Mass balances and life-cycle inventory for a garden waste windrow composting plant (Aarhus, Denmark)

Abstract

A comprehensive life-cycle inventory of all consumptions and emissions of environmental relevance was made for the windrow composting plant treating garden waste in Aarhus (Denmark). The flows of materials and substances within the facility were balanced using the mass-balance model STAN. The overall fuel and electricity use at the facility (3.04 L diesel Mg(-1) wet waste (ww) and 0.2 k Wh Mg(-1) ww) was low whereas the emissions of CH( 4) and N(2)O from the windrows (2.4 ± 0.5 kg CH( 4)-C Mg(-1) ww and 0.06 ± 0.03 kg N(2)O-N Mg(-1) ww) were relatively high compared to data reported in similar studies. The loss of carbon during the 14-month-long composting was 56%. CH(4) made up 2.1% of the C lost. Loss of nitrogen-containing compounds was identified as the most sensible and uncertain parameter and could be relevant for global warming (N(2)O emissions), acidification (NH(3) emissions), and eutrophication (NH(3) and NO(3) emissions). The compost produced had a very low content of heavy metals and was suitable for use in gardens and/or agriculture.

Modelling of environmental impacts from biological treatment of organic municipal waste in EASEWASTE

“…Emissions of CH4, NH3 and N2O are modelled as a function of the degradation of Cand N-containing compounds. When possible, data regarding emissions should be gathered and modelled specifically for the assessed facility, as done for example in Andersen et al (2010)".…”

Recovery of essential nutrients from municipal solid waste – Impact of waste management infrastructure and governance aspects

“…Andersen et al (2010) found that 1.8 ± 0.9% of the total input N was lost as N 2 O emissions whereas Hellebrand (1998) measured that 1.7% of the initial N was lost as N 2 O and NH 3 , both in windrow composting of garden waste. N losses due to leachate and denitrification were however not quantified.…”

“…As for P, the loss via leachate is taken as 3% of the input P (Andersen et al, 2010). The nutrient content of compost is calculated by deducting the losses from the original N and P content in the green waste.…”

“…Except for 70 tonnes that are taken to the MBT plant as structure material for compost piles, this waste is composted locally, producing some 1735 tonnes of compost (assuming 65% yield, Andersen et al, 2010).…”

Applying Fuzzy and Probabilistic Uncertainty Concepts to the Material Flow Analysis of Palladium in Austria

“…In the first case, uncertainty is expressed using a probabilistic framework by assuming the uncertain values to be normally distributed, that is, defined by mean values and standard deviations. The “normal approach” is included in this study because it is traditionally and widely used in MFA (e.g., Andersen et al ; Bonnin et al ; Dos Santos et al ; Ott and Rechberger ; Graedel et al ) and it has been implemented in the MFA software, STAN (cf. Cencic and Rechberger ), thereby providing a ready‐to‐use tool for including uncertainty in MFA.…”