) that can be used to properly evaluate the effect of upgrading WtE processes and to optimize waste utilization not only within a given factory or municipality but also within society as a whole. Finally, we present two case studies with which we examine the direct and indirect upgrading of WtE processes and use resource LCA to quantitatively analyze the CO 2 reduction achieved by upgrading WtE processes compared with that achieved by conventional WtE processes. The analysis of these case studies shows that upgrading WtE processes would result in approximately 50%-100% greater reduction in fossil fuel input compared with conventional waste power generation, which means that we expect a 50% to 100% greater reduction in CO 2 emissions and the concomitant savings in fuel cost. The concept of upgrading WtE processes and resource LCA is useful for selecting a cost-effective option to improve the exergy efficiency both in developed countries and in developing countries, many of which need to contribute to their Nationally Determined Contribution under the Paris Agreement.
... Although these hard-technology measures have been shown to be environmentally effective, their widespread use may be impeded by high equipment and materials investment needed. Therefore, cost-saving management strategies focused on improving production operations and emissions regulations have been easier to adopt in most scenarios (Lu et al. 2015;Ramachandra et al. 2018;Fujii et al. 2019). With a focus on integrated MSW management, Lu et al. (2015) proposed an integrated MSW management model under inexact input information to simultaneously address system uncertainty and carbon emissions control. ...
... Ramachandra et al. (2018) suggested an integrated solid waste management strategy to manage organic fractions through technology and policy interventions to mitigate the carbon emissions. Fujii et al. (2019) presented a methodology called resource life-cycle assessment (LCA) to quantitatively analyze the CO 2 reduction and evaluate the effects of incineration upgrading processes to improve energy efficiency. ...
Municipal solid waste (MSW) incineration contributes significantly to carbon emissions, and has become a serious problem in China, which has seen an exponential rise in waste over the last twenty years due to rapid urbanization and the associated consumer economy growth. To tackle this issue, this paper develops a leader-follower optimized approach for economic and environmental equilibrium in incineration power plants that includes a carbon allowance allocation scheme (IPP-CAAS) under combustion and pollutant limitations. In the leader-follower (bi-level) game, the regional authority on the upper level determines the carbon allocations and environmental targets and the IPPs on the lower level develop schemes to maximize revenue under the upper-level restrictions. By employing uncertain parameters for the carbon and power conversion fluctuations, the approach is able to more accurately depict the industry characteristics of waste incineration process in this carbon-economy balance problem. The robustness and practicality of the proposed methodology was then validated through a case study. Scenario analysis under different political parameters indicates that the proposed methodology can assist the authorities to achieve carbon-economy trade-off and under serious carbon-control situations, encourage the IPPs to reduce their blended coal ratios, and invest in low-carbon incineration technology. Managerial insights on further industrial developments are also given for the authority and relevant practitioners.
... From the perspective of the waste hierarchy (Calderón Márquez and Rutkowski, 2020;Fujii et al., 2019;Kim et al., 2018;Xavier et al., 2019;Zhang et al., 2018), circular economy (CE), which seeks a novel solution from a systemic perspective, offers solution to transit the current linear economy into a circular one via the promotion of the "circularity" of wastes into resources and emphasizing the "3R" principles, namely, reduce, reuse, and recycle (Al-Hamrani et al., 2021;Bian et al., 2020;Clube & Tennant, 2020;Fang et al., 2017;Joensuu et al., 2020). CE has promoted an economic system innovation that minimizes waste flows via the improvement of resource efficiency from the input flows side and via reusing and recycling from the output flows side (Baum et al., 2023;Dong et al., 2017;Dong et al., 2021;Shah et al., 2020;Wang et al., 2018). ...
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) are heavily promoted in the construction sector. The target is to realize an inclusive construction in the life cycles. Here, the “inclusiveness” calls for an equilibrium rather than an optimization on the dimensions of social justice, environmental responsibility, and economic efficiency. In realizing this eternal target, an in-depth investigation on how circular economy (CE) will affect the sustainable development goals (SDGs) will be critical. This paper aims to conduct an in-depth analysis on matching how CE policies in the construction sector will affect the 17 social, environmental and economic values in the framework of the SDGs proposed by the UN, respectively. The CE policies in the construction sector are analyzed based on the life cycles in the whole supply chain, from the natural resources mining, transportation of materials, construction materials manufacturing, on-site construction process, to final waste disposal and treatment, including construction-and-demolish waste (C&D waste) recycling. We analyze the policy or the measures in each life-cycle stage, investigating how it would contribute (positive impacts) or affect (trade-offs) the 17 SDGs. Particularly, policies are discussed based on the accounting of embodied carbon in the buildings of the Greater Bay Area (GBA).
... WtE cogeneration technologies allow the control of urban waste (e.g., MSW) and elevate waste as a useful resource for the production of energy. High-efficiency WtE cogeneration systems can reduce CO 2 emissions and concomitant fuel costs compared with conventional power generation systems [6]. Therefore, innovative and efficient use of WtE will promote the transition to low-carbon cities and ultimately contribute to the development of a low-carbon society [7]. ...
This study proposes the novel concept of waste upcycling-driven zero energy building (W-ZEB). W-ZEB aims to accelerate the development of zero-energy buildings by incorporating waste upcycling processes (e.g., waste-to-energy (WtE), insulation material recovery, and biochar used in green roofs), ultimately advancing towards plus-energy building. W-ZEB includes three approaches: (1) generating additional energy through WtE, (2) enhancing building energy efficiency by utilizing advanced building materials recovered from waste, and (3) maintaining all elements and assets of W-ZEB using earnings obtained or saved from waste upcycling and management. To implement W-ZEB effectively, a building energy and waste management system (BEWMS) is suggested to coordinate and optimize energy demand, waste generation, and utilization, contributing to a net zero energy status and zero solid waste to landfills throughout building life cycle. Practical insights and research directions for unlocking the untapped potential of waste upcycling strategies to achieve zero-energy buildings are also provided.
... Waste-to-energy technology can recover energy from waste through biological treatment or direct incineration (Fujii et al., 2019). GHG emissions caused by unreasonable waste disposal and fossil fuel combustion can be avoided through waste-to-energy processes (Weidner and Yang, 2020). ...
The circular economy and low-carbon economy are closely interconnected as pillars of global sustainable development. However, no consensus exists on how to maximize the carbon reduction benefits of circular practices. This paper illustrates the nexus and identifies synergy paths between low-carbon actions and circular practices via a systematic and critical review. Results show that the mutual promotion relationship is the most studied in the existing literature (63.48%), followed by the parallel status (38.20%) and the trade-offs (3.37%). To enhance synergy mechanisms such as urban-industrial symbiosis and critical raw material cycles, challenges related to cost/risk reduction, urban/industrial planning and inter-system barriers should be addressed. Potential trade-offs arise mainly from carbon-intensive electricity, circular economy rebound and raw material scarcity, requiring a comprehensive consideration of the territorial energy supply structure and circular economy chains. Fiscal and informational interventions from the government, and the technological and business innovations they foster, are the shared drivers. Low-carbon actions and circular practices work together to serve the sustainable development of entities under various scales and dimensions. Three principles are proposed for decision-makers to maximize synergies and minimize trade-offs: (1) prioritize non-end-of-life strategies to meet the surging demand for critical raw materials in the short term, (2) adjust the mix of circular practices following the pace of low-carbon energy transition, and (3) implement more bio-projects that contribute to a win-win situation for the transition to renewable energy and integrated bio-waste management. Briefly, circular practices reduce carbon emissions more effectively when tailored to local and immediate conditions. Future research should focus more on the time-varying features of different circular practices, factors behind household and individual behaviors, and social sustainability.
... Energy recovery efforts from waste treatment plants in Japan have focused on electricity generation using hot water. According to Fujii et al. (2019), steam supply from the waste treatment plants to neighboring industries may be more efficient in terms of energy and economic benefits than electricity generation. Conversely, according to Ohnishi (2019), the heat supply business involves numerous stakeholders and complex decisionmaking processes, and the utility of heat supply outside the waste treatment plant is generally unknown for waste management administrators and industry stakeholders. ...
