Canada has been relying on the integration of its forest industry for decades during which lumbering was closely associated with the pulp and paper industry back in an age where CO2 emissions were merely discussed.

The anaerobic digestion (AD) has become an alternative source and an attractive treatment method. Up-flow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) digester has been designed to treat the Recycled paper mill wastewater (RPMW) in Morocco.

The rapid growth of wind and solar power production installations worldwide has not been coupled with similar rates of integration in the electrical grid. This study proposes the conversion of agricultural residues into biocoal by means of frictional pyrolysis, which is a novel power-to-fuel technology that converts directly electricity into mechanical work and uses no additional heat. The excess renewable energy, that otherwise would be lost, will be utilized for converting agricultural residues into biocoal. This novel concept is defined as the concept of the renewable battery. A case study is presented for the State of California and three characteristic biomass types have been analyzed and converted into biocoal. The analysis showed that, between the years 2007–2016, the wind power installations have increased by 242.37% and the majority of solar PV were installed which account for 17,238 GWh. From the initial energy input of the biomass, the energy that was converted and stored in the form of biocoal ranged from 78.6% to 86.8%. The concept of renewable battery promotes carbon sequestration in agricultural practices and serves as a cleaner and renewable fuel that can be co-combusted with coal.

Despite the organic fraction representing 68% of the total waste gene- rated (2.8 million tons produced in 2017), only 1-2% of municipal waste is currently biologically treated in Tunisia.

The organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) reached currently 68% of the total waste generated in Tunisia. Thus, a biological treatment is needed. Composting is considered as an effective and sustainable technology from the perspectives of volume reduction, stabilization and releasing the pressure on landfills as well as making a valuable end-product.

The EU Commission is currently working on implementing legislation on labels and markings for biodegradable and compostable plastic carrier bags. The new measure stipulates that plastic shopping bags and carrier bags would have to be labelled throughout the EU according to their suitability for both industrial and home composting. This joint statement sets out the position of the German waste and bio-waste management associations, who are using this process as an opportunity to express their fundamental disagreement with the practice of composting biodegradable plastics. The position taken in this joint statement covers all products made of biodegradable plastics such as, amongst others, packaging, disposable tableware and coffee capsules. It also takes issue with the assignment of these products to certain types of waste treatment. Bio-based and certified biodegradable plastic bags, some of which are used as caddy liners in the separate collection of household organic kitchen waste, are not part of the scope of this position. With respect to bio-based and biodegradable bags, the co-signatories of this position paper are in line with the position of the German Federal Environmental Agency (UBA). UBA states that certified biodegradable bags can only be used if they are listed in Annex 1 of Germany’s regulation on bio-waste. They also need to be approved by the relevant local public authorities for waste management and in close co-operation with bio-waste treatment companies.

This study presented a new model (named MAGSY) for the simulation of advanced small-scale gasification systems. These novel designs can be complex and may combine several features that are not typical for conventional systems. MAGSY is a vis-à-vis and process-based model that has been able to account for the excess air in the combustion sub-process (zone) which is conveyed to the pyrolysis zone creating practically a coupled system of sub-stoichiometric combustions. Onsite monitoring results from a rising co-current gasifier are used for the validation of the model. Simulations have been performed for excess air regimes between 11% and 20% and the produced gases from the “oxidation reactions” system were reformed by the “char-gas reactions” system. The model calculated a hydrogen molar fraction of 19.53% and carbon monoxide molar fraction of carbon monoxide 24.45% while the case study values were 19.19% and 24.02% respectively. Both gases were shown to have inverted correlation with equivalent air ratios at values bigger than 99.3%, which is a notable point. For equivalent ratios of 0.l7–0.25 the model returned char yields of 1.2–1.7% and the measurement from the case study showed that the char yield was 1.5%. Finally, a detailed exergy analysis of the gasifier is presented and validated with the values that were retrieved from the monitoring. MAGSY is able to adjust and model reactors with different levels of complexity.

Spent coffee grounds are the moist solid residues of coffee brewing and in most cases, the disposal is done without any intermediate valorization actions for materials and energy recovery. State-of-the-art applications include extraction of the liquids and application of high-temperature pyrolysis. Both strategies have significant potential but have also some disadvantages (extensive pre-treatment, high costs) when applied on a large scale. This study highlights the lack of mild pyrolysis valorization strategies and presents the idea of the “COFFEE BIN.”

This paper deals with estimation of methane emissions from the Mirash municipal solid waste sanitary landfill. Methane emission was calculated according to two different methodologies, namely, IPCC 2006 and LandGEM.

A novel biomass gasification-based combined cooling, heat and power (CCHP) system, which is composed of a gas-fueled internal combustion engine, variable-effect LiBr-H2O absorption cooling, and dehumidification air-conditioning with desiccant coated heat exchangers, was introduced. This work enables to contribute valuable data to the practical application of the biomass gasification-based CCHP system in Singapore's building sector.

One of the major concerns of biogas plants can’t be operated economical and environmental sustainable manner. In order to produce biogas in rural areas, using anaerobic systems with high organic content of farm wastes can be able to remove these concerns.

As a completion of the intensive cooperation of the export initiative Environmental Technologies "Sustainable Waste and Recycling Management in Croatia", a high-ranking 30-member delegation from Croatia visited Bavaria.

Dr. Sunil Kumar, Principal Scientist and Head, Head of WtERT India had a meeting with Dipl.-Ing. Werner Bauer and Dipl.-Ing. Hedwig Vielreicher in Munich, Bavaria.