Journal
JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION
Volume 107, Issue -, Pages 516-528Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.04.018
Keywords
Environmental impact; Recycling; Biological treatments; Incineration; Landfills and energy recovery
Categories
Funding
- Erasmus Mundus-E2NHANCE PROJECT EU
- Universidad de Costa Rica
- CONICIT (Comision Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnologicas de Costa Rica)
- Spanish Ministerio de Educacion y Ciencia [TRA2009 0216]
- Ambiensys S.L
- European Union Interreg Project [ECOTECH-SUDOE SOE2/P2/E377]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Despite efforts to increase the selective collection of municipal solid waste (MSW) in developed countries, the amount of unsorted waste remains high, with the consequent difficulty of material recovery and recycling. In 2010, 61% of the MSW generated in the European Union (EU) ended up in landfill and incineration facilities. Autoclaving is a novel technology that can be used to treat unsorted MSW, producing organic fibers that can be composted. The life cycle analysis (LCA) was used to assess the effectiveness of autoclaving unsorted MSW and various alternative methods for treating organic fibers produced through this process. The alternative methods that were considered included composting in tunnels, composting in confined windrow and composting in turning windrow as well as anaerobic digestion. The environmental assessment results were compared to those associated with incineration and landfill. The results of this study showed that autoclaving with sorting, digesting anaerobically and composting had the lowest impact values for eutrophication and the global warming potential. It was also found that autoclaving is justified only if the products of the process, that is, polyethylene terephthalate, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, are recycled to avoid virgin material production and if the remaining mixed plastic wastes are incinerated for energy recovery. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available