Global warming mitigation requires worldwide action in a wide range of fields, including waste treatment and management. In Japan, demands to transform waste into energy as a greenhouse gas emissions reduction strategy are increasing. The use of steam generated from waste treatment plants as a source of energy in industries is a promising energy recovery method. In recent years, the feasibility and economic potential of conversion of waste into energy have been evaluated; however, economic efficiency is not always achieved. Therefore, it is necessary to classify steam supply targets based on profitability. Herein, we selected appropriate industries from different types and scales of industries for steam supply based on analyses carried out in Aichi Prefecture. Therefore, industries were classified based on their production shipment value. We also calculated the maximum profit potential from steam supply from waste treatment plants and the steam demand potential of each mesh. We applied data envelopment analysis (DEA) to evaluate energy efficiency and regression analysis to evaluate the potential effects on growth. The appropriate industry was estimated through decision tree analysis based on DEA scores for the mixed industries cluster. We extracted four appropriate industries: pulp, textiles, ceramics, and steel. For each industry, we calculated the number of firms required in the mesh for economic benefit. We also selected industries that could be used to explore the potential of adopting the developed methodology for other regions and industries and for identification of waste treatment plants that could participate in steam supply.
... Yazdani et al. (2020) performed an energy analysis to compare two real power plants: a conventional natural gas steam power plant and a plant that used MSW incineration for power generation. However, for manufacturing plants, Fujii et al. (2019) proposed and verified a more effective than used MSW incineration for power generation method, which involves transporting steam to a nearby factory and substituting it for the steam produced by the onsite boilers. In this case, energy saving is doubled compared with the case in which steam is directly used for power generation. ...
To reduce fossil–fuel consumption and improve the efficiency of renewable energy usage in the manufacturing industry, several studies have investigated the environmental and economic impacts of integrated energy systems under various optimization scenarios. To analyze the cost–effectiveness of heat supply scenarios for a typical manufacturing industry using the photovoltaic (PV) technology and municipal solid waste incineration, herein, a metal–assembly paint factory was selected as the research target. The CO2 emission and energy–consumption cost of a paint factory in 24 h are estimated as 31,229 kg and 12,314 CNY, respectively. Solar–to–Energy (StE(a–d)) and Waste–to–Energy (WtE) correspond to the nonenergy–storage, heat–storage, PV power–storage, PV technology's green power–procurement, and waste–incineration district heating scenarios, respectively. The results show that (1) (1) under the nonenergy storage (StE(a)) scenario, the emissions of the paint factory can be reduced by 288 kg/24 h; however, the operation cost is increased by 1142 CNY/24 h. (2) StE(b) has a better economic performance (cost reduction by 2472 CNY/24 h) than StE(c) (cost increased by 1546 CNY/24 h). Additionally, the reduction in the CO2 emissions in StE(b) (12,057 kg/24 h) is considerably higher than that of StE(c) (7644 kg/24 h). (3) In the case of sufficient energy supply, StE(d) (24,361 kg/24 h) reduces CO2 emissions more effectively, followed by WtE (CO2–emission reduction = 17,994 kg/24 h), than the other scenarios (for a paint factory). However, from the perspective of cost reduction, WtE showed to have a more outstanding performance (cost reduction 1428 CNY/24 h).
... Integrating MSW-fed incinerators with conventional fossil-fueled power plants can also be another efficient approach to harness energy from the waste while lowering CO 2 emission [155]. Chen et al. [134] used the thermal energy of an MSW-fed incinerator to heat the feedwater and the turbine-extracted steam of a coal-fueled steam power plant. ...
The growing volume of municipal solid waste (MSW) generated worldwide often undergoes open dumping, landfilling, or uncontrolled burning, releasing massive pollutants and pathogens into the soil, water, and air. On the other hand, MSW can be used as a valuable feedstock in biological and thermochemical conversion processes to produce bioenergy carriers, biofuels, and biochemicals in line with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Valorizing MSW using advanced technologies is highly energy-intensive and chemical-consuming. Therefore, robust and holistic sustainability assessment tools should be considered in the design, construction, and operation phases of MSW treatment technologies. Exergy-based methods are promising tools for achieving SDGs due to their capability to locate, quantify, and comprehend the thermodynamic inefficiencies, cost losses, and environmental impacts of waste treatment systems. Therefore, the present review paper aims to comprehensively summarize and critically discuss the use of exergetic indicators for the sustainability assessment of MSW treatment systems. Generally, consolidating thermochemical processes (mainly incineration and gasification) with material recycling methods (plastic waste recovery), heat and power plants (steam turbine cycle and organic Rankine cycle), modern power technologies (fuel cells), and carbon capture and sequestration processes could improve the exergetic performance of MSW treatment systems. Typically, the overall exergy efficiency values of integrated MSW treatment systems based on the incineration and gasification processes were found to be in the ranges of 17–40% and 22–56%, respectively. The syngas production through the plasma gasification process could be a highly favorable waste disposal technique due to its low residues and rapid conversion rate; however, it suffers from relatively low exergy efficiency resulting from its high torch power consumption. The overall exergy efficiency values of integrated anaerobic digestion-based MSW processing systems (34–73%) were generally higher than those based on the thermochemical processes. Exergy destruction and exergy efficiency were the most popular exergetic indicators used for decision-making in most published works. However, exergoeconomic and exergoenvironmental indices have rarely been used in the published literature to make decisions on the sustainability of waste treatment pathways. Future studies need to focus on developing and realizing integrated waste biorefinery systems using advanced exergy, exergoeconomic, and exergoenvironmental methods.
... In the presented conguration, the thermal e ciency of the steam recovery unit was 95% and the Waste Incineration Unit (WIU) contributed the most in the exergy destruction term. Fuji et al. [19] optimized the rate of waste utilization to enhance the exergy e ciency of the WTE cycle. The results of the comparison made between MSW and NG (Natural Gas) indicated that using waste in appropriate places would increase the impacts of CO 2 emission by more than two times. ...
The present study brings together the bene ts of the results of exergy, exergoeconomic, and exergoenvironmental analyses as well as optimization of a waste-to-energy power plant. First, exergoeconomic balance for each stream was calculated. To validate the current simulations, the actual data from the Amsterdam waste-to-energy power plant in working conditions were examined. Moreover, the behaviors of the in uential parameters in the objective functions were evaluated. In order to perform multi-objective optimization, Multi-Objective Particle-Swarm Optimization (MOPSO) algorithm was employed. To obtain the optimum operating conditions, 14 design parameters and 3 objective functions were taken into consideration, with the total cost rate, total exergy e ciency of the cycle, and environmental impacts as the objective functions. Finally, the TOPSIS decision-making method determined the optimum-operating conditions. The results of exergy analysis indicated that the most exergy destruction belonged to the incinerator unit at 66%. Instead, the pumps contributed the least in this eld (approximately 1%). Under the in uence of the optimization process, the total exergy e ciency of the power plant increased from 30.89% to 38.9% at the total cost of 5188.05 USD/hour. A comparison of the obtained results from the optimization procedure revealed that introducing optimum working condition would cause an increase in the exergy e ciency and a decrease in the exergy destruction among the components.
... Waste-to-energy (WTE) processes recover the energy from the waste, that have been widely used in the MSW treatment. Therefore, the improvement of energy recovery efficiency from MSW has taken on great importance [27,28]. In addition, more and more researchers began to discuss the combination of system and integration with other industrial processes [29]. ...
