Evaluation of treatment technologies for biodegradable municipal solid waste

Abstract

The New Technologies Demonstrator Programme (NTDP) was established in 2003 by the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to encourage the development and implementation of new technologies to help the UK meet the requirements of the EU landfill directive in respect of the diversion of biodegradable municipal waste away from landfill. The NTDP ended in 2010. This paper summarises the outputs from the programme and the key lessons learned for biodegradable municipal solid waste management. Anaerobic digestion is demonstrated as a viable technology, while composting and anaerobic digestion may have benefits in terms of energy that can be offset against conventional nitrogen fixation if the output displaces an artificial fertiliser. In both processes, the quality of the incoming waste stream is crucially important. Mechanical heat treatment can be a viable process for the recovery of clean recyclables and solid recovered fuel from raw municipal solid waste, but further work is needed to investigate and possibly improve the efficiency and effectiveness of new thermally based technologies using wastes or refuse-derived fuels to generate electricity. Thermally based processes were, in general, found to be much more problematic than their biologically based counterparts, in terms of both establishment and operation of the facility.