The thesis outlined in this report is a pre-feasibility study of the potential to use waste-to-energy technology in the region Kutai Kartanegara, Borneo, Indonesia. The project is a collaboration between the Kutai Kartanegara government, Uppsala University, the Swedish University of Agricultural sciences and the technology consulttancy Sweco. The current waste management system in Kutai Kartanegara consists of landfills in the cities and open burnings and dumping in the lesser developed sub-districts. This is a growing problem both environmentally and logistically. The electrification in the sub-districts is sometimes as low as 17 % and access to electricity is often limited to a couple of hours per day. The current electricity production in the region is mainly from fossil fuels. Data was collected during a two month long field study in Tenggarong, the capital of Kutai Kartanegara. From the collected data, various waste-to-energy systems and collection areas were simulated in Matlab. Results from the simulations show that a system using both a waste incineration and biogas plant would be the best solution for the region. The chosen system is designed to handle a total of 250,000 tons of waste annually, collected from Tenggarong and neighbouring districts. The system will provide between 155 and 200 GWh electricity and between 207 and 314 GWh of excess heat energy annually. Some of this is used in a district heating system with an absorption-cooling machine. The system investment cost is around 42.5 MUSD and it is expected to generate an annual profit of 16 MUSD. The recommended solution will decrease the emissions of CO2-equivalents compared to the current waste system and fossil electricity production with 50%. The results in the study clearly show that there are both economic and environmental potential for waste-to-energy technologies in the region. But the waste management and infrastructure has to be improved to be able to utilize these technologies. By implementing waste-to-energy technologies, the supplied waste can be seen as a resource instead of a problem. This would give incentives for further actions and investments regarding waste management.

Healthcare waste (HCW) incineration practices in the global South countries are among the major sources of black carbon (BC) emissions or smoke. This study analyzes HCW incineration trends during emergency situations and smoke from HCW incineration processes in Haiti. The study was prompted by the current arguments about the climate change and the growing health effects associated with BC emissions. The conceptual framework was based on both adverse health effects from BC emissions exposure and climate change potential of BC emissions. Therefore, the goal was to determine whether cardboard HCW sharps containers emit lower BC emissions to the atmosphere during the incineration process, relative to the plastic sharps containers, and the pattern of emergency HCW incineration before and after the 2010 earthquake and cholera emergencies in Haiti. This was an observational study conducted with secondary data on HCW incinerated weights from January 2009 to December 2013 and primary data on average smoke densities. Linear regression analysis of the pattern of HCW incinerated weights revealed a relatively linear pattern (R2 = 0.164) with fluctuating scenarios (peak sharp rise in 2012). Independent samples t-tests demonstrated significantly lower smoke emission during the incineration processes of cardboard sharps HCW containers as compared to plastic containers (95 % CI, p = 0.003). Implications for positive social change include provision of quantitative evidence of the benefits of cardboard sharps HCW containers in reducing smoke during incineration activities, potential data for policy formulation, suggestions for review of existing HCW guidelines, and additional research on potential health impacts of emergency HCW disposal and BC emissions.