Low carbon city development and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission mitigation in urban communities are urgent. There is great potential to improve the GHG inventory at the community level. Meanwhile, building zero-waste cities and improving waste treatment efficiency have been significant environmental issues due to the rapid increase of waste generation. This research aims to develop a community-scale GHG emission inventory of the waste sector and improve its accuracy and consistency through applying the bottom-up approach. This study covers both direct and indirect emissions categories of the waste sector with the goal of building a zero-waste community. Honjo Waseda community, located in Japan, was used as a case study community. Energy consumption waste treatment sectors were evaluated and calculated through first-hand field data. GHG emission estimation of the waste sector included waste incineration, residential wastewater, and waste transport. The highest emissions originated from Beisiagate supermarket due to the large waste amount produced, and the CO2-biomass carbon emissions reached approximately 50% of the total emissions. Furthermore, a quantitative analysis of the implementation of new technologies was also conducted. This study created proposals for GHG emission reduction toward a zero-waste community through the comparison of three cases. Case 1 was business as usual; Case 2 proposed a combination of incineration bio-gasification (MBT); Case 3 introduced a combination of solid recovered fuel (SRF) and a bio-gasification system. SRF contributed the most to emission reduction, and Case 3 exhibited the highest energy recovery. Furthermore, comparing the GHG emissions produced by the use of SRF for power generation and heat supply revealed that using SRF as a heat supply reduced more GHG emissions than using SRF for power generation.
... In addition, incentive regulation should make WTE economically more convenient [33,34]. We also advise national coordination between the local and central levels of government to determine the waste treatment capacity of unsorted waste in the various areas of individual countries [35]. ...
In light of the organizational dynamics of services of economic interest, the regulation of municipal solid waste management is a critical issue to deal with so as to achieve sustainability goals in the coming decades. The European circular economy targets limit the share of municipal waste in landfills to a maximum of 10% by 2035. Consequently, waste-to-energy plants may temporarily become the primary option for residual unsorted waste. The municipal waste management chain comprises two consequential stages: collection and transport, and the treatment and disposal stage, which characterizes as an oligopolistic market structure. After defining the relevant market and calculating market concentration measures, we analyze market power in the treatment and disposal of non-recyclable mixed waste, also known as residual waste. Our analyses are based on empirical data using well-known market concentration indices such as the Herfindahl–Hirschman index and concentration ratios. We report the results of three different market concentration scenarios based on alternative geographic and product market definitions. Considering only waste-to-energy as a product market, we present a situation of moderate concentration, typically involving the attention of competition authorities. On the contrary, considering both options as a single product market, no relevant evidence emerges due to the significant share of waste sent to landfills in 2019, i.e., 20.1% of the total municipal solid waste generated in Italy. Implications for future studies consist of new detailed information on the municipal waste treatment market structure in one of the leading European countries that may prompt comparative studies. Policy implications are derived from the possibility of taking cues from this paper to envisage appropriate regulatory models for an evolving sector in which market spaces are increasing.
... For instance, Brunner and Rechberger et al. (2015) evaluated a business model that considered a supply chain industrial symbiosis and integration with renewable energy such as biomass. Fujii et al. (2019) proposed methods to improve the efficiency of waste-to-energy methods by combining with existing energy generation methods based on exergy efficiency. They compared heat supply profitability to gas and coal use in industries with cogeneration and power generation to estimate the economic and environmental benefits of the heat supply methods based on life cycle assessment. ...
Waste-to-energy treatment is an efficient energy recovery method and an important countermeasure against global warming. The supply of steam from waste treatment plants to industrial sectors presents a higher energy recovery efficiency than traditional waste-to-energy methods. However, its technical potential and economic benefits are not fully understood by policymakers. Furthermore, the regional characteristics and effects of neighboring land use, which affect the heat supply and demand, are not commonly analyzed. Therefore, this study evaluates the spatial steam demand of industries in the Aichi Prefecture by using the steam demand unit value per production shipment and the spatial value of manufactured goods shipments. In addition, this study evaluates the steam supply potential from waste treatment plants to industrial sectors based on the estimated spatial steam demand and the transportable distances. The results show that the steam supply from waste treatment plants to the industries has a great physical potential in Aichi Prefecture. From a cost–benefit perspective, plans considering a 1 km range can be profitable, but the profitability decreases as the distance increases and the no-profitability mesh number increases. To improve the energy recovery efficiency from waste, the location of waste treatment plant should be changed, and the efficiency of steam transport on both supply and demand sides should be increased.
... For example, WtE plants play a prominent role in progressing toward a circular economy, as they prevent landfill and generate energy. A recent study has emphasized that by upgrading WtE processes and resource, LCA would help in selecting a cost-effective option to improve exergy efficiency (Fujii et al., 2019). Previous studies have discussed the advantages and disadvantages of this treatment technology from an economic perspective, confirming the importance of thermal treatments in an integrated waste management cycle. ...
Waste management capacity plays a prominent role in complying with circular economy goals, such as reducing municipal waste disposal by landfilling to 10%. We first analyze the imbalance in municipal solid waste management across Italy by estimating the quantities of waste to be treated using technologies different from those currently in use. Subsequently, we estimate the impact that a system compliant with circular economy goals would have on the cost of waste management. Our empirical analyses are based on an econometric method. The results suggest that Italy could reduce the use of landfill by 11.5%, resulting in a 13% reduction in mechanical-biological treatment. The waste-to-energy capacity would rise by 4.6% compared to the current situation, while the organic fraction treatment capacity would increase by 8.3%. Besides the positive impact on the environment, the potential annual savings on the cost of waste management could reach 0.07%, or 0.27% when the phase corresponding to treatment and disposal is considered. We provide insights into the design of more efficient national waste management plans using a novel approach based on best performers.
... Fujii et al. [126] conducted an LCA proposing the use of waste in energy production methods including upgrading of WtE to improve exergy efficiency as well having the potential to increase CO 2 emission reduction from 0.28 kg-CO 2 /kg waste to 0.67 kg-CO 2 /kg. They also discuss the formation of a hybrid industry to diversify current fossil fuel resources with recycle and renewables to lower carbon emissions. ...
Hydrogen sourced from energy recovery processes and conversion of waste materials is a method of providing both a clean fuel and a sustainable waste management alternative to landfill and incineration. The question is whether waste-to-hydrogen can become part of the zero-carbon future energy mix and serve as one of the cleaner hydrogen sources which is economically viable and environmentally friendly. This work critically assessed the potential of waste as a source of hydrogen production via various thermochemical (gasification and pyrolysis) and biochemical (fermentation and photolysis) processes. Research has shown hydrogen production yields of 33.6 mol/kg and hydrogen concentrations of 82% from mixed waste feedstock gasification. Biochemical methods such as fermentation can produce hydrogen up to 418.6 mL/g. Factors including feedstock quality, process requirements and technology availability were reviewed to guide technology selection and system design. Current technology status and bottlenecks were discussed to shape future development priorities. These bottlenecks include expensive production and operation processes, heterogeneous feedstock, low process efficiencies, inadequate management and logistics, and lack of policy support. Improvements to hydrogen yields and production rates are related to feedstock processing and advanced energy efficiency processes such as torrefaction of feedstock which has shown thermal efficiency of gasification up to 4 MJ/kg. This will affect the economic feasibility and concerns around required improvements to bring the costs down to allow waste to viewed as a serious competitor for hydrogen production. Recommendations were also made for financially competitive waste-to-hydrogen development to be part of a combined solution for future energy needs.
... For example, municipal general waste with low heat value cannot generate electric power in high efficiency, but if mixed with fossil fuels, the average quality will be adjusted to exactly fit the requirement of high-efficiency power generation. Furthermore much lowerquality heat, such as solar heat, underground heat, and river heat, is also able to be upgraded for industrial and civil heat use, or directly used for district heating if heat exchange efficiency is high enough in user side [20]. ...
District heating is thought as an important part of future energy system because of the easier accessibility to renewables and waste heat sources. Despite facing the problems such as rapid efficiency improvement in individual heating and energy-saving activities, the overall energy efficiency of district heating is higher than individual heating. With a comprehensive review on the recent development of district heating systems, this chapter introduces the key technologies, system design and integrated urban planning toward a future district heating system, particularly emphasizes the measures for multi-scale demand-side management to enhance the performance of district heating system. In addition, the authors’ practice of district-heating-oriented integrated urban planning in Japan are also introduced as the reference for transiting towards renewable-energy-driven district heating.
