Development of waste-to-energy through integrated sustainable waste management:the case of ABREN WtERT Brazil towards changing status quo in Brazil

In the context of circular economy,it is known that once waste is generated,it should be subject to proper treatment for recovering material or energy before being disposed.Many countries worldwide,especially developing countries such as Brazil,have been struggling to effectively apply sustainable waste management in municipalities and still rely on dumpsites and unsuitable landfills.Misinformation,a weak legal framework,lack of financial resources and poor infra-structure as well as pressure from organizations profiting from the expansion of landfills are some factors contributing to the preservation of the negative status quo:the“landfill culture”.Material recovery,i.e.,recycling and composting,is applied to less than 5%of Brazilian municipal waste,while 95%is disposed of in landfills or dumpsites.In this context,ABREN WtERT(Waste-to-Energy Research and Technology Council)Brazil was created in 2019 as the first permanent organization formed to promote the development of energy and material recovery from waste focused on the waste-to-energy(WTE)market.In this paper,the strategy proposed and implemented by the organization towards changing the status quo in Brazil through an integrated sustainable waste management approach is described.The proposed strategy integrates the concepts of Sustainability and Circular Economy for minimizing landfill disposal(avoiding methane emissions)and maximizing material/energy recovery.Among others,the approach focuses on changing the public opinion regarding thermal treatment facilities,mainly incinerators,which has been wrongly linked to pollution,excessive public expenditures and considered a harm to the recycling industry.The activities performed by ABREN include engaging public and private institutions,enhancing education,leading the publication of research and business studies,gathering industry members and academy experts,as well as creating strategic alliances with players around the globe.As a result,within a few years,major outcomes were achieved in Brazil,such as:(i)changes in the legal framework,(ii)launching of a specific public auction category for sponsoring electricity production from WTE facilities,and(iii)establishment of official targets for municipalities to decrease landfill disposal and increase recycling/biological treatment and energy recovery from thermal treatment.Among the national goals,it should be highlighted the target regarding the increase from zero to 994 MW of electricity production from municipal solid waste,which will require building dozens of new WTE facilities.Global outcomes are expected as well since Brazil is the seventh largest country of the globe and the most influential in Latin America.International and national business deals should thrive due to the need of operational skills and technology imports,and the avoidance of carbon emissions will positively reflect the world climate.In parallel,there is also potential for the academy to benefit from research projects and investments if the WTE national industry is to be developed in the long term.

Sustainable waste management for zero waste cities in China:potential,challenges and opportunities

Waste is a valuable secondary carbon resource.In the linear economy,it is predominantly landfilled or incinerated.These disposal routes not only lead to diverse climate,environmental and societal problems;they also represent a loss of carbon resources.In a circular carbon economy,waste is used as a secondary carbon feedstock to replace fossil resources for production.This contributes to environmental protection and resource conservation.It furthermore increases a nation’s independence from imported fossil energy sources.China is at the start of its transition from a linear to circular carbon economy.It can thus draw on waste management experiences of other economies and assess the opportunities for transference to support its development of‘zero waste cities’.This paper has three main focuses.First is an assessment of drivers for China’s zero waste cities initiative and the approaches that have been implemented to combat its growing waste crisis.Second is a sharing of Germany’s experience-a forerunner in the implementation of the waste hierarchy(reduce-reuse-recycle-recover-landfill)with extensive experience in circular carbon technologies-in sustainable waste management.Last is an identification of transference opportunities for China’s zero waste cities.Specific transference opportunities identified range from measures to promote waste prevention,waste separation and waste reduction,generating additional value via mechanical recycling,implementing chemical recycling as a recycling option before energy recovery to extending energy recovery opportunities.

Industrial solid waste flow analysis of eco-industrial parks： implications for sustainable waste management in China

Sustainable waste management in the industrial ecology perspective brings enormous challenges to the existing methodology of waste analysis at the industrial park （IP） scale. In this study, a four-step method was proposed for industrial solid waste （ISW） flow analysis of eco-industrial parks （EIPs） and applied to two IPs in eastern China. According to a park-wide census of 619 industrial enterprises and 105 questionnaires by a survey from 2006 to 2008, the results indicated that： 1） at the enterprise scale, more than 60% of enterprises were small- ISW-generation enterprises which encountered great difficulties on effective waste management; 2） at the IP scale, though the two IPs have set up their own environmental management systems and passed the ISO 14001 certification, the efficiencies of the ISW manage- ment systems have yet to be improved in the industrial ecology perspective; and 3） at the regional scale, more than 97% of ISW flowed within the provincial region, indicating that the provincial governments prevented the wastes from flowing into their own ＂back yard＂. Effective waste management should be placed in a broader perspective. Approaches to sustainable waste management may include wastes exchange, efficient waste and information flow, virtual EIP, waste minimization clubs and regionalization of waste management.

