Municipal Solid Waste for Energy Production and Resource Recovery

A special issue of Processes (ISSN 2227-9717). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental and Green Processes".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 November 2024 | Viewed by 1434

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Chemical Engineering & Polymer Science, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet 3114, Bangladesh
Interests: waste-to-product; polyhydroxyalkanoates; fermentation; biological wastewater treatment; adsorption; membrane technology

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Guest Editor
Department of Process, Energy and Environmental Technology, Faculty of Technology, Natural Sciences and Maritime Sciences, Campus Porsgrunn, University of South-Eastern Norway, Kjølnes 56, 3918 Porsgrunn, Norway
Interests: gasification of biomass and waste; fluidized bed; computational particle fluid dynamics

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Guest Editor
Environmental Bioprocess Laboratory, Department of Biotechnology, National Institute of Technology, Warangal 506004, Telangana, India
Interests: biological wastewater treatment; water reuse; solid waste treatment; microbial fuel cell

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Guest Editor
Faculty of Technology, Natural Sciences and Maritime Sciences, Department of Microsystems, University of Southeast Norway, N-3184 Borre, Norway
Interests: bioelectrochemistry; microbes-material interaction; electrode material; CO2 and gas conversion
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Municipal solid waste (MSW) is nowadays considered a renewable resource for energy generation and building blocks for several products. A number of studies have shown the potential of MSW to produce high-value materials. These have focused on either thermochemical technology or biochemical technology. Thermochemical processes include incineration, pyrolysis, gasification, and hydrothermal liquefaction, and biochemical processes include composting, anaerobic digestion, fermentation, etc. Thermochemical technologies have higher conversion efficiency, with almost zero waste generation; on the other hand, biochemical process are greener and sustainable, with low energy demand. There are also some novel processes used to valorise MSW, such as production of bioelectricity, bio-hydrogen, biopesticides, biopolymers, etc. All of these processes have both opportunities and obstacles; some are technically feasible but environmentally and economically unfeasible, and some are economically feasible but environmentally unfeasible.

This Special Issue on “Municipal Solid Waste for Energy Production and Resource Recovery” will explore all the possibilities of using MSW as raw materials to obtain maximum benefits and ensure technical, environmental, and economic viability. We are looking for high-quality works to gather innovative and sustainable solutions to improve the application potentiality of MSW as raw materials.

Prof. Dr. Md. Salatul Islam Mozumder
Dr. Rajan Kumar Thapa
Dr. Surajbhan Sevda
Dr. Nabin Aryal
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • waste-to-energy technologies
  • life-cycle analysis of MSW
  • application of circular economy to MSW
  • production of new materials from MSW
  • recycling, recovery, and valorisations of waste
  • development of new technology for resource recovery from MSW
  • novel and environmental friendly MSW management systems

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

27 pages, 4413 KiB  
Article
Waste-to-Energy Processes as a Municipality-Level Waste Management Strategy: A Case Study of Kočevje, Slovenia
by Vladimir Prebilič, Matic Može and Iztok Golobič
Processes 2024, 12(5), 1010; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr12051010 - 15 May 2024
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Abstract
The escalating challenge of waste management demands innovative strategies to mitigate environmental impacts and harness valuable resources. This study investigates waste-to-energy (WtE) technologies for municipal waste management in Kočevje, Slovenia. An analysis of available waste streams reveals substantial energy potential from mixed municipal [...] Read more.
The escalating challenge of waste management demands innovative strategies to mitigate environmental impacts and harness valuable resources. This study investigates waste-to-energy (WtE) technologies for municipal waste management in Kočevje, Slovenia. An analysis of available waste streams reveals substantial energy potential from mixed municipal waste, biodegradable waste, and livestock manure. Various WtE technologies, including incineration, pyrolysis, gasification, and anaerobic digestion, are compared. The results show that processing mixed municipal waste using thermochemical processes could annually yield up to 0.98 GWh of electricity, and, separately, 3.22 GWh of useable waste heat for district heating or industrial applications. Furthermore, by treating 90% of the biodegradable waste, up to 1.31 GWh of electricity and 1.76 GWh of usable waste heat could be generated annually from biodegradable municipal waste and livestock manure using anaerobic digestion and biogas combustion in a combined heat and power facility. Gasification coupled with a gas-turbine-based combined heat and power cycle is suggested as optimal. Integration of WtE technologies could yield 2.29 GWh of electricity and 3.55 GWh of useable waste heat annually, representing an annual exergy yield of 2.98 GWh. Within the Kočevje municipality, this amount of energy could cover 23.6% of the annual household electricity needs and cover the annual space and water heating requirements of 10.0% of households with district heating. Additionally, CO2-eq. emissions could be reduced by up to 20%, while further offsetting emissions associated with electricity and district heat generation by 1907 tons annually. These findings highlight the potential of WtE technologies to enhance municipal self-sustainability and reduce landfill waste. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Municipal Solid Waste for Energy Production and Resource Recovery)
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14 pages, 7391 KiB  
Article
Activation of Low-Quality Coal Gangue Using Suspension Calcination for the Preparation of High-Performance Low-Carbon Cementitious Materials: A Pilot Study
by Hongbo Zhang, Shaowu Jiu, Qianwen Gao, Sijun Zhao, Yanxin Chen, Feng Cheng, Ding Han, Ruihong Shi, Kaixin Yuan, Jiacheng Li, Yuxin Li, Zichun Wang and Bo Zhao
Processes 2024, 12(3), 550; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr12030550 - 11 Mar 2024
Viewed by 637
Abstract
Although the calcination-based activation of coal gangue is important for its valorization in the form of cementitious materials, the related works mainly focus on high-quality coal gangue, neglecting its low-quality counterpart. To bridge this gap, we herein conducted the pilot-scale suspension calcination of [...] Read more.
Although the calcination-based activation of coal gangue is important for its valorization in the form of cementitious materials, the related works mainly focus on high-quality coal gangue, neglecting its low-quality counterpart. To bridge this gap, we herein conducted the pilot-scale suspension calcination of low-quality coal gangue; explored the effects of calcination temperature, particle size, and O2 content on the phase composition of the calcined product, kaolinite decomposition, decarbonization, and silica/alumina dissolution; and evaluated calcination-product-based cementitious materials. Under optimal conditions (temperature = 875–900 °C; particle size = 39.71–46.84 μm; and O2 content = 12–14%), the carbon content of the calcined product equaled 1.24–1.87 wt%, and the dissolution rates of activated alumina and silica were 77.6–79.5% and 49.4–51.1%, respectively. The 28 d compressive strength (50.8–55.7 MPa) and true activity index (98.8–108.4%) of the cementitious material prepared at a calcination product dosage of 30–38 wt% met the standard of 42.5 grade cement. This study demonstrated the suitability of suspension calcination for the preparation of high-performance low-carbon cementitious materials from low-quality coal gangue, thus providing a basis for further industrialization and technological development. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Municipal Solid Waste for Energy Production and Resource Recovery)
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