... The increasing awareness of global climate change and the instability of fossil fuel reliability have encouraged ongoing research efforts to develop renewable sources of clean energy. Ideally, sustainable development of the social system should impose minimum impact on the environment, in which all waste could be recycled (Fujii et al., 2019). According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), waste-to-energy (WTE) with the benefits of energy recovery alleviated energy crisis and environmental pollution, and has been considered one of the cleanest route of energy production (Barbarias et al., 2018). ...
Energy and exergy analysis is a practical thermodynamic method to assess the potentiality of waste-to-energy technologies. In this study, plastic wastes were pyrolyzed in a rotary kiln to recover energy products including gas, oil and char. The effects of heat carrier loading in the kiln and plastic waste types on the pyrolysis process, including carbon distribution, properties of liquid oil/gas, energy and exergy of products, were investigated. Heat carrier loading could enhance the energy and exergy efficiency of the pyrolysis process. The exergy and energy efficiencies of the plastic mixture pyrolysis are in the range of 60.9%-67.3% and 59.4-66.0%, respectively. The energy consumption ratio of polyethylene pyrolysis with 15% heat carrier loading and plastic mixture pyrolysis with 20% heat carrier loading showed that the pyrolysis could achieve self-heating by combusting some recycled gas and char products. This work provided an reliable assessment of potentiality of pyrolysis with heat carrier for converting plastic wastes into fuels.
... In addition, if the steam can be transported to and utilised at a nearby factory, energy savings will double in comparison to cases in which steam is used for power generation (Fujii et al., 2019). Steam sent from incinerators to nearby factories is an approach that has already been taken in such locations as Ulsan Industrial Park in South Korea. ...
According to the World Bank (2018), global annual waste generation is expected to jump from 2.01billion tonnes in 2016 to 3.40 billion tonnes over the next 30 years, and this trend is especially true in developing countries in Asia and Africa. This suggests that there has been very little success in reversing the trend of the increased generation of MSW, meaning that the world has continued on its course to becoming one “throwaway society”.
As one of the best options for waste volume reduction and energy recovery, this guideline focuses on waste-to-energy (WtE) incineration technology for municipal solid waste (MSW), mainly household waste and commercial waste, in urban areas of Asian developing countries. The guideline aims to assist decisionmakers and policymakers at the national and city levels, residents and other stakeholders who are in search of additional knowledge and information that will help them to form a clear picture of what WtE incineration entails. The guideline provides a holistic understanding about WtE incineration technology, and proposes key evaluation criteria and a pre-check flow in the MSW decision-making process.
see;) https://www.ccet.jp/node/119
... However, to promote UIS implementation requires scientific support from the planning stage, and work on feasibility analysis and the effect of geographical conditions on the application of UIS has been fairly limited (Dou et al., 2018). Although there are some studies have discussed the cost-effectiveness of waste incineration from power generation to steam generation (Kim et al., 2018), while this is the case in an existed incinerator, not from the initial waste incinerator construction phase (Fujii et al., 2019). In order to fill these research gaps, this study proposed a UIS network with efficient MSW treatment and further evaluated the feasibility of the UIS system application from a costbenefit perspective as well as a steam transportation perspective. ...
... It is therefore the responsibility of developing countries to embrace new and innovative approaches to leverage existing experiences and place them within comprehensive policy frameworks for supporting the development plans, polices and action programmes across multiple sectors and levels (UNDP, 2011). However, policy makers in these countries find it extremely difficult to transit to a low-carbon economy owing to the lack of understanding of consumer behaviour and many other factors such as deficient infrastructure and technology, rapid population and economic growth rates and poverty reduction programmes leading to sharp increases in the demand for electricity and modern fuels (Colenbrander et al., 2015;Mulugetta and Urban, 2010;Fujii et al., 2019). This is particularly so in climate-vulnerable developing island nations such as Sri Lanka, which is rated as the top second in the Climate Risk Index (CRI) listing for 2019 (Eckstein et al., 2018). ...
A low-carbon economy requires low-carbon consumption by the public. Despite the importance of consumers in low-carbon economies, so far, most studies have ignored low-carbon consumer behaviour in developing countries that are vulnerable to climate change and its consequences. This indicates inattention to the socio-economic aspects of the general life style of the people in promoting sustainable consumption and accountability. This study examines the determinants of low-carbon consumption behaviour of consumers in climate-vulnerable developing countries by focusing on consumers in Sri Lanka. Combining the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and the Theory of Perceived Marketplace Influence (TPMI), the data collected from 440 Sri Lankan consumers was analysed using a structural equation model. The findings revealed the antecedent variables of TPB (i.e., attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control) and the additional variables (i.e. low-carbon-self-identity and implementation intention) that fully explains the carbon-conscious decision-making phenomenon in a developing country setting. The results confirm the appropriateness of the proposed model for predicting low-carbon consumer behaviour in climate-vulnerable developing countries such as Sri Lanka as it increases the predictive power of the TPB framework. Accordingly, policy level implications and strategies for promoting individual low-carbon consumption behaviour are proposed.
... 30 However, to promote UIS implementation requires scientific support from the planning stage, and work on feasibility analysis and the effect of 31 geographical conditions on the application of UIS has been fairly limited ( Dou et al., 2018 ). Although there are some studies have discussed the 32 cost-effectiveness of waste incineration from power generation to steam generation ( Kim et al., 2018 ), while this is the case in an existed incinerator, 33 not from the initial waste incinerator construction phase ( Fujii et al., 2019 ). In order to fill these research gaps, this study proposed a UIS network 34 with efficient MSW treatment and further evaluated the feasibility of the UIS system application from a cost-benefit perspective as well as a steam 35 transportation perspective. ...
It is important to promote energy saving and resource conservation in cities to promote sustainable development. Urban-industrial symbiosis (UIS) strategy is one of the effective ways to reduce resource consumption and carbon emission in the city. However, rather few studies focusing on both the cost benefit of waste treatment optimization and the heat loss of the energy network optimization in the UIS system. In this study, a typical industrial city Shenyang was selected, and the proposed UIS system included an optimized waste treatment system and industrial system. The results indicate that (1) Steam transportation limited the energy saving effects of the UIS system and economic factor played a key role in the waste treatment method transition. The investment payback time of change the MSW treatment method from landfill to waste power generation and to steam generation was 7.7 years and 11.1 years, respectively. (2) Through UIS implementation, Shenyang city could recover 8.05 × 10⁶ GJ of energy from UIS system and reduce the carbon emission by 1.3%. This study provides quantitative analysis to understand the energy savings and emissions reduction potential of UIS practices, and critical insights into the feasibility of its application in the cities of developing countries.
An inclusive city provides new perspectives for the transition to urban sustainability, with an emphasis on the adaptation of an equilibrium of economic efficiency, environmental responsibility, and social justice. This paper investigates how the circular economy strategy can be better applied in cities on the basis of the perspectives of waste landscape and inclusive community management (relevant facilities and infrastructures), in order to support a more inclusive urban waste management. We begin by conceptualizing the urban system into three boundaries, (1) general geography (GG) representing the overall urban planning scope, such as land use, infrastructure planning, and facility location; (2) physical geography (PG) representing the urban metabolism in terms of material and energy flows; and (3) human geography (HG) representing the socioeconomic activities and agents that acted as the metabolism agents. We further developed a location-based inventory for waste generation based on the statistical data on population, economic outputs, and waste generation by categories, as well as geospatial data including population distribution, land use, housing shapes, and nightlight data. Based on the waste landscape analysis, further inclusive waste management and policy implications are discussed and proposed.