Sustainable food waste management using modified fuzzy improved analytic hierarchy process:a study of Malaysia

Food waste generation is a pressing issue that requires urgent attention and concerted efforts worldwide.The staggering amount of food wasted each year not only wastes valuable resources but also exacerbates environmental,economic,and social challenges.Food Waste Management(FWM)consists of a complex array of criteria and sub-criteria,and treatments which seems interdependent.There is a need to evaluate the FWM with the help of important criteria and sub-criteria and treatments to address this challenge.In this study,we identified four important criteria,21 sub-criteria,and four alternatives of FWM for the case of Malaysia using the integrated approach of literature review and expert opinions.Further,we employed the approach of Modified Fuzzy Improved Analytical Hierarchy Process(IAHP)to corroborate the interrelationships among the identified criteria and sub-criteria,and their associated treatments.This study undertakes linear normalization methods to transform data into comparable numerical values and the Geometric Mean method to handle uncertainty in human judgments.Moreover,the Centroid method is employed to convert fuzzy weights into crisp sets for ease of interpretation.The results indicate that environmental is the most essential criterion,followed by social,economic,and technical.In addition,air and water pollution is identified as the most critical sub-criteria.Black Soldier Fly is discovered as the most sustainable FWM treatment,since it performs the best while meeting all the criteria and sub-criteria assessed.Sensitivity analysis demonstrates that the outputs from the proposed method are robust and reliable.The finding suggests a proper and robust approach to help decision-makers select suitable FWM treatments to tackle various criteria and alternatives especially when handling inconsistent and uncertain judgments during evaluation.

Wood waste biochar promoted anaerobic digestion of food waste:focusing on the characteristics of biochar and microbial community analysis

Anaerobic digestion(AD)has been considered as a promising technique for food waste(FW)recycling.However,the accumulation of volatile fatty acids(VFAs)restricts the stability of anaerobic reactors.The present study investigated the use of biochar produced at different conditions(750℃-30 min,750℃-60 min,750℃-120 min,550℃-60 min,650℃-60 min,850℃-60 min,950℃-60 min)for enhancing the AD of FW.Batch experiments showed that all the biochar increased the methane production rates and biochar obtained at 750℃-60 min resulted in the highest enhance-ment by 21.5%.It was further showed surface oxygen-containing functional groups and graphitization degree of biochar were the critical factors for improving methane production.Microbial analysis showed that biochar addi-tion formed different microbial communities,and Methanosaeta,Romboutsia,and norank_f_Anaerolineaceae were enriched,which might be correlated with direct interspecies electron transfer(DIET).This research showed biochar could enhance the AD of FW and also revealed the main characteristics of biochar relating with the enhancement of AD.

Waste to energy(WTE)in China:from latecomer to front runner

This paper discusses the 2000-2018 evolution of energy and metals recovery from urban wastes in the European Union and China.As a result of the zero-landfilling directive,in twenty years the European Union tripled its recycling rate(11%-30%)and its composting rate(6%-17%),doubled its WTE rate(14%-28%)and more than halved its landfilling(64%-25%).At the beginning of this century,the rapidly growing cities of China were literally surrounded by landfills.Therefore,the national government instituted policies,such as a credit of US$30 per MWh of WTE(waste to energy)electricity that resulted in the construction,by 2020,of 510 WTE plants with an annual WTE capacity of 193 million tons.In comparison,the European Union(EU)WTE capacity is 96 million tons and the USA has remained static at about 27 million tons,i.e.,10%of its post-recycling MSW(municipal solid waste),with the other 90%being landfilled.In the first decade of this century,two WTE technologies,moving grate and circulating fluid bed were developed in China at about the same rate.However,since 2010,the moving grate technology has become dominant and the WTE plants are built functionally and esthetically comparable to and U.S.plants.