Water shortage issues have been growing concerns in many cities around the world in recent years, especially in Eastern cities of Australia, which is the driest continent on the earth. The aim of this PhD thesis is a development of a model to study the use of waste incineration energy supplemented by alternative energy to power seawater desalination. It is to aid the freshwater supply of a drought stricken city in Eastern Australia. My work contributes to a development of efficient model in a simpler understandable way to reduce efforts required for modelling complex multi domain problems. This research is motivated by the successive severe drought conditions that affected many Australian cities in the past few years, compounded with an additional strain from a fast growing population. While we dump our waste into the Australian landscape, in more densely populated cities in Europe and Asia, the waste is incinerated to obtain thermal energy for various purposes. The waste is used as an energy source while at the same time reducing the amount of space needed for landfill. Seawater desalination has been uccessfully practiced for quite some time particularly in the Middle Eastern countries. To deal with increasing water shortage crisis, many cities around the world have opted or are considering seawater desalination to supplement their freshwater supply. The combination of both - waste incineration and seawater desalination - has rarely been studied. This is a twofold problem that requires modelling the problem of water demand and supply together with waste incineration to find a sustainable solution. This is a complex task. The effort needed for this can be reduced by using a modelling approach that is more efficient than the traditionally used statistical approaches. In this thesis, I present a comprehensive model developed using a dynamic system approach combined with artificial neural networks. It simulates water demand and supply as well as the possible amount of the desalinated water that can be produced using the energy from clean city waste incineration. This is done while taking in various influential factors including population growth and irregular weather patterns. This research comprises a literature review on seawater desalination and waste incineration, the establishment of water demand and supply dynamics of Gold Coast City as my case study and identifying any modelling difficulties that need to be overcome. This is followed by the development of a comprehensive model and its components, model calibration and simulation experiments. It was found that with the energy of waste incineration, up to 60% of the freshwater demand could be fulfilled by seawater desalination in a sustainable way.

Les performances de filtration d’un filtre à manche vis-à-vis de particules submicroniques et nanométriques ont été évaluées à l’échelle du laboratoire durant plusieurs cycles de colmatage/décolmatage. La distribution granulométrique des particules (aérosol de combustion) était représentative de celle rencontrée en incinération de nano-déchets en sortie de chambre de combustion à l’échelle du laboratoire. Le filtre à manche opérait en conditions réalistes, représentatives de celles rencontrées dans les lignes de traitement des fumées d’incinération de déchets en termes de température, humidité, vitesse de filtration, présence de réactifs et conditions de décolmatage. Le flux d’air et le filtre à manche étaient chauffés à 150°C, la teneur en eau était de 10-12% (soit 3% d’humidité relative HR), et la vitesse de filtration était fixée à 1,9 cm.s⁻¹. Un mélange de particules de taille submicronique de charbon actif et de bicarbonate de sodium, utilisées dans les lignes de traitement des fumées d’incinération pour l’abattement des dioxines/furanes et des gaz acides, était généré simultanément avec l’aérosol de combustion. L’étude s’est centrée sur les performances de filtration au début de la durée de vie du filtre à manche, avant stabilisation de la perte de charge résiduelle du filtre résultant des précédents cycles de filtration. La perte de charge maximale du filtre était fixée à 150 Pa pour tous les cycles de filtration avant décolmatage par rétro-soufflage à air comprimé. Les performances du filtre à manche ont été évaluées en termes d’évolution de sa perte de charge et de son efficacité de collecte (totale et fractionnelle) au cours des cycles de colmatage/décolmatage. De plus, des études expérimentales et théoriques ont été menées afin d’étudier l’influence de divers paramètres sur les performances de filtration du filtre en configuration manche ou plane, tels que l’humidité de l’air (3% HR versus 0% HR à 150°C), la température (150°C versus 24°C), la vitesse de filtration (1,9 cm.s⁻¹ versus 1,4 cm.s⁻¹) et l’influence de l’injection de réactifs. Les principaux résultats de cette étude sont : (i) importante efficacité de capture des particules du filtre à manche en conditions représentatives des lignes de traitement des fumées d’incinération : efficacité minimale de collecte de 98,5% mesurée pour des particules de taille 74 ± 15 nm (diamètre de mobilité électrique), (ii) influence du gâteau résiduel de particules au début de chaque cycle de filtration sur les performances de traitement, (iii) influence significative de l’humidité de l’air sur la structure du gâteau de particules probablement due à l’augmentation des forces d’adhésion entre les particules en présence d’humidité (150°C – 3% HR soit environ 100 g d’eau par kg