The purposes of this article are to report on efforts toward decarbonization of domestic and foreign industries in industrial parks, and to share with readers an image of future implementation in Japan. Through a demonstration project, the author divided the application method of the incineration heat industrial use in the case of cooperation with the material industry and with the local manufacturing industry in the regional circulation symbiotic sphere models with incinerators as the core. In the materials industry collaboration model, incinerators are expected to become carbon recycling plants in the future. Overseas, there are multiple examples of industrial use of incineration heat in collaboration with materials industries, and so this article introduces some of them. We also presented the results of a survey on wide-area transportation, which is an important perspective for implementation. In addition, I introduced the efforts of the “Transitioning Industrial Clusters initiative” led by the World Economic Forum. Industrial clusters are considering green hydrogen, H/CO2 pipelines, renewable energy, incineration heat supply to industry, chemical recycling, electrification, and joint wastewater treatment as decarbonization measures. To make this a reality, it is necessary to improve partnerships, policies, technology, and finance. In Japan, it was considered that promoting carbon neutrality in industrial parks are necessary with refer to these overseas trends by building collaborations within the country.
In this study, feedstock and energy recovery potential from fluid fraction of catalytic pyrolysis of poly(ethylene terephthalate) plastic waste in the presence of marble processing effluent physico-chemical sludge catalyst were investigated. The contribution of the study is both symbiotic disposal of two kinds of wastes and produced valuable products. The pyrolysis fluid products obtained at 300–700 °C and 10–50% catalyst dose were inquired via chemical, thermogravimetric and chromatographic means. Main recoverable compounds were in the benzene group, followed by the esters, alcohols and ketones. The variety of organic components in pyrolytic gas was detected in aliphatic compounds (alkanes and alkenes) followed by the oxygenated organics and aromatic compounds. Benzoic acid, Methanone diphenyl(benzophenone), 1,1biphenyl, 9H Fluorene, Octane, Methyl benzene, some Benzene and Heptene derivatives were the components that are easily recoverable from the pyrolytic fluids. All these recoverable components are economically important feedstocks utilized in industrial processes. Optimization of recovery and enrichment methods of these compounds is recommended for further study. More thermally stable products formed and the higher final thermal residue of pyrolytic oil and oligomer products were obtained at higher pyrolysis temperatures. Their T5, T10 and T50 values varied between 36–44, 44–54, and 72–84 °C, respectively, while they were 131–154, 141–160 and 217–313 °C for oligomers. Calorific values of the produced oligomers were in the range of 5541–6984 cal/g. This study indicated that the thermochemical degradation of poly(ethylene terephthalate) with marble sludge catalyst is important approach for material and energy recovery in terms of fluid products of the process.
The field of waste and resource recycling still requires a deeper focus on certain aspects, including further promotion of the 3Rs, improvement of resource efficiency, response to the labor shortage, ensuring of occupational safety, and improvement of the working environment for that purpose. This paper introduces the study project being carried out by the Environmental Restoration and Conservation Agency Environmental Research Comprehensive Promotion Fund (3-1905). This research aims to examine the potential of introducing ICT/AI that can be applied for optimal management of the reverse supply chain and clarify its effect.
Four sub-themes have been set and are being carried out as follows:
1) Promotion of resource circulation efficiency and appropriate disposal through realization of ICT/AI-based interaction between discharging and disposing dealers.
2) Optimization of matching between supply and demand in expectation of upgrading waste to energy through usage of energy in industries.
3) Upgrading of maintenance and management of facilities based on utilization of ICT/AI to thermal recovery processing of industrial waste.
4) Upgrading of safety management and productivity and the promotion of appropriate disposal by applying ICT technologies at industrial waste disposal businesses.
Under the trend of decarbonization, the formation of local CES with steam Eco Industrial Park (EIP) projects between multiple industries has become a critical issue. In this paper, based on industrial symbiosis research and the intensive survey with expert interviews, the barriers to the establishment of the steam EIP projects, the motives for breaking through and the mitigation measures was revealed and discussed in each phases Phase 1: the identification of the potential, and Phase 2: the simple feasibility study, Phase 3: detailed feasibility study and business model, and Phase 4: regional expansion and horizontal development. In conclusion, we confirmed the effectiveness of systematically and structurally analysis of the formation and dissemination process of the steam EIP project and mitigation measures.
In this digital era, the City Government Bandung has 394 Smart City applications built since 2014. All
the applications were built with the aim to facilitate the work of all Regional Apparatus Organization as
well as facilitate public services. All applications were developed by a team from the Office of
Communications and Informatics of Bandung city in cooperation with programmers and
communication experts from universities and professionals. The built application is intended to
facilitate services to the public. Logically this is important considering that many people in Bandung
City who have a smartphone wherein the play store there are 1000 applications, while we only install
as many as 394 Smart City apps mean still many that have not been utilized. Of the many
applications built by Bandung City Government, some applications are replicated by dozens of
municipal district governments throughout Indonesia. One application that is replicated is
Performance Accountability System Government Agencies (PASGA) used by the City Government of
Tangerang and the Paya Kumbuh Government. So far, local governments that have signed a
Cooperation Agreement (CA) with the office of Communication and Information district like Bandung,
there are 34 districts/cities throughout Indonesia. This paper aims to find out about a number of
descriptions of Bansund as a smart city, including: (1) How the position of communication strategy in
a smart city; (2) How far the opinion of Bandung City society about Smart City policy as New
Paradigm in Developing Country based on six indicators; (3) What is Smart City City Manager
Bandung's opinion about the demands of completion of Government tasks in Indonesia; and (4) How
far is the opinion of Bandung City society about Smart City Mobile Utilization in Indonesian Building as
Smart Country.
In the past, attention has been created to use solar energy due to increased environmental pollution. Solar energy utilization through photovoltaic (PV) and thermal technologies is required to replace the conventional use of fossil fuels across the globe. Different types of solar PV (SPV) technologies utilizing the photons as input are driving the life of people. On the other hand, utilizing the solar heat for various applications is categorized as the solar thermal application which includes desalination, heating, cooling, cooking and power generation. Hence the objective of this work is to discuss the fundamentals, recent advancements and applications of different solar utilization technologies. The chapter is categorized into two major sections namely solar PV techniques and solar thermal techniques. In the first section SPV techniques, the principle, operation and recent advancements in the SPV system have been covered. In the second section solar thermal techniques, the principle, construction, working mechanism and current state of the art in recent research on solar collectors, solar cooling techniques, solar pond, solar cooking techniques and solar desalination have been addressed.
Although renewable energy resources are more commonly used in the near future, there arises a requirement of integrating alternative storage options. Storing energy in terms of chemicals presents a promising approach for several reasons such as transportability, minimal losses and storage practices. In this aspect, hydrogen and ammonia are two of the carbon-free energy carriers, which can be used for energy storage purposes. Currently, hydrogen, and ammonia are dominantly produced by steam reforming of natural gas in the world. Hydrogen can also be produced through electrolysis or electrochemical processes. The Haber–Bosch process is the most common method to produce ammonia, whereas there are recently new alternatives to reduce the required temperature and pressure of the reaction through electrochemical cells. Ammonia as a sustainable fuel can be used in several kinds of combustion engines, gas turbines, burners with only small modifications and directly in fuel cells which is a very significant advantage compared to other types of fuels. In this work emerging hydrogen and ammonia production pathways, namely electrolysis and photoelectrochemical routes, are assessed in terms of sustainability by considering their (1) efficiencies, (2) environmental impact and (3) cost. Electrolysis is performed using either hydropower or wind power routes, whereas solar energy is used for photoelectrochemical hydrogen and ammonia production. In addition, the obtained results are compared with the conventional steam methane reforming method to signify the importance of emerging options.
