An Intelligent Hazardous Waste Detection and Classification Model Using Ensemble Learning Techniques

Proper waste management models using recent technologies like computer vision,machine learning(ML),and deep learning(DL)are needed to effectively handle the massive quantity of increasing waste.Therefore,waste classification becomes a crucial topic which helps to categorize waste into hazardous or non-hazardous ones and thereby assist in the decision making of the waste management process.This study concentrates on the design of hazardous waste detection and classification using ensemble learning(HWDC-EL)technique to reduce toxicity and improve human health.The goal of the HWDC-EL technique is to detect the multiple classes of wastes,particularly hazardous and non-hazardous wastes.The HWDC-EL technique involves the ensemble of three feature extractors using Model Averaging technique namely discrete local binary patterns(DLBP),EfficientNet,and DenseNet121.In addition,the flower pollination algorithm(FPA)based hyperparameter optimizers are used to optimally adjust the parameters involved in the EfficientNet and DenseNet121 models.Moreover,a weighted voting-based ensemble classifier is derived using three machine learning algorithms namely support vector machine(SVM),extreme learning machine(ELM),and gradient boosting tree(GBT).The performance of the HWDC-EL technique is tested using a benchmark Garbage dataset and it obtains a maximum accuracy of 98.85%.

Problems of Hazardous Waste Storage Facilities in Coal-fired Power Plants and Countermeasures

The hazardous waste produced by coal-fired power plants are large in quantity and variety. It is important for ecological environment protection to properly store hazardous waste in coal-fired power plants. The environmental management of hazardous waste in coal-fired power plants started late, and there are many problems in the construction and management of their storage facilities. In this paper, taking eight typical coal-fired power plants as examples, the present problems of hazardous waste storage facilities in coal-fired power plants are analyzed, and corresponding countermeasures are put forward to solve the main common problems.

Simulation research of a counter‑fow rotary kiln hazardous waste incineration system

As industrialization accelerates and the amount of hazardous waste generated gradually increases,the means of disposal of hazardous waste is of increasing concern.In this paper,a 40 t/d counter-fow rotary kiln incineration system owned by a Jiangsu environmental protection company was researched.The software Aspen Plus was used to build the mixed pyrolysis model and the software Fluent was used to build the computational fuid dynamics model of the incineration system.The infuence of the calorifc value of the hazardous waste,the operating temperature and the air supply on the operational efectiveness of the incineration system were analyzed by varying the simulation conditions.The results show that the SO_(x)and NO_(x)content of the product is lower when the operating temperature is above 800℃.The incineration system could only operate above 800℃when the calorifc value of the hazardous waste is not less than 1500 kcal/kg.The incineration system operated best at a primary air velocity of 1.5 m/s.The simulation results in this paper serve as a guide for the operation of counter-fow rotary kiln incineration systems.

Current status and strategy of hazardous waste management in China

This paper deals briefly with the pollution caused by hazardous wastes in China, the hazardous waste management at present and the strategy that should be taken for hazardous waste management in the future. Hazardous waste problem has become one of the important environmental concerns in China. Hazardous waste have resulted in ecological and environmental destruction, caused damage to human health, and restricted economic development. Although a great effort has been devoted to the management of hazardous wastes, there remain many issues in legislation, experience, technology and finance to be solved. Some recommendations are made on the strategic measures for improving the hazardous waste management in China, particularly relating to legislation, technical development and international cooperation.

Typical Refractories Design of Rotary Kiln Hazardous Waste Incineration System

This paper summarizes the current situation of China’s industrial hazardous waste treatment,the disposal technology and the characteristics of rotary kiln incineration system,analyzes the refractory lining design of rotary kiln incineration system in China,and puts forward optimization suggestions according to the process characteristics.

Corrosion-resistant Refractory Linings for Hazardous Waste Treatment inRotary Kilns

Mega trends like urbanization,industrialization and growing population drive the demand of daily necessaries and therefore result in increased refractory consumption for waste treatment carried out at elevated temperatures.It is estimated that for burning 1 t of waste about 5.5 kg of refractory materials need to be consumed.In the present study,the corrosion resistance of refractory bricks based on alumina-chromia and alumina-silica was tested by exposing them to slag from hazardous waste incineration.Samples from the cup test were investigated macroscopically and mineralogically.They showed that alumina-chromia bricks had high corrosion resistance when in contact with the tested slags,while alumina-silica bricks containing silicon carbide showed an overall good performance.