d’air sec) ; augmentation plus rapide de la perte de charge du filtre à manche en présence d’humidité (150°C – 3% HR) qu’en conditions d’air sec (150°C – 0% HR). / Filtration performance of a pulse-jet bag filter was evaluated at the laboratory-scale regarding submicronic particles with a nanosized fraction during clogging/unclogging cycles. The particle size distribution was representative to those encountered at the outlet of a nano-waste incineration device at laboratory-scale. The bag filter was operated in conditions as similar as possible to those found in flue gas treatment of waste incineration plants, in terms of temperature, humidity, filtration velocity, injection of sorbent reagents and unclogging conditions. The air flow and the bag filter were heated to 150°C, the water content was maintained in the air flow in the range of 10-12% (3% of relative humidity RH), and filtration velocity throughout the bag filter was fixed at 1.9 cm.s⁻¹. A mixture of submicronic suspended particles of activated carbon and sodium bicarbonate, both used in flue gas treatment systems mainly for the removal of dioxins/furans and acid gases, was generated simultaneously with the aerosol representative of combustion emissions.The study focused on the filtration performance at the beginning of the bag filter’s lifetime filter for the 11 first clogging-unclogging cycles before stabilizing the residual pressure drop reached after pulse-jet unclogging. The maximum pressure drop was set at 150 Pa for all filtration cycles. Once the maximum pressure drop was reached, the filter was unclogged using the pulse-jet system. The performance of the bag filter was evaluated in terms of the evolution of pressure drop, fractional and total particle collection efficiencies, during the clogging/unclogging cycles.Moreover, an experimental and theoretical study was carried out on the influence of different parameters on the filtration performance of bag filter and flat filter, such as influence of humidity (3% RH versus 0% RH at 150°C), temperature (150°C versus 24°C), filtration velocity (1.9 cm.s⁻¹ versus 1.4 cm.s⁻¹) and the influence of the injection of sorbent reagents.The main results of this study are: (i) high collection efficiency of the bag filter in representative conditions of flue gas treatment of waste incineration: minimun particle collection efficiency of 98.5% for particle diameter of 74 ± 15 nm (electrical mobility diameter), (ii) influence of residual particle cake at the beginning of the filtration cycles on the bag filter performance, (iii) significant influence of humidity on the porosity of the particle cake due to the capillary condensation of water between the particles in presence of humidity (150°C - 3% RH i.e. almost 100 g of water per kg of dry air). Faster increase of bag filter pressure drop in presence of humidiy (150°C - 3% RH) as compared to the dry conditions (150°C - 0% RH).

With the growth of energy consumption and the optimization of industrial processes worldwide, new energy sources have been explored and investigated. Waste heat is a potential source for the generation of electricity and heat. This heat can be reused at different stages of industrial processes by using absorption heat pumps, which transfer thermal energy from a location with a lower thermal potential to a location with a higher thermal potential. This research work is basically focused on the evaluation of different absorption heat pumps implemented in the SAKO Brno incineration plant. To carry out this purpose, a bibliographic review of this technology has been carried out worldwide, then the mass and energy balance in the compressor is presented, from which the waste heat to be recovered with the pump will be obtained. Using the EES software, the mass and energy balance of the selected pumps is performed, then the amount of heat and electrical energy generated by the plant when implementing each of the pumps is shown, and finally the economic analysis is presented The design and implementation of a heat exchanger in the system is also included as an essential part of improving operation. The best option arises from the highest operational efficiency at the lowest possible cost.

The municipal solid waste (MSW) is a heterogeneous material that consists mainly of organic and mineral substances, metals and water. After thermal treatment this waste redistributes into individual incineration products. This also holds for the metals contained in the waste. This thesis deals with the behaviour of heavy metals and their compounds during the incineration process. Determining the percentage content of heavy metals from the waste entering the process of thermal utilization is practically impossible. The principal aim is to determine the amount of each heavy metal in the MSW from the incineration products. The opening sections of the thesis deal with waste, options of incineration, flue gas cleaning processes and also with the problems of the heavy metals in the environment. The next section introduces recent developments, what possibilities there are for determining the heavy metals in the waste and methods of data evaluation. The experimental part of the thesis introduces of a four-day measuring process that was conducted at the MSW incineration plant SAKO, Inc. The samples of the individual products of incineration were taken and after the laboratory analysis the results for the selected heavy metals were processed. The results include statistical data analysis.