As a means of converting waste to energy, improvement of energy recovery efficiency from municipal solid waste (MSW) has taken on great importance and necessity. Previous studies have focused on the waste-to-energy potential from the viewpoints of technology, such as waste power generation (WPG); however, there is large room for improvement in WPG efficiency. Moreover, with reduction in population in some developed countries, the potential for further improvement of energy recovery from waste needs to be investigated, considering both geographical characteristics and future trends. To fill this research gap, this study proposes four efficient MSW management options through integrating MSW management and an urban symbiosis network. The Tokyo Metropolis, Japan, was selected as a case study, and the costs and benefits, effects of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction, and energy recovery efficiency of each option were quantitatively analyzed. The results showed that Option 4 (urban symbiosis without source separation) has the highest energy recovery efficiency (65.95%), followed by Option 3 (urban symbiosis with source separation) and Option 2 (MSW centralized treatment) in 2030. Compared with Option 1 (business as usual), Option 3 will slightly increase the total cost, while Option 4 is the most profitable option, and the benefit will rise to 1.81 × 10¹⁰ JPY in 2030. Reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030 will be greatest with Option 3, which will eliminate 9.44 × 10⁵ tonnes of CO2e emissions. Also by 2030, Option 4 and Option 2 will reduce the CO2e emissions by 6.58 × 10⁵ tonnes and 2.27 × 10⁵ tonnes, respectively. To promote the transition to a low carbon city, Tokyo must improve the energy recovery efficiency of MSW and use more renewable and recycled energy resources to substitute for fossil fuels. This study provides a practical guide for establishing a more efficient MSW management system toward the goal of a low carbon society.
This paper proposes an overarching review of national municipal waste management systems and waste-to-energy as an important part of it in the context of circular economy in the selected countries in Europe. The growth of population and rising standards of living means that the consumption of goods and energy is increasing. On the one hand, consumption leads to an increase in the generation of waste. On the other hand, the correlation between increased wealth and increased energy consumption is very strong as well. Given that the average heating value of municipal solid waste (MSW) is approximately 10 MJ/kg, it seems logical to use waste as a source of energy. Traditionally, waste-to-energy (WtE) has been associated with incineration. Yet, the term is much broader, embracing various waste treatment processes generating energy (for instance, in the form of electricity and/or heat or producing a waste-derived fuel). Turning waste into energy can be one key to a circular economy enabling the value of products, materials, and resources to be maintained on the market for as long as possible, minimising waste and resource use. As the circular economy is at the top of the EU agenda, all Member States of the EU (including the EEA countries) should move away from the old-fashioned disposal of waste to a more intelligent waste treatment encompassing the circular economy approach in their waste policies. Therefore, the article examines how these EU policies are implemented in practice. Given that WtE traditionally is attached to the MSW management and organisation, the focus of this article is twofold. Firstly, it aims to identify the different practices of municipal waste management employed in selected countries and their approaches in embracing the circular economy and, secondly, the extent to which WtE technologies play any role in this context. The following countries, Estonia, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Slovenia, Spain, and the UK were chosen to depict a broad European context.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development—including 17 interconnected Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets—is a global plan of action for people, planet and prosperity. SDG7 calls for action to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all. Here we characterize synergies and trade-offs between efforts to achieve SDG7 and delivery of the 2030 Agenda as a whole. We identify 113 targets requiring actions to change energy systems, and published evidence of relationships between 143 targets (143 synergies, 65 trade-offs) and efforts to achieve SDG7. Synergies and trade-offs exist in three key domains, where decisions about SDG7 affect humanity’s ability to: realize aspirations of greater welfare and well-being; build physical and social infrastructures for sustainable development; and achieve sustainable management of the natural environment. There is an urgent need to better organize, connect and extend this evidence, to help all actors work together to achieve sustainable development.
In China, incineration is essential for reducing the volume of municipal solid waste arising in its numerous megacities. The evolution of incinerator capacity has been huge, yet it creates strong opposition from a small, but vocal part of the population. The characteristics of Chinese municipal solid waste are analysed and data presented on its calorific value and composition. These are not so favourable for incineration, since the sustained use of auxiliary fuel is necessary for ensuring adequate combustion temperatures. Also, the emission standard for acid gases is more lenient in China than in the European Union, so special attention should be paid to the issue of acidification arising from flue gas. Next, the techniques used in flue gas cleaning in China are reviewed and the acidification potential by cleaned flue gas is estimated. Still, acidification induced by municipal solid waste incinerators remains marginal compared with the effects of coal-fired power plants.
Waste refineries focusing on multiple outputs of material resources, energy carriers, and nutrients may potentially provide more sustainable utilization of waste resources than traditional waste technologies. This consequential life cycle assessment (LCA) evaluated the environmental performance of a Danish waste refinery solution against state-of-the-art waste technology alternatives (incineration, mechanical-biological treatment (MBT), and landfilling). In total 252 scenarios were evaluated, including effects from source-segregation, waste composition, and energy conversion pathway efficiencies. Overall, the waste refinery provided global warming (GW) savings comparable with efficient incineration, MBT, and bioreactor landfilling technologies. The main environmental benefits from waste refining were a potential for improved phosphorous recovery (about 85%) and increased electricity production (by 15-40% compared with incineration); albeit at the potential expense of additional toxic emissions to soil. Society's need for the outputs from waste, i.e. energy products (electricity vs. transport fuels) and resources (e.g., phosphorous), and the available waste composition were found decisive for the selection of future technologies. Based on the results, it is recommended that a narrow focus on GW aspects should be avoided as most waste technologies may allow comparable performance. Rather, other environmental aspects such as resource recovery and toxic emissions should receive attention in the future.
Waste-to-Energy (WtE) has gradually constituted one of the most important options to achieve energy recovery from municipal solid waste (MSW). However, the environmental sustainability of a specific WtE system varies with used technologies and geographic differences. As a result, three representative WtE systems are compared using life cycle assessment (LCA): a gasification-based WtE plant in Finland, mechanical-grate incineration in France, and circulating fluidized bed incineration in China. Results show that the overall environmental performance of the gasification system is better than incineration. The use of gasification technology, attributed to an intermediate syngas purification step, can provide benefits of both reducing the stack emissions and increasing the energy efficiency. Regional waste management, especially related to MSW caloric value and emission regulation, are determining factors for a preferable performance of the incineration in France over that in China. Sensitivity and uncertainty analyses further address key variations such as choice of MSW composition, basis of displaced electricity, energy recovery mode, and application of “best-available technology” dedicated to incineration. It is found that the most sensitive parameters influencing the LCA results are: electricity recovery, CO2 emission, and NOx emission. In the future, use of the source-separated high caloric waste combined with a more stringent emission standard can efficiently improve MSW incineration in China. Bottom ash recycling for metals and materials is highly applicable regarding incineration in France. This presented study can overall contribute to the development of specific WtE technology and local waste management plan for decision-makers.
This article proposes a comprehensive review of evaluation tools based on life cycle thinking, as applied to waste-to-energy. Habitually, life cycle assessment is adopted to assess environmental burdens associated with waste-to-energy initiatives. Based on this framework, several extension methods have been developed to focus on specific aspects: Exergetic life cycle assessment for reducing resource depletion, life cycle costing for evaluating its economic burden, and social life cycle assessment for recording its social impacts. Additionally, the environment–energy–economy model integrates both life cycle assessment and life cycle costing methods and judges simultaneously these three features for sustainable waste-to-energy conversion. Life cycle assessment is sufficiently developed on waste-to-energy with concrete data inventory and sensitivity analysis, although the data and model uncertainty are unavoidable. Compared with life cycle assessment, only a few evaluations are conducted to waste-to-energy techniques by using extension methods and its methodology and application need to be further developed. Finally, this article succinctly summarises some recommendations for further research.
Energy conservation is critical for promoting urban low-carbon and sustainable development. Because a large amount of heat energy is wasted during energy conversion and transportation, the recovery of waste heat and its cascading use would substantially save resources and reduce CO2 emissions. As a typical case of the Tokyo Metropolitan Area, direct extracting steam from incinerators for industrial use is considered more efficient than power generation, but hard to be popularized because of long distance heat transport. On the basis of the heat atlas, this study develops an integrated model to assess the feasibility of developing heat exchange network between incineration facilities and industries in city scale, and evaluates the impacts from land use on economic and environmental indices. The result reveals that maximum 45.2% of the incineration waste heat can be utilized to cover 13.8% of the heat consumption in industries, where annual net benefit and CO2 emission reduction could achieve 63 billion JPY (≈0.6 billion USD) and 2200 kt CO2/year, respectively. However, current geographic separation between incineration facilities and industries brings a dilemma between economic and environmental benefits which will obstruct the popularization of waste heat exchange. Given this result, a cluster map to classify involved incineration facilities is provided which helps in establishing a renewal strategy considering positive land use adjustment. These results are also referable in urban planning integrated with distributed energy system as well as provide a case for promoting Urban Symbiosis.