A Sustainable Strategy for Spent Cathode Carbon Blocks Hazardous Waste Recycling Using Binary Molten Salt Thermal Treatment

Waste-to-Energy treatment is a promising path to environment and energy management in the future.This work detailed a binary molten salt thermal treatment methodology for the detoxification of spent cathode carbon block(SCCB)waste and the recycling of carbonaceous materials.The thermal behavior of SCCB and SCCB blended with molten salts was investigated.It was found that the NaCl-Na_(2)CO_(3)binary molten salts significantly contributed to reducing pyrolysis onset temperature by 334.3 K compared to that of SCCB itself(i.e.,activation energy of pyrolysis reaction was reduced from 4.24×10^(5)to 2.30×10^(5)J/mol),thus helping to lower thermal treatment energy consumption.With the addition of binary molten salts,the residue after thermal treatment in a horizontal tube furnace experiment was separated into two layers.The bottom-layer residue was mainly composed of molten salts.The fluorine content in the form of NaF and CaF_(2)of top-layer residue was reduced significantly while the carbon content remained unchanged.Specifically,the leaching concentration of fluoride ion was decreased from 4620 mg/L to 856 mg/L.It is noted that the NaF and CaF_(2)can be removed through water-leaching and hydrothermal acid-leaching methods and thus the carbonaceous materials with a calorific value of 17.5 MJ/kg were obtained.

Predicting effect factors of dual bag filter system for PCDD/Fs removal from hazardous waste incineration flue gas

The dual bag filter(DBF)system is a new polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans(PCDD/Fs)emission control technology that has more efficient(PCDD/Fs)removal performance,a higher activated carbon utilization rate and less activated carbon consumption compared with the traditional single bag filter system.Moreover,few studies have been relevant to the mechanism of the PCDD/Fs removal process in the DBF system,and the selection of operating conditions of the DBF system lacks an academic basis.This study established a PCDD/Fs removal efficiency model of activated carbon injection combined bag filter(ACI+DBF)system for hazardous waste incineration flue gas and predicted the crucial effect factors.New adsorption coefficients k_(1)=532,145 Nm^(3)/(mol s)and k_(2)=45 Nm^(3)/(mol s),and the relationship expression between the number of available adsorption positions of recycled AC(AAC′)and cycle times(n)are proposed in the model.The results verify that the model error was below 5%.In addition,the PCDD/Fs removal efficiency model predicts that in a certain range,the PCDD/Fs removal efficiency increases with increasing activated carbon injection concentration.The best cycle number of activated carbon was less than 3,and the ratio of circulating activated carbon to fresh activated carbon in second bag filter(SBF)should be controlled at 7–8.

Hazardous waste incineration in a rotary kiln:a review

Hazardous waste output in the world is increasing every year.To achieve higher efficiency and lower pollution,the incin-eration technology for hazardous waste needs to be studied further.This study mainly reviews the research progress in incineration,slagging,and pollutant emission in the rotary kiln in China and abroad in the last 10 years,and conducts a comprehensive analysis and evaluation of the research.Considering that there are many variables involved in the incineration process,the incineration law cannot be validated in a limited timeframe by experiments.Researchers often use computer simulations to predict and verify the incineration process through experiments and to provide reference opinions for com-mercial operations.Through the analysis of the research progress in rotary kilns,it is observed that the basic research in rotary kilns is becoming mature.The latest research trend in rotary kilns is interdisciplinary and mixed research.From a new perspective,further research should be focused on a comparative analysis of the rotary kiln and the cement kiln,full life cycle assessment of the impact factors of rotary kiln on the environment,the impact of the factory treatment process on the workers’health,etc.The research direction of rotary kiln in China and abroad for the future has been predicted reasonably.