The thesis is focused on analyzing the current status of the technology used for cleaning flue gas from persistent organic pollutants, especially PCDD/F. For the three most commonly used methods of solution operational and energy efficiency comparison was made, where achievable energy export and the impact of the change in working conditions on the efficiency indicators of energy production and use of the energy was evaluated. In conditions we considered an alternative machine-technological solutions used for the final disposal of persistent organic pollutants resulting from the waste combustion in terms of additional operating costs and energy efficiency.

Au cours des dernières décennies, nous avons été témoins de la croissance des controverses relatives à l’incinération des déchets solides municipaux dans de nombreuses villes du monde. Cela est particulièrement vrai pour les grandes et moyennes villes en Chine. Diverses catégories d’acteurs, y compris l’État, les autorités locales, les acteurs du marché économique et de la société civile, tentent d’exercer leur influence sur la construction, l’extension et/ou l’opération des incinérateurs. Même si les controverses relatives à l’incinération des déchets solides municipaux abordées par le passé dans plusieurs disciplines, nous ne sommes pas en présence d’une véritable compréhension collective suffisante de la stabilité et du changement à l’échelle méso. La thèse traite de la question suivante: dans les débats et les affrontements autour de l’incinération, comment et jusqu’à quel point les interactions et les compétitions entre contestataires et adversaires contribuent-elles à définir un champ d’action stratégique où la structure industrielle et les politiques de gestion des déchets dominées par l’incinération sont remises en question ou reconduites ? Pour répondre à cette question, cette étude considère l’incinération des déchets solides municipaux en Chine sous l’angle d’un champ d’action stratégique. Elle essaie de clarifier ce qui se passe dans ce champ sous trois aspects: les acteurs, les actions stratégiques et les retombées politiques. Faisant appel à une démarche de recherche qualitative, un grand volume de données primaires et secondaires a été amassé, y compris 42 entretiens semi-structurés, 557 posts en ligne, des rapports de recherche, des documents d’archives, des rapports d’évaluation de l’impact sur l’environnement, des nouvelles en ligne, des données statistiques et des documents de politique. À l’aide de ces données, cette étude approfondi la compréhension des relations entre, d’un côté les acteurs s’opposant aux activités découlant de l’incinération – les contestataires – et, de l’autre, les adversaires dans le champ d’action stratégique, mettant en lumière leurs arguments respectifs. En outre, le processus par lequel les militants utilisent les réseaux sociaux pour la mobilisation du consensus a reçu une attention supplémentaire. De plus, cette étude a analysé l’évolution des interactions entre les militants et les décideurs politiques et a contextualisé la transformation du champ au cours des dernières décennies. Les résultats ont montré que les controverses autour de l’incinération des déchets solides municipaux sont allées au-delà des préoccupations pour les intérêts personnels et le bien-être environnemental. Cela permet d’introduire des explications plus nuancées comparativement aux discours conventionnels concernant les protestations contre l’incinération, fournissant une compréhension systématique de l’activisme local. Cette analyse exploratoire a permis également de mieux comprendre la signification politique et sociale des controverses publiques à travers des pratiques locales de gestion des déchets. Dans un sens plus large, la thèse permet de revoir les notions usuelles à l’égard des relations entre conflits et ordre. / The past few decades have witnessed the growth of controversies regarding municipal solid waste (MSW) incineration in many cities around the world. This is especially true when it comes to large and medium-sized cities in China. Various categories of actors—including the state, local authorities, market actors, and the civil society—seek to exert their influence on the construction, expansion, and/or operation of incinerators. Even though the controversies over MSW incineration have been discussed across a range of disciplines in previous literature, we are not in the presence of a sufficient collective understanding of stability and change of the meso-level social order. This