Approximately one-fourth population across the world rely on traditional fuels (kerosene, natural gas, biomass residue, firewood, coal, animal dung, etc.) for domestic use despite significant socioeconomic and technological development. Fossil fuel reserves are being exploited at a very fast rate to meet the increasing energy demands, so there is a need to find alternative sources of energy before all the fossil fuel reserves are depleted. Waste to energy (WTE) can be considered as a potential alternative source of energy, which is economically viable and environmentally sustainable. The present study reviewed the current global scenario of WTE technological options (incineration, pyrolysis, gasification, anaerobic digestion, and landfilling with gas recovery) for effective energy recovery and the challenges faced by developed and developing countries. This review will provide a framework for evaluating WTE technological options based on case studies of developed and developing countries. Unsanitary landfilling is the most commonly practiced waste disposal option in the developing countries. However, developed countries have realised the potential of WTE technologies for effective municipal solid waste management (MSWM). This review will help the policy makers and the implementing authorities involved in MSWM to understand the current status, challenges and barriers for effective management of municipal solid waste. This review concluded WTE as a potential renewable source of energy, which will partly meet the energy demand and ensure effective MSWM.
Recently, the European Commission has adopted a Circular Economy package. In addition, climate change is regarded as a major global challenge, and the de-carbonization of the energy sector requires a massive transformation that involves an increase of renewable shares in the energy mix and the incorporation of carbon capture and storage (CCS) processes.
Given all this strong new momentum, what will the Norwegian waste-to-energy (WtE) look like in a decade? What threats and opportunities are foreseen? In an attempt to answer these questions, this study combines process-based life-cycle assessment with analysis of the overall energy and material balances, mathematical optimization and cost assessment in four scenarios: (1) the current situation of the Norwegian WtE sector, (2) the implications of the circular economy, (3) the addition of CCS on the current WtE system and (4) a landfill scenario.
Except for climate change, the CCS scenario performs worse than the WtE scenario. The energy recovering scenarios perform better than the recycling scenario for (1) freshwater eutrophication and human toxicity potentials due to secondary waste streams and (2) ozone depletion potential due to the additional fossil fuel used in the recycling processes. The inclusion of the near-term climate forcers decreases the climate change impacts by 1% to 13% due to a net cooling mainly induced by NOx.
Circular economy may actually give the WtE system the opportunity to strengthen and expand its role towards new or little developed value chains such as secondary raw materials production and valorization of new waste streams occurring in material recycling.
Performance analysis of industrial sector with high-energy consumption, about 30-70% of total energy use of the countries, is taken into consideration recently. A number of studies have been conducted on energy analysis of different industries and during the last decades exergy analysis applied to offer more realistic suggestions for optimization and improvement of the industrial sector. The present study reviews the existing studies on exergy analysis of industrial sector. The irreversibility and losses of industrial processes are also determined. It is concluded that industrial sector has a high potential of improving in order to reduce the energy consumption and emissions.
Energy and resource consumption has been expanding quickly with the rapid growth of Asian cities, which has resulted in increased greenhouse gas emission and waste generation. The promotion of low-carbon industries is an urgent global issue that extends to Asia as well. To reduce carbon dioxide emission substantially, industries must not only introduce energy-saving technologies but also use low-carbon raw materials and fuel, such as recyclable wastes and carbon-neutral biomass. This paper presents the concept of a "hybrid industry," that is, an industry whose processes utilize not only fossil resources but also recycled and renewable resources as much as possible. This study examines the feasibility of hybrid industries through the promotion of urban symbiosis in cities in three Asian countries with different circumstances: Kawasaki in Japan, Ulsan in Korea, and Shenyang in China. Asian cities are in the midst of shifting from dumping wastes to incineration. However, in view of the carbon reduction effect of recycling as well as the cost for recycling and appropriate treatment of wastes, the potential of hybrid industries that use combustible municipal wastes as input should be considered. In this study, the potential for carbon dioxide reduction as well as the costs of promoting hybrid industries are evaluated. The results highlight that promoting hybrid industries generates significant environmental benefits for the three cities, and there are important factors that affect the cost-effectiveness of hybrid industries, including the spatial density of waste generation, composition of wastes, relative labor cost for collection and pre-treatment of wastes compared with construction cost of an incinerator and avoided costs through product and fossil resource substitution, and the
willingness of citizens to separate wastes. Finally, key drivers for promoting hybrid industries through urban symbiosis in Asian cities are discussed.
Abstract The uncontrolled mixing of metals and their alloys during the different life cycle phases, combined with the melt purification constraints during remelting, pose great challenges during their end-of-life (EoL) treatment. In practice, open-loop recycling is typical and more common for metals than closed-loop recycling; especially in the case of aluminium, the industry operates in a cascade recycling approach. Associated with open-loop recycling are various types of material losses; loss of original functional quality, dissipation of scarce resources and the final need for dilution of the resulting metal impurities with primary materials. Thus, an environmental assessment tool is presented within this paper, aiming to support decision making related to the sustainable management of metal resources during secondary aluminium production. A material blending model aims at the minimization of the above mentioned losses in order to meet the product quality requirements. The goal of the study is threefold: i) to assess the environmental impact calculation of aluminium recycling, ii) to express, quantify and integrate dilution and quality losses into Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies, and iii) to determine the optimum material input for the recycling process from an environmental perspective. Different recycling options or strategies can be evaluated and compared based on avoided environmental impact. Case studies focusing on major post-consumer scrap streams are used to illustrate application areas and highlight the importance of altering and optimizing the raw material input. Finally, policy issues and opportunities for environmentally conscious metal management are discussed.
The efforts for reducing CO2 Emissions into atmosphere and increasing costs for fossil fuels concepts are the drivers for Energy from Waste (EfW) facilities with higher plant efficiency. In the past steam parameters for EfW were requested mainly at 40 bars and 400 °C (580 psi and 752 F). In case of coal fired power plants at the same location as the EfW facilities higher steam parameters at 90 bar, 520 °C (1305 psi, 968 F) have been used for the design of stoker and boiler. This long-term experience with higher steam parameters is the platform for the todays and future demand in higher plant efficiency. Increase in EfW plant efficiency is achievable by increasing temperature and pressure of live steam going along with optimized combustion conditions when using well proven grate technology for waste incineration. On the other hand higher steam parameters result in higher corrosion rates on the boiler tubes and the optimization of the combustion conditions are limited by the burn out quality requirements of slag and flue gas. Advantages and disadvantages have therefore to be balanced carefully. This paper will present different measures for optimized boiler and combustion conditions compared to an EfW plant with live steam at 40 bars and 400 °C (580 psi and 752 F) and 60% excess of combustion air. Plants operated at these conditions have very low maintenance costs created by corrosion of boiler tubes and show performance with very high availability. The following parameters and experiences will be evaluated: - reduction of excess air; - flue gas temperature at boiler outlet; - higher steam parameters (pressure and temperature); - heating surfaces for steam superheating in the radiation boiler section; - steam reheating; - external superheaters using auxiliary fuels. The comparison of the different methods for increasing the efficiency together with resulting technology challenges incorporates the experiences from modern EfW reference facilities built in Naples/Italy, Ruedersdorf (Berlin)/Germany and Heringen/Germany.
