Small Scale Waste-to-Energy Technologies

Author(s):  
Claudine Ellyin ◽  
Nickolas J. Themelis

The dominant technology for large Waste-to-Energy (WTE) facilities is combustion on a moving grate of “as-received” municipal solid wastes (MSW). However, there are circumstances where a low-capacity plant (<100,000 tons per year) is required. This study examines the technical, economic, and environmental aspects of some small-scale WTE technologies currently in operation. The Energos technology was developed in Norway, in order to provide relatively small communities with an economically efficient alternative to mass-burn incineration with equally low emissions to the atmosphere and flexibility in feedstock. All operating plants treat MSW plus additional streams of commercial or industrial wastes. Prior to thermal treatment, the materials are shredded in a high-torque, low-rpm shredder and ferrous metals are removed magnetically. The feedstock is partially oxidized on a moving grate in the gasification chamber where the fixed carbon is completely burnt off. The volatilized gases are fully combusted in a second chamber and the heat is transferred to a heat recovery system for steam generation. The Energos gasification technology is currently in operation at six plants in Norway, one in Germany, and one in the UK. As expected, the capital cost per ton of annual ton of capacity increases with decreasing plant capacity, while there is a linear relationship between energy recovery and capacity. Some other small-scale technologies are investigated in this study and will be reported at the NAWTEC meeting. Low capacity (<80,000 tons) WTE facilities require a relatively small footprint (1.5 to 2 acres; <1 hectare) and it is believed that these facilities can be built at a capital cost per ton that is as low, or lower, than that of large mass burn WTE facilities.

2020 ◽  
Vol 76 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naser Almanaseer ◽  
Bassim Abbassi ◽  
Connor Dunlop ◽  
Kyle Friesen ◽  
Elliot Nestico-Semianiw

The main objective of this paper is to utilize a multi-criteria analysis (MCA) to evaluate Waste-to-Energy (WTE) technologies and identify constraints when examining the placement of a WTE facility. From this, the focus is best summarized by determining the optimal WTE technology in developed countries and how the process would change if implemented in developing nations. In this study, incineration, gasification, and pyrolysis technologies were reviewed and evaluated. The MCA evaluated the different WTE technologies based on a variety of criteria considering environmental, financial, social, technical, and waste quality and quantity. Different weighted factors were used for the two MCAs and different alternative weighted factor scenarios were produced to perform a sensitivity analysis on the results. Overall, pyrolysis was found to be the preferred option for the developed and the developing nation in all scenarios. For developed countries, the highest difference in the overall index score (7 %) was found in incineration between the baseline and scenario 4. In developing countries, the highest differences in the overall index scores were found in scenario 3 for incineration (9 %) and pyrolysis (10 %). Although pyrolysis had the highest overall capital cost due to it being the newest technology, the environmental, social, associated risk, and waste benefits were seen to be more significant on the findings.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Alix

<p>We report a three-stage process of developing a model of teacher education to encompass provision for Looked After Children in schools in the UK. First, a survey of 78 trainee teachers explored their perceptions and early practice concerning educating Looked After Children (LAC). There are currently 68,840 children of school age in the UK that have been ‘looked after’ for 12 months or more, and their education is of particular concern both within political and educational circles. Second, teacher education programmes were then reviewed to highlight omissions in relation to LAC, and to initiate an early model for improved training practice, not only for teachers in training but also for the continued professional development of those active in service. Third came the development of a model through consultation with major stakeholders in the field of education for Looked After Children. These were state and charitable organisations, and incorporated responses from Virtual School Headteachers (VSHs) who have oversight of the education for LAC, who are placed on a ‘virtual school’ roll even though physically spread across the schools within a local authority and beyond. The outcomes of the study are limited by the small scale of the research, but provide a validated template for the initial and continued education of teachers for LAC.</p>


1990 ◽  
Vol 22 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 139-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Iwai ◽  
Y. Oshino ◽  
T. Tsukada

Although the ratio of sewer systems to population in Japan has been improving in recent years, the construction of sewer systems in small communities such as farming or fishing villages, etc. had lagged behind that of urban areas. However, construction of small-scale sewer systems in farming and fishing villages has been actively carried out in recent years. This report explains the history of the promotion of small-scale sewer systems, why submerged filter beds are being employed in many cases, and introduces the design, operation and maintenance of representative waste-water treatment plants in farming and fishing villages which incorporate de-nitrogen and dephosphorization.


NASPA Journal ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jackie Clark ◽  
Joan Hirt

The creation of small communities has been proposed as a way of enhancing the educational experience of students at large institutions. Using data from a survey of students living in large and small residences at a public research university, this study does not support the common assumption that small-scale social environments are more conducive to positive community life than large-scale social environments.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Abdulhadi Alagha ◽  
Linda Jones

Abstract Context Shortage of physicians in the UK has been a long-standing issue. Graduate entry medicine (GEM) may offer a second point of entry for potential doctors. However, the challenges of developing and implementing these programmes are still unrecognised. This small-scale study aimed to briefly explore the opportunities and challenges facing students at two UK GEM programmes. Methods Two case studies were conducted at Imperial College and Scotland’s GEM (ScotGEM) and used a triangulated qualitative approach via semi-structured and elite interviews. Data analysis, informed by grounded theory, applied thematic and force-field analysis in an empirical approach to generate evidence and instrumental interpretations for Higher Education Institutions. Results Although GEM forms an opportunity for graduates to enter medicine, the different drivers of each programme were key in determining entry requirements and challenges experienced by postgraduates. Three key dilemmas seem to influence the experiences of learners in GEM programmes: (a) postgraduate identity and the everchanging sense-of-self; (b)self-directed and self-regulated learning skills, and (c) servicescape, management and marketing concepts. Conclusions Graduate entry programmes may support policy makers and faculty to fill the workforce gap of healthcare professionals. However, their successful implementation requires careful considerations to the needs of graduates to harness their creativity, resilience and professional development as future healthcare workers.