dissertation addresses the following question: How and to what extent do interactions and competition between pro-incineration and anti-incineration groups contributes to defining a strategic action field (SAF) where the incineration-dominated industrial structure and waste disposal policies are challenged or maintained? To answer the question, this study considers MSW incineration in China an SAF and attempts to clarify what is happening in this SAF from three aspects: actors, strategic action, and policy impacts. Based on a qualitative research design, a great volume of primary and secondary data were collected, including 42 semi-structured interviews, 557 online posts, research reports, archival materials, environmental impact assessment reports, online news, statistical data, and policy documents. With the help of collected data, this study deepened the understanding of the relationship between proponents and opponents in the field of incineration and shed light on their respective arguments. In addition, the process through which activists used social media for consensus mobilization was given additional attention. Moreover, by analyzing the dynamics of the interplay between activists and policy makers, this study revealed and contextualized the evolution of the SAF over the past few decades. The findings showed that controversies around MSW incineration had gone beyond the concerns for personal interests and environmental well-being. This allows to introduce more refined explanations compared to conventional discourses regarding anti-incineration protests and provide a more nuanced understanding of local activism. This exploratory analysis also helped to better understand the political and social significance of public controversies through local practices of MSW management. In a broad sense, this dissertation makes it possible to review the usual conceptions with regard to the relations between conflict and order.

This doctoral thesis deals with potentials of methods for cleaning of flue gas from pollutants such as acidic components. Wet method of flue gas cleaning is analysed in detail with special focus on elimination of sulphur dioxide (SO2). Introduction presents advantages and disadvantages of thermal processing of waste and production of undesired pollutants. Following parts comprise facts about main pollutants produced from incineration. Legislation providing for emission of gaseous pollutants from incinerators is also given. Chapter concerning methods of pollutants elimination is mostly focused on absorption (wet and/or semidry scrubber) and adsorption methods. Several up-to-date technological procedures are mentioned; they have a multifunctional effect such as elimination of acidic components, heavy metals, polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxines and dibenzo-furanes from flue gas using single injection of suspense. Elimination of mercury (Hg) is among the technologies for heavy metal elimination which is described in detail. Main part of the thesis is related to experiments at two-stage flue gas cleaning equipment. Function of this experimental unit is described along with methods for measurement of individual quantities and detailed description of all the equipment and its components. Experimental measurements carried out at this equipment are explicated and assessed. Along with experimental work, the author has created a simulation model of wet flue gas cleaning in ChemCad programme. Particular operational parameters were tested on this model. This thesis contains results of the measurement which provide background for verification of the mathematical model. Further, the balance of heavy metals conducted on the basis of measurements in waste incinerator is displayed. Main contribution of the thesis may be summed up as follows: ­ Author has designed and constructed experimental equipment for two stage flue gas cleaning. ­ He also formed calculation for pressure drop of O-element prototype equipment and for packing column with FLEXIPAC structured packing. ­ He created data file with measurements at the experimental unit. ­ He determined temperature at outlet of a random device where liquid is injected into stream of hot flue gas. ­ He designed a simulation model which is identical with experimental equipment and which usage enabled comparison of measured and calculated data; it also serves as a basis for industrial applications. ­ Last part deals with creation off heavy metals balance in a case industrial waste incinerator.

