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Prioritize Diversion of Biodegradable Waste from Landfills

Personal invitation to WtERT members

"Sustainable Waste Management: The Forefront of Innovation" was the topic under which Prof. Marco Castaldi's organising team gathered a wide range of presentations from around the world:

Sewage sludges as well as ashes from waste incineration plants are known accumulation sinks of many elements that are either important nutrients for biological organisms (phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, etc.) or valuable metals when considered on their own in pure form (nickel, chrome, zinc, etc.); they are also serious pollutants when they occur in wild mixtures at localized anthropogenic end-of-stream points.

Biochar is a promising organic recycling material to be used as a soil conditioner and feed supplement. However, it may contain pollutants originating from feedstock, or formed during pyrolysis. The latter origin is eminent in the case of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Inherent inorganic contaminants in biochars are unlikely and studies on this topic are rare. Concentrations of metals are probably similar to those in other recycling fertilizers, depending on the input material. Conversely, pyrolysis of organic matter produces condensed carbonaceous structures which strongly adsorb organic pollutants such as PAHs, pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls, etc. Biochars are also used to immobilize heavy metal pollutions in soils. Carboxylized biochars are employed to enhance ionic interactions with the pollutants to avoid leaching into (ground) waters. The raise of pore water pH in biochar amended soil in contrast mobilizes anionic contaminants such as antimony or arsenic which exhibit mostly negative speciation in such alkaline environments. All in all, biochar is probably both, a source and sink of contaminants.

The first waste incineeration plants in Europe were built in the middle of the 19th century. Hygiene played an important role, because plagues had again and again hit many countries, cost numerous lives.

The aim of research was to evaluate the growth and physiological evens in Virginia fanpetals plants, cultivated in different media and fertilised with sewage sludge, in order to elaborate the effects of this manuring on energy plant development on low quality soils.

This paper discusses the retrofit injection of humid gas from sludge dryer with secondary air in the WTE furnaces in Québec City. In 1992, a municipal sludge treatment plant was added in the WTE building. Three sludge dryers, each connected to a furnace, were added. Direct contact with hot furnace gas was used to dry sludge in a rotary drum. Humid gas from the dryer was returned to the rear wall of the furnace just above the finishing grate.

The basic legislative norm in the Czech Republic regulating all issues around sewage sludge disposal is the “Waste Act” accepted by the Parliament and published in the Collection of Law under registration number 185/2001 Coll. The law was amended several times and the last amendment comes from 2006 (No. 314/2006 Coll.). The latest amendment defines not only the sludge from wastewater treatment plants (i.e., not only from municipal wastewater treatment plants) but brings also a new category of “biologically degradable wastes”.

PowerPoint Presentation with 21 slides

Bio-drying is an aerobic pre-treatment of municipal solid waste that shows its best performances when the waste has a high moisture content. This is a typical characteristics of the waste of low-income countries. The bio-drying process exploits the exothermic reactions developed in the core of the waste thanks to a regulated aeration. The aim is the generation of a material with a higher Lower Heating Value (LHV), using a little part of volatile solids present in the waste.

SUMMARY: This paper reviews the need for renewable energy, through the use of biogas from sewage sludge to generate energy in terms of electricity.

In principle biomass is organically stored solar energy. The storage occurs through photosynthesis in plants and via the plants in animals as well. According to this definition, coal, oil and gas may also be considered as biomass; after all they originate from dead plant and animal residue. As we understand it today, biomass also has a temporal dimension. It is decisive for our climate that the growth process of biomass - while it is converting carbon, mostly from the carbon dioxide (CO2) in the air, into organic matter - closely coincides with the release, e.g. by energetic utilization. This period can last several hundred years for trees and only a few weeks for other plants.

Utilization of alternative fuels in the power generating industry, in the cement industry and in the steel making industry has recently gained a considerable importance.

Water and Wastewater in Russia - The technology for biological wastewater treatment in breweries meets wastewater standards and official requirements. Enviro-Chemie specialists develop a customized, ecologically and economically sound solution for each client. 

Continued population growth, contamination of both surface water and groundwater, uneven distribution of water resources and periodic droughts have lead to a search for new sources of water supply. One must discuss, not only in developing and threshold countries, how the objectives and requirements for wastewater and sludge disposal are in accord with a possible water reuse or whether they exclude each other. Early developments in the field of water reuse are synonymous with the historical practice of land application for the disposal of wastewater.

Sewage Sludge consists of valuable compounds such as nutrients as well as harmful substances e.g. heavy metals. For sludges with a low pollutant concentration, utilization in agriculture is the best option for sludge reuse.