Life cycle assessment of resource recovery from municipal solid waste incineration bottom ash

Allegrini, Elisa; Vadenbo, Carl; Boldrin, Alessio; Astrup, Thomas Fruergaard

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2014.11.032

Cited by 112 publications

(61 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…It is expected however, that these will only have a limited influence on the results, and can thus be neglected in this sensitivity analysis focusing on aspects which potentially can have much larger influence on the results. Recycling of metals from ashes can reduce emissions of greenhouse gases (e.g., [37]) and this could be an important aspect of further studies.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Energy Recovery from Waste Incineration—The Importance of Technology Data and System Boundaries on CO2 Emissions

Eriksson

Finnveden

2017

Energies

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Previous studies on waste incineration as part of the energy system show that waste management and energy supply are highly dependent on each other, and that the preconditions for the energy system setup affects the avoided emissions and thereby even sometimes the total outcome of an environmental assessment. However, it has not been previously shown explicitly which key parameters are most crucial, how much each parameter affects results and conclusions and how different aspects depend on each other. The interconnection between waste incineration and the energy system is elaborated by testing parameters potentially crucial to the result: design of the incineration plant, avoided energy generation, degree of efficiency, electricity efficiency in combined heat and power plants (CHP), avoided fuel, emission level of the avoided electricity generation and avoided waste management. CO 2 emissions have been calculated for incineration of 1 kWh mixed combustible waste. The results indicate that one of the most important factors is the electricity efficiency in CHP plants in combination with the emission level of the avoided electricity generation. A novel aspect of this study is the plant by plant comparison showing how different electricity efficiencies associated with different types of fuels and plants influence results. Since waste incineration typically have lower power to fuel ratios, this has implications for further analyses of waste incineration compared to other waste management practises and heat and power production technologies. New incineration capacity should substitute mixed landfill disposal and recovered energy should replace energy from inefficient high polluting plants. Electricity generation must not be lost, as it has to be compensated for by electricity production affecting the overall results.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Energy Recovery from Waste Incineration—The Importance of Technology Data and System Boundaries on CO2 Emissions

Eriksson

Finnveden

2017

Energies

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“…The carbon footprint used in this calculation: NaOH (1.915 tCO 2 /t), commercial waterglass (1.514 tCO 2 /t), OPC (0.82 tCO 2 /t), slag (0.143 tCO 2 /t), fine aggregate (0.0139 tCO 2 /t), coarse aggregate (0.0459 tCO 2 /t) were obtained from (Collins, 2010;Turner and Collins, 2013). For the waste bottom ash, although a high energy consumption process was involved during the incineration, this process belonged to the life cycle of handling the urban wastes and recycling metals etc., then the "produced" bottom ash can be regarded as a resulting by-product that usually with a negative CO 2 footprint value (Allegrini et al, 2015). A similar situation also applied to the granite powder.…”

Section: Carbon Footprintmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterization and application of municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) bottom ash and waste granite powder in alkali activated slag

Gao

Yuan

et al. 2017

Journal of Cleaner Production

159

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Keywords:Municipal solid waste incineration bottom ash Granite powder Alkali activated slag Leaching Reactivity Carbon footprint a b s t r a c tIn this paper, the feasibility of using two solid wastes in alkali activated slag composites as construction and building materials is evaluated. One waste is the municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) bottom ash, and the other one is fine granite powder from aggregate manufacturing. These two solid wastes are thoroughly characterized, and their effects on reaction process, gel composition, microstructure are investigated by isothermal calorimeter, TG/DSC, FTIR and SEM. Leaching properties and CO 2 footprint of some typical mixes are evaluated. The results indicate that both bottom ash and granite addition can be regarded as non-reactive phases. Micro scale analyses show no evident chemical involvement of both wastes on the gel structure of the reaction products. Bottom ash addition reduces the compressive strength, and granite powder presents a lower influence; 28 d strengths of around 20e70 MPa can be achieved depending on the replacement levels. Most of the mixtures pass the Dutch regulation for heavy metal leaching, while the excessive chlorides and sulfates contents can be easily treated by methods such as washing. The carbon emission is significantly reduced due to the negative impact of the waste solids, and this value can be further lower if bottom ash with larger sizes is used to replace coarse aggregates. Therefore, these two solid wastes present promising application potential based on the identified performances and sustainability.

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“…The physical resource potential

U^{r e c}

of the secondary resource(s) of interest, for example, content of a scrap metal or a specific polymer, heating value, or biomethane potential, etc., should ideally be determined based on a thorough characterization of the waste material in question (see, e.g., Allegrini et al. ). The technical resource recovery efficiency η rec accounts for the overall losses (as the relative share of the resource potential) in the recovery processes and up until the point of substitution.…”

Section: Method: a Framework To Account For Substitution In Life Cyclmentioning

confidence: 99%

Let's Be Clear(er) about Substitution: A Reporting Framework to Account for Product Displacement in Life Cycle Assessment

Vadenbo¹,

Hellweg²,

Astrup³

2016

J of Industrial Ecology

Self Cite

132

107

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Summary The multifunctional character of resource recovery in waste management systems is commonly addressed through system expansion/substitution in life cycle assessment (LCA). Avoided burdens credited based on expected displacement of other product systems can dominate the overall results, making the underlying assumptions particularly important for the interpretation and recommendations. Substitution modeling, however, is often poorly motivated or inadequately described, which limits the utility and comparability of such LCA studies. The aim of this study is therefore to provide a structure for the systematic reporting of information and assumptions expected to contribute to the substitution potential in order to make substitution modeling and the results thereof more transparent and interpretable. We propose a reporting framework that can also support the systematic estimation of substitution potentials related to resource recovery. Key components of the framework include waste‐specific (physical) resource potential, recovery efficiency, and displacement rate. End‐use–specific displacement rates can be derived as the product of the relative functionality (substitutability) of the recovered resources compared to potentially displaced products and the expected change in consumption of competing products. Substitutability can be determined based on technical functionality and can include additional constraints. The case of anaerobic digestion of organic household waste illustrates its application. The proposed framework enables well‐motivated substitution potentials to be accounted for, regardless of the chosen approach, and improves the reproducibility of comparative LCA studies of resource recovery.

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Life cycle assessment of resource recovery from municipal solid waste incineration bottom ash

Cited by 112 publications

References 39 publications

Energy Recovery from Waste Incineration—The Importance of Technology Data and System Boundaries on CO2 Emissions

Energy Recovery from Waste Incineration—The Importance of Technology Data and System Boundaries on CO2 Emissions

Characterization and application of municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) bottom ash and waste granite powder in alkali activated slag

Let's Be Clear(er) about Substitution: A Reporting Framework to Account for Product Displacement in Life Cycle Assessment

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