Dans un contexte accru d’économie circulaire et de valorisation des matières premières recyclées, les mâchefers d’incinération de déchets non dangereux (MIDND) constituent des déchets granulaires minéraux identifiés comme ressources renouvelables potentiellement valorisables dans la filière construction, notamment dans le domaine des matériaux cimentaires (type mortier/béton). Compte tenu de l'origine et de la nature des granulats de mâchefers, dans une finalité de concourir à une meilleure compatibilité mâchefer/ciment, il apparait essentiel en premier lieu de considérer des fractions minérales de mâchefers au mieux épurées par l’optimisation de l’enlèvement des métaux ferreux, non-ferreux et indésirables. En second temps, tenant compte des spécificités physico-chimiques résultantes des mâchefers, le choix de la base cimentaire constitue le second facteur prépondérant en sus de la nécessité de meilleure qualité de la fraction minérale de mâchefer. Le présent travail doctoral traite spécifiquement de l’apport de l’utilisation d’un ciment sulfo-alumineux dans le contexte de valorisation des mâchefers en matrice cimentaire. Des sables de mâchefers améliorés de fraction 0/2 mm ont été élaborés et utilisés pour l’étude. Dans une première partie, les résultats de formulation de mortiers cimentaires (ciment Portland, noté OPC / ciment sulfo-alumineux, noté CSA) à base de mâchefers en substitution volumique partielle du sable naturel (25, 50 et 75 %) et totale (100 %), mettent en évidence l’apport bénéfique du ciment CSA sur les résistances en compression par comparaison aux mortiers OPC. Une analyse expérimentale du réseau poreux des mortiers à 90 jours révèle que la frange de porosité supérieure à 50 nm est nettement plus faible pour les mortiers CSA. La thèse met en évidence un résultat majeur et pionnier : en interaction mâchefer, le niveau de basicité du milieu réactionnel joue un rôle prépondérant sur le potentiel de dégagement gazeux (hydrogène) après la mise en œuvre et avant la prise. Ce gaz impacte le niveau de porosité de la frange la plus grossière des mortiers durcis. La seconde partie concerne l’étude physique et microstructurale des mortiers soumis à l’attaque à l’eau pure ou à attaque sulfatique pour des substitutions volumiques de 50 et 100 %, avec les témoins pour référentiels. Les observations MEB sur les différentes matrices mettent en évidence une nette moindre sensibilité des mortiers mâchefer/CSA que des mortiers mâchefer/OPC, traduit par des porosités, fissurations et épaisseurs dégradées moindres. / In a world where circular economy and the valorization of raw materials is taking a greater importance, municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) bottom ash is identified as potentially renewable resource in the construction field and more specifically in cementitious materials like mortar and concrete. Given the origin of the bottom ash and in order to have a better cement/MSWI bottom ash compatibility, the fraction used was as refined as possible by removing ferrous, non-ferrous and unwanted materials. The choice of the cement used is a critical factor as well because it affects the quality of the end product since MSWI bottom ash has particular physicochemical properties. The work in this PhD studies the advantages of using a sulfo-aluminate cement to valorize an improved 0/2 mm fraction of bottom ash that has been developed to be used in cementitious matrices. The first part presents the results of the mortar sample mixes containing bottom ash in a substitution by volume of the standard sand. To better highlight the effect of using a sulfo-aluminate (CSA), CSA mortars containing bottom ash were compared to a Portland cement (OPC) mortars, with substitution rates of 25 %, 50 %, 75 % and 100 % were used. A study of the porosity was then conducted at 90 days ; it shows that the pores larger to 50 nm are remarkably less present for CSA mortars. This thesis brings forward a major and innovative result : the level of alkalinity of the mortar plays an important role in the release of hydrogen gas after mixing and before setting. The presence of these gases creates large porosity in the hardened mortar samples. The second part studies the physical and microstructural aspects of the mortars after being immersed in aggressive environments : pure water and sulfate solution. The substitution rates used in this experiment were 50 % and 100 % by volume as well as the reference mortars with no bottom ash. These samples were then studied in the SEM which showed that CSA/bottom ash mortars were clearly less affected than the OPC/bottom ash mortars. This was highlighted by the porosity, the cracking and the depth of degraded zone.