A alta complexidade da destinação dos resíduos sólidos nas megacidades, como é o caso do Município de São Paulo advém, não apenas da grande quantidade de resíduos gerados, mas também da sua extensão urbana.Os dois aterros sanitários localizados na periferia da Capital paulista – Bandeirantes e São João – recebem, diariamente, doze mil toneladas de resíduos urbanos, dentre as quais quase nove mil de resíduos domiciliares. Esses aterros ocupam, respectivamente, 140 e 85 hectares e estarão esgotados até o início da próxima década. O mero afastamento dos resíduos, destinação amplamente empregada nos municípios brasileiros, tem se mostrado como uma opção pouco viável nas megacidades, principalmente devido aos problemas urbanos a ele associados. Faz-se mister reduzir, significativamente, o volume de resíduos enviados aos aterros, meta não alcançada somente com o emprego da reciclagem. Através da incineração tem-se a redução necessária, sendo essa tecnologia já utilizada em diversos países.Com objetivo de modificar a atual destinação dos resíduos domiciliares de São Paulo para um sistema de estações redutoras de volume associado ao sistema viário principal, foi elaborada a proposta de implantação de seis incineradores localizados nas imediações de um anel viário metropolitano. Em cada unidade foi previsto um buffer de vegetação com a finalidade de minimizar os ruídos e os particulados no entorno, bem como proteger visualmente a área.A distribuição de unidades de redução de volume de resíduos permitiu a montagem de um sistema mais racional de transporte, com a eliminação das estações de transferência de resíduos e a diminuição das distâncias de transporte.Essa proposta, que respeita o zoneamento e as áreas de proteção ambiental, visa diminuir a dependência de grandes áreas para aterramento dos resíduos, reduzir os problemas resultantes do deslocamento de veículos coletores, ao mesmo tempo em que minimiza os efeitos negativos ao meio ambiente. / The extreme complexity of the solid waste management in mega cities like São Paulo is caused not only by the great amount of waste the city generates, but also by its huge urban area.The two existent sanitary landfills located in the outskirts of the city of São Paulo – namely Bandeirantes and São João – receive twelve thousand metric tons of urban solid waste daily, almost nine thousand metric tons of which are originated by household waste. These sanitary landfills occupy 140 and 85 hectares respectively, and it has been prognosticated that both areas will close before the next decade. The simple waste removal to areas outside the urban perimeter, a waste management concept implemented by most Brazilian cities, has been proved inefficient when mega cities are concerned, mainly due to urban problems associated with it. It is then necessary to reduce significantly the amount of waste sent to the sanitary landfills, a goal that has not been reached by simply recycling the waste. The technology of incineration on the other hand is an alternative that promotes this reduction and has been successfully used in many countries. A proposal has been devised to change the present management of household waste in São Paulo city to a system of reduction stations of the amount of waste linked to the main metropolitan road system. This proposal consists on the implementation of six incinerators placed in the vicinity of the metropolitan ring road. Each unit includes a vegetation buffer that both reduces the noise and particulates in the surroundings, and protects the area from visual pollution. The distribution of waste reduction units allowed the implementation of a more rational