Environmental and economic vision of plasma treatment of waste in Makkah

An environmental and economic assessment of the development of a plasma-chemical reactor equipped with plasma torches for the environmentally friendly treatment of waste streams by plasma is outlined with a view to the chemical and energetic valorization of the sustainability in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia（KSA）. This is especially applicable in the pilgrimage season in the city of Makkah, which is a major challenge since the amount of waste was estimated at about 750 thousand tons through Arabic Year 1435 H（2015）, and is growing at a rate of 3%–5% annually. According to statistics, the value of waste in Saudi Arabia ranges between 8 and 9 billion EUR. The Plasma-Treatment Project（PTP） encompasses the direct plasma treatment of all types of waste（from source and landfill）, as well as an environmental vision and economic evaluation of the use of the gas produced for fuel and electricity production in KSA, especially in the pilgrimage season in the holy city Makkah. The electrical power required for the plasmatreatment process is estimated at 5000 kW（2000 kW used for the operation of the system and 3000 kW sold）, taking into account the fact that：（1） the processing capacity of solid waste is 100 tons per day（2） and the sale of electricity amounts to 23.8 MW at 0.18 EUR per kWh.（3） The profit from the sale of electricity per year is estimated at 3.27 million EUR and the estimated profit of solid-waste treatment amounts to 6 million EUR per year and（4） the gross profit per ton of solid waste totals 8 million EUR per year. The present article introduces the first stage of the PTP, in Makkah in the pilgrimage season, which consists of five stages：（1） study and treatment of waste streams,（2） slaughterhouse waste treatment,（3） treatment of refuse-derived fuel,（4）treatment of car tires and（5） treatment of slag（the fifth stage associated with each stage from the four previous stages）.

The valuation of China’s environmental degradation from 2004 to 2017

This paper aims to evaluate the cost of environmental degradation by adopting the conventional environmental economic methodology in China from 2004 to 2017 and summarize the change in both the causes and costs of China’s environmental degradation.Results from this study revealed the following:i.The environmental degradation cost in China increased from 511 billion yuan to 1,892 billion yuan from 2004 to 2017,and its share in the GDP decreased from 3.05% to 2.23%;ii.The environmental degradation cost growth rate was lower than the GDP growth rate.The environmental degradation cost growth rate decreased sharply,by dropping from 10% in 2014 to 2% in 2017.The environmental benefits of industrial transformation have emerged;iii.The provinces of Shandong,Hebei,Jiangsu,Henan,and Guangdong had the highest environmental degradation costs.The annual average growth rate of the environmental degradation costs in Jiangsu,Guangdong,and Zhejiang were lower than their growth rate of the GDP respectively;iv.Consideration of environmental degradation cost in decision-making could contribute to the high-quality development of China.