The organic fraction of municipal solid waste (MSW), such as plastics and paper, is commonly recycled in Japan, but a considerable room for improvement still remains. Energy intensive industries, such as steel, cement, paper, and power plants, have great capacities to accept waste plastics and paper to substitute their fossil resource consumption and to reduce carbon emissions. We propose a “smart recycling system” that utilizes existing industrial facilities that have high energy efficiency, for establishing a cost-effective and robust recycling system. The core of the smart recycling system is the smart recycling center (SRC) that establishes a new recycling pathway connecting spatially diffuse municipal sources to facilities in energy intensive industries. This paper discusses the design and function of an SRC and estimates the CO2 emissions and costs related to the operation and construction of the SRC. We also evaluated the cost effectiveness of the smart recycling system, taking into account sorted collection, incineration, processes in the SRC, and processes in industrial facilities. We estimated that the system could result in a reduction of approximately 100 kg of CO2 emissions per capita per year without a significant increase in cost.
The purpose of the study is to analyze feasibility and a roadmap of a low-carbon society in Japan by 2050, while satisfying required demands. Future technology roadmaps, CO2 emission pathways and energy mix transitions leading Japan are calculated using the AIM/Backcasting Model based on backcasting methodology with taking into consideration that one of the keys for technological market penetration is the preferences of consumers. Under the CO2 emission target of 80% reduction as compared to 1990 level by 2050, it is found from the results that the target is feasible in Japan by implementing actions toward low-carbon society as early as possible. From the perspective of minimizing the total costs, it would be best to target a reduction rate of 16–20% in 2020, 31–35% in 2030 and 53–56% in 2040 within the range of Scenarios A and B. During this process, major investment will be needed in the early stage of the analytical periods, especially in the residential, commercial and transport sectors. However, viewed in the long term, this can be recovered by reduction in energy consumption. Moreover, the analysis suggests that returns that balance the total investment may be possible.
This paper made an effort to establish a thermodynamic fundamental for evaluating the energy quality that is a basis of state evaluation and process analysis to effectively use fossil fuels. On base of the thermodynamic consistency, the energy quality factor was defined as an index for the energy quality of a fluid. General methods of calculating the enthalpy and the energy quality factor of fluid were established by means of defining standard enthalpy. The standard exergy, the standard enthalpy, and the standard energy quality factor of common pure species related to combustion of fossil fuels were given. A graphic methodology on the energy factor and related functions, enthalpy and exergy, was proposed for investigating the state characteristics and process performance. To validate and demonstrate the approaches, four routes of methane combustion have been investigated in the α-H-ε diagram. The results show that preheating and endothermic reforming before combustion can result in the cascade utilization of methane, which appears as a gradual decrease in the energy quality factor. The results prove that the exergy regeneration through conversions of heat and substance is important for the effective use of fossil fuels.
A multiple-year emission inventory of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs), including particulate matter (PM), SO(2), NO(x), CO, HCl, As, Cd, Cr, Hg, Ni, Pb, Sb, and polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs), discharged from municipal solid waste (MSW) incineration in China has been established for the period 2003-2010 by using the best available emission factors and annual activity data. Our results show that the total emissions have rapidly amounted to 28 471.1 t of NO(x), 12 062.1 t of SO(2), 6500.5 t of CO, 4654.6 t of PM, 3609.1 t of HCl, 69.5 t of Sb, 36.7 t of Hg, 9.4 t of Pb, 4.4 t of Cr, 2.8 t of Ni, 926.7 kg of Cd, 231.7 kg of As, and 23.6 g of PCDD/Fs as TEQ (toxic equivalent quantity) by the year 2010. The majority of HAP emissions are concentrated in the eastern central and southeastern areas of China where most MSW incineration plants are built and put into operation. Between 2003 and 2010, provinces always ranking in the top three with largest HAPs emissions are Zhejiang, Guangdong, and Jiangsu. To better understand the emissions of these HAPs and to adopt effective measures to prevent poisoning risks, more specific field-test data collection is necessary.
Energy production from two types of municipal solid waste was evaluated using life cycle assessment (LCA): (1) mixed high calorific waste suitable for production of solid recovered fuels (SRF) and (2) source separated organic waste. For SRF, co-combustion was compared with mass burn incineration. For organic waste, anaerobic digestion (AD) was compared with mass burn incineration. In the case of mass burn incineration, incineration with and without energy recovery was modelled. Biogas produced from anaerobic digestion was evaluated for use both as transportation fuel and for heat and power production. All relevant consequences for energy and resource consumptions, emissions to air, water and soil, upstream processes and downstream processes were included in the LCA. Energy substitutions were considered with respect to two different energy systems: a present-day Danish system based on fossil fuels and a potential future system based on 100% renewable energy. It was found that mass burn incineration of SRF with energy recovery provided savings in all impact categories, but co-combustion was better with respect to Global Warming (GW). If all heat from incineration could be utilized, however, the two alternatives were comparable for SRF. For organic waste, mass burn incineration with energy recovery was preferable over anaerobic digestion in most impact categories. Waste composition and flue gas cleaning at co-combustion plants were critical for the environmental performance of SRF treatment, while the impacts related to utilization of the digestate were significant for the outcome of organic waste treatment. The conclusions were robust in a present-day as well as in a future energy system. This indicated that mass burn incineration with efficient energy recovery is a very environmentally competitive solution overall.
Used cooking oil (UCO) is a domestic waste generated daily by food industries, restaurants, and households. It is estimated that in Europe 5 kg of UCO are generated per inhabitant, totalling 2.5 million metric tons per year. Recovering UCO for the production of biodiesel offers a way of minimizing and avoiding this waste and related pollution. An exergy analysis of the integrated waste management (IWM) scheme for UCO is used to evaluate such a possibility by accounting for inputs and outputs in each stage, calculating the exergy loss and the resource input and quantifying the possible improvements. The IWM includes the collection, pretreatment, and delivery of UCO and the production of biodiesel. The results show that the greatest exergy loss occurs during the transport stages (57%). Such exergy loss can be minimized to 20% by exploiting the full capacity of collecting vans and using biodiesel in the transport stages. Further, the cumulative exergy consumption helps study how the exergy consumption of biodiesel can be further reduced by using methanol obtained from biogas in the transesterification stage. Finally, the paper discusses how increasing the collection of UCO helps minimize uncontrolled used oil disposal and consequently provides a sustainable process for biodiesel production.
Solid waste treatment options (recycling, incineration, and landfilling; the two latter processes both with co-generation of heat and electricity) have been studied for cardboard, newspaper, polyethylene, poly(ethylene terephthalate), polypropylene, polystyrene, and poly(vinyl chloride) waste. The conversion processes have been analyzed in terms of the second law of thermodynamics. The analysis allows calculating the exergy (useful energy) embodied in conversion products that can be obtained from the required inputs for the treatment processes. Taking into account the waste materials and the resources to convert them, it proved that recycling is the most efficient option for polyethylene with an efficiency of 62.5% versus 43.6% for incineration and 0.9% for landfilling. Next, waste treatment has been put into the broader perspective of industrial ecology. Exergetic efficiencies of industrial metabolic options have been calculated. Here resources for manufacturing and converting solid products have been considered. Furthermore, selection of one type of conversion excludes the generation of other potential conversion products. Therefore, it has to be taken into account that these latter products still have to be produced starting from virgin resources. Recycling proved to be the most efficient strategy: the ratio eta between exergy embodied in all delivered products on one hand, and all exergy withdrawn from the ecosphere or from waste materials on the other hand, is the highest. For polyethylene, eta proved to be 0.568, whereas eta is 0.503 and 0.329 for incineration and landfilling, respectively. On the other hand, if R the ratio between exergy of delivered products on one hand and exergy of virgin materials on the other hand is calculated, the differences between the industrial metabolic options are larger. Recycling polyethylene showed a ratio R of 0.936, whereas ratios of 0.772 and 0.531 were found for incineration and landfilling, respectively. It has been shown that the exergy concept allows a quantitative comparison of different industrial metabolic options, contributing to a better assessment of sustainability of technology with respect to resource management.
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