2021 ◽  
Vol 232 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronney Arismel Mancebo Boloy ◽  
Augusto da Cunha Reis ◽  
Eyko Medeiros Rios ◽  
Janaína de Araújo Santos Martins ◽  
Laene Oliveira Soares ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 233
Author(s):  
Rasmus Karlsson

While the precautionary principle may have offered a sound basis for managing environmental risk in the Holocene, the depth and width of the Anthropocene have made precaution increasingly untenable. Not only have many ecosystems already been damaged beyond natural recovery, achieving a sustainable long-term global trajectory now seem to require ever greater measures of proactionary risk-taking, in particular in relation to the growing need for climate engineering. At the same time, different optical illusions, arising from temporary emissions reductions due to the COVID-19 epidemic and the local deployment of seemingly “green” small-scale renewable energy sources, tend to obscure worsening global trends and reinforce political disinterest in developing high-energy technologies that would be more compatible with universal human development and worldwide ecological restoration. Yet, given the lack of feedback between the global and the local level, not to mention the role of culture and values in shaping perceptions of “sustainability”, the necessary learning may end up being both epistemologically and politically difficult. This paper explores the problem of finding indicators suitable for measuring progress towards meaningful climate action and the restoration of an ecologically vibrant planet. It is suggested that such indicators are essentially political as they reflect, not only different assessments of technological feasibility, but orientations towards the Enlightenment project.


Author(s):  
H Masding

This paper sets out an assessment of the value and practicality of the construction of fossil fired generating plant designed and built as single units and includes a proposal for the design and layout of a single unit designed to maximize the benefits derived from this concept. The conclusion is that an acceptable design of power plant, based on the construction of single 600 MW units, can be developed for the UK system which could prove to be advantageous in construction time, in capital cost and in running cost. The layout applies equally effectively to large ‘green field’ sites or for replanting existing stations; in addition, the plant can be replicated in detail and thereby reduce design and engineering costs. Finally the layout can also be applied in principle to smaller units for overseas utilities as required by their system developments.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Ribeiro ◽  
C. Vilarinho ◽  
J. Araújo ◽  
J. Carvalho

The increasing of world population, industrialization and global consuming, existing market products existed in the along with diversification of raw materials, are responsible for an exponential increase of wastes. This scenario represents loss of resources and ultimately causes air, soils and water pollution. Therefore, proper waste management is currently one of the major challenges faced by modern societies. Textile industries represents, in Portugal, almost 10% of total productive transforming sector and 19% of total employments in the sector composed by almost 7.000 companies. One of the main environmental problems of textile industries is the production of significant quantities of wastes from its different processing steps. According to the Portuguese Institute of Statistics (INE) these industries produce almost 500.000 tons of wastes each year, with the textile cotton waste (TCW) being the most expressive. It was estimated that 4.000 tons of TCW are produced each year in Portugal. In this work an integrated TCW valorisation procedure was evaluated, firstly by its thermal and energetic valorisation with slow pyrolysis followed by the utilization of biochar by-product, in lead and chromium synthetic wastewater decontamination. Pyrolysis experiments were conducted in a small scale rotating pyrolysis reactor with 0.1 m3 of total capacity. Results of pyrolysis experiments showed the formation of 0,241 m3 of biogas for each kilogram of TCW. Results also demonstrated that the biogas is mostly composed by hydrogen (22%), methane (14 %), carbon monoxide (20%) and carbon dioxide (12%), which represents a total high calorific value of 12.3 MJ/Nm3. Regarding biochar, results of elemental analysis demonstrated a high percentage of carbon driving its use as low cost adsorbent. Adsorption experiments were conducted with lead and chromium synthetic wastewaters (25, 50 and 100 mg L−1) in batch vessels with controlled pH. It was evaluated the behaviour of adsorption capacity and removal rate of each metal during 120 minutes of contact time using 5, 10 and 50 g L−1 of adsorbent dosage. Results indicated high affinity of adsorbent with each tested metal with 78% of removal rate in chromium and 95% in lead experiments. This suggests that biochar from TCW pyrolysis may be appropriated to wastewaters treatment, with high contents of heavy metals and it can be an effective alternative to activated carbon.


Author(s):  
Nickolas J. Themelis

This report presents the results of a study that examined alternatives to landfilling the municipal solid wastes (MSW) of New York City. Detailed characterization of the wastes led to their classification, according to materials properties and inherent value, to “recyclable”, “compostable”, “combustible”, and “landfillable”. The results showed that the present rates of recycling (16.6%) and combustion (12.4%) in New York City can be increased by a) implementing an automated, modern Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) that separates the blue bag stream to “recyclables” and “combustibles”, and b) combusting the non-recyclable materials in a Waste-to-Energy (WTE) facility. Combustion of wastes to produce electricity is environmentally much preferable to landfilling. An advanced technology for combustion is that used in a modern Waste-to-Energy plant (SEMASS, Massachusetts) that processes 0.9 million metric tons of MSW per year, generates a net of 610 kWh per metric ton of MSW, recovers ferrous and non-ferrous metals, and has lower emissions than many coal-fired power plants.


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