Journal
APPLIED ENERGY
Volume 283, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2020.116129
Keywords
Waste respirator processing; COVID-19; Process design and integration; Techno-economic analysis; Life cycle assessment
Categories
Funding
- Engaged Research Grants
- Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability
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This study proposes a novel waste respirator processing system to protect public health and mitigate climate change. The system incorporates sterilization and pre-processing technologies to resist viral infection and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, with a payback time of seven years and an internal rate of return of 21.5%.
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic leads to a surge on consumption of respirators. This study proposes a novel and effective waste respirator processing system for protecting public health and mitigating climate change. Respirator sterilization and pre-processing technologies are included in the system to resist viral infection and facilitate unit processes for respirator pyrolysis, product separation, and downstream processing for greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction. We evaluate the system's environmental performance through high-fidelity process simulations and detailed life cycle assessment. Techno-economic analysis results show that the payback time of the waste respirator processing system is seven years with an internal rate of return of 21.5%. The tipping fee and discount rate are the most influential economic factors. Moreover, the unit life cycle GHG emissions from the waste respirator processing system are 12.93 kg CO2-eq per thousand waste respirators treated, which reduces GHG emissions by 59.08% compared to incineration-based system so as to mitigate climate change.
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