Optimal ways of disposal of highly radioactive waste

Multibarrier concepts are commonly proposed for effective isolation of highly radioactive waste (HLW). Present concepts consider the host rock as a barrier by retarding migration of possibly released radionuclides to the biosphere, containers for preventing release of radionuclides, and “buffer clay” embedding the canisters for providing ductility and minimizing the risk of container breakage and for delaying migration of possibly escaping radionuclides. Closer analysis of the isolating functions shows that rock will only serve as a mechanical protection of the “nearfield”, the containers of proposed types can be short-lived, and the surrounding clay will be increasingly permeable and stiffen hence becoming less ductile with time. A different approach, representing an alternative to the common concepts, can be safer and cheaper. It takes the HIPOW copper canister as the only major barrier and a cheap but sufficiently efficient buffer as embedment. The repository can consist of an abandoned copper mine, an option being to place HLW in emptied drifts while mining is still going in not yet exploited parts of the ore body.

Can sealing of rock hosting a repository for highly radioactive waste be relied on?

Multibarrier systems are commonly proposed for effective isolation of highly radioactive waste (HLW). Presently considered concepts take the host rock as a barrier claiming it to retard migration of possibly released radionuclides from HLW containers to the biosphere. This capacity is small unless water-bearing fracture zones intersecting the blasted waste-containing tunnels and excavation-disturbance zones around them can be sealed by grouting and construction of bulkheads, but this is effective only for a very limited period of time as explained in the paper. The disturbed zones thence make the entire repository serve as a continuous hydraulic conductor causing quick transport of released radionuclides up to the biosphere. The dilemma can be solved by accepting the shortcircuiting function of the disturbed zones along the tunnels on the condition that totally tight waste containers be used. Deep holes bored in the site selection phase through the forthcoming repository can be effective pathways for radionuclides unless they are properly sealed. They are small-scale equivalents of tunnels but do not have any excavation damage and can be effectively sealed by using clay and concrete of new types. Applying this principle to very deep boreholes with a diameter of a few decimeters would make it possible to safely store slim, tight HLW canisters for any period of time.

Quantitative Assessment of Medical Waste Management in Hamad Medical Corporation—Qatar

A proper waste management system is very important in healthcare facilities because the overall benefit outweighs the cost. In the healthcare sector, hazardous health care waste (HHCW) consists of wastes that are potentially contaminated by dangerous agents. Identification and segregation of HHCW is harbinger for its proper management. The quantitative analysis study on HHCW had not been done in Qatar government hospitals. This study quantitatively analyzed the current practice for HHCW management in Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), Qatar. The objective of this study is to provide a first comprehensive assessment of hazardous healthcare waste managements in Qatar and offers an opportunity to improve existing practice. This is a retrospective survey study carried out on secondary data collected from the department of occupational health and safety (OHS), HMC. OHS department collects and keeps records of hazardous wastes produced by HMC. Data on the HMC hospitals’ characteristics from 2017 to 2019 were retrieved from Planning and Statistics Authority’s website. World Health Organization (WHO) formula for calculating HHCW generation rate was used to calculate the rate for HMC. Data analysis results show a steady increase in HHCW generation rate in HMC, the generation rate was 2.6 Kg/patient bed/day, 2.8 Kg/patient bed/day and 3.1 Kg/patient bed/day for the years 2017, 2018 and 2019 respectively. There were also significant variations in HHCW generation rates between hospitals. The highest generation rate was 4.64 Kg/patient bed/day recorded for AWH and the lowest was 0.2 Kg/patient bed/day recorded for mental health and both hospitals contributing 23.18% and 0.29% respectively of HHCW in HMC.

Hydrometallurgical detoxification and recycling of electric arc furnace dust

Electric arc furnace dust(EAFD)is a hazardous waste but can also be a potential secondary resource for valuable metals,such as Zn and Fe.Given the increased awareness of carbon emission reduction,energy conservation,and environmental protection,hydrometallurgical technologies for the detoxification and resource use of EAFD have been developing rapidly.This work summarizes the generation mechanisms,compositions,and characteristics of EAFD and presents a critical review of various hydrometallurgical treatment methods for EAFD,e.g.,acid leaching,alkaline leaching,salt leaching,and pretreatment–enhanced leaching methods.Simultaneously,the phase transformation mechanisms of zinc-containing components in acid and alkali solutions and pretreatment processes are expounded.Finally,two novel combined methods,i.e.,oxygen pressure sulfuric acid leaching combined with composite catalyst preparation,and synergistic roasting of EAFD and municipal solid waste incineration fly ash combined with alkaline leaching,are proposed,which can provide future development directions to completely recycling EAFD by recovering valuable metals and using zinc residue.

Behavior and control of chlorine in dyestuff residue incineration

Dyestuffresidue, a type of hazardous waste, is incinerated in the tubular furnace, and thermodynamic equilibrium model is used to calculate and analyze the chlorine behavior. The HCI emission and its effects on the behaviors of heavy metals are studied. Meanwhile, the effects of three dechlorine reagents are predicted at a high temperature. Results show that HCI emission is dependent on incineration temperature. The HCl evaporated mainly derives from the organic chlorine. Under the working condition of 500-- 900℃, the main products of rig, Pb, Cu, Ni, Zn, and Mn in reaction with HCl are HgCl2 （g）, PbCl4（g）, PbCI2 （g）, （CuCl）3 （g）, NiCl2 （s）, NiCl2 （g）, ZnCl2 （s）, ZnCl2 （g）, Zn （g）, MnCl2 （s）, and MnCl2 （g）, respectively. Among the three dechlorine reagents, CaCO3 is optimal to remove chlorine at high temperature, little of HCl is released below 800℃, whereas Fe3O4 is unstable at high temperature.

Influence of chlorine on methane oxidation

Experiments on CH4/Cl2/O2/N2 oxidation were conducted in an atmospheric pressure flow reactor to understand the influence of chlorine on hydrocarbon oxidation in hazardous waste incineration. The reaction temperature varied from 973 to 1273 K and the chlorine to hydrogen mole ratio （Cl/H） of the irdet mixture varied from 0 to 0.44. The species produced in the reaction were measured online with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy （FT-IR）. It was found that the destruction and removal efficiency of CH4 increased with Clfl-I mole ratio. Increasing Cl/H favored COCl2 and CO formation and inhibited the CO oxidation process. As Cl/H approached 0.44, the concentrations of CH2Cl2 and CH3Cl first increased, and then declined. Reaction temperature greatly affected the reaction system. Increasing temperatures raised the destruction removal efficiency of CH4 and decreased the concentrations of CH3Cl and CH2Cl2. With a certain ratio of Cl/H, the concentrations of CO and COCl2 first increased and then declined. The CO and COCl2 concentration peak was observed around 1100 K and 1023 K, respectively. When the reaction temperature exceeded 1273 K, carbon in CH4 was mostly converted to CO2. It could be concluded that the presence of chlorine enhanced the destruction of CH4, but resulted in the more toxic incomplete combustion products emission such as COCl2 when the reaction temperature was not high enough.

Effect of Andalusite Addition on Properties of Chrome-corundum Bricks

In order to improve the thermal shock resistance of chrome-corundum bricks,different amounts of andalusite were added to the formulation of chrome-corundum bricks to replace the equivalent white fused corundum with the same particle size.After mixing,shaping,drying and firing,the density,the cold strength,the cold wear resistance,the hot modulus of rupture and the thermal shock resistance were tested.XRD,SEM and elemental surface scanning were used to characterize the specimens.The results show that:(1)the volume expansion of andalusite mullitization reduces the apparent porosity of chrome-corundum bricks;(2)the density and the hardness of mullite are lower than those of corundum so the decrease of the corundum content in brick leads to the decrease of the bulk density,the strength and the cold wear resistance;(3)the cross-distributed columnar mullite in the matrix can effectively improve the hot modulus of rupture and the thermal shock resistance of the specimens;(4)considering comprehensively,the andalusite addition shall not exceed 18%.

Isolation and Assessment of Cyanide Biodegradation Potential of Indigenous Bacteria from Contaminated Soil

Eight effective bacterial strains were isolated from cyanide-contaminated soil, from which, two (S11 and S13) were tested to determine their minimum inhibitory concentration using potassium cyanide (KCN) and potassium tetracyano nickelate (K2Ni(CN) 4). The isolates were tested for their KCN biodegradation potential (by measuring ammonia production) at neutral and alkaline pHs (7.0 and 9.0). Furthermore, the effect of the initial KCN concentration on biodegradation was evaluated at the optimal pH using nitrogen free M9 medium, supplemented with KCN as nitrogen source. The results showed that both strains tolerated cyanide concentrations of up to 10 × 10-3 mol⋅l-1 (0.651 g⋅l-1 KCN;2.409 g⋅l-1 K2Ni(CN)4) which makes them good candidates for cyanide bioremediation. For both strains, a change of initial pH from 7.0 to 9.0 significantly enhanced KCN degradation. S13 grown at pH 9.0 and S11 cultivated at pH 7.0 released the highest and lowest amounts of ammonia, respectively. For both strains, the release of ammonia increased when the initial KCN concentration increased from 10-3 to 5 × 10-3 mol⋅l-1. These findings open prospects for the application of these bacteria for remediation of cyanide-contaminated soils and wastewater at alkaline pH, alkaline pH being conditions that prevent cyanide volatilization.

Application of a Sulfur Removal Hydrometallurgical Process in a Lead-Acid Battery Recycling Plant in Costa Rica

This study presents the implementation of a desulphurization process for lead recycling under different chemical and physical conditions using pyro-metallurgical processes. Desulphurization was done using a hydrometallurgical process using sodium carbonate as a desulphurization agent and different lead-bearing loads compositions. Waste characterization included: SO2 concentrations in the stack emissions, total lead content in the furnace ash, the total lead content in the slag, and the toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP). A significant reduction in SO2 emissions was achieved (~55% reduction) where mean SO2 concentrations changed from 2193 ± 135 ppm to 1006 ± 62 ppm after the implementation of the modified processes. The desulfurized lead paste (i.e. the metallic fraction lead of the battery) of the modified process exhibited an improvement in the concentration of the lead in the TCLP test, with an average value of 1.5 ppm which is below US EPA limit of 5 ppm. The traditional process TCLP mean value for the TCLP was 54.2 ppm. The total lead content in the bag house ashes shows not significant variations, when comparing the desulphurization (67.6% m/m) and non-desulphurization process (64.9% m/m). The total lead mean content in the slag was higher in the desulphurization process (2.49% m/m) than the traditional process (1.91% m/m). Overall, the implementation of a new desulphurization method would potentially increase the operation costs in 10.3%. At the light of these results, a combination of hydrometallurgical and pyro-metallurgical processes in the recycling of lead-acid batteries can be used to reduce the environmental impact of these industries but would increase the operational costs of small lead recyclers.

Low-carbon stabilization/solidification of municipal solid waste incineration fly ash

Municipal solid waste incineration(MSWI)fly ash(FA)is classified as hazardous waste,which requires additional treatment before disposal or further utilization.Stabilization/solidification(S/S)is regarded as a low-cost and high-efficient method for MSWI FA treatment.“Low-carbon S/S”has captured extensive interest in recent years,which could treat hazardous wastes and enable resource recycling in a sustainable way.This article introduced the state-of-art low-carbon S/S strategies for MSWI FA treatment.The immobilization mechanisms of pollutants in various matrices were also discussed.Prospects were raised to foster the actualization of sustainable management of MSWI FA.

A promising method to recover spent V_(2)O_(5)-WO_(3)/TiO_(2) catalyst: treatment by vanadium-titanium magnetite sintering process

A large number of spent selective catalytic reduction(SCR)denitration catalysts are produced after the ultra-low emission transformation of coal-fired power plants in China.According to the China’s“Directory of National Hazardous Wastes(Version 2021)”,these spent vanadium-tungsten-titanium catalysts are classified as“HW50”hazardous waste,and their disposal and utilization processes have been strictly controlled.Thus,an effective and low-cost technique was developed to treat and utilize these spent SCR catalysts by the vanadium-titanium magnetite sintering process.Effects of adding spent SCR catalysts on the sintering production process and product quality indexes of sinter were studied.The results showed that adding spent SCR catalysts can improve the sintering granulation and green feed permeability,thereby increasing the productivity and flame front speed.When the addition proportion of spent SCR catalysts is less than 1 wt.%,the performance indexes of the finished sinter are basically equal to those of the finished sinter without adding spent SCR catalysts.Further increasing the proportion of spent SCR catalysts to 2.0 wt.%results in a decrease in product quality indexes,which could be attributed to the increase in perovskite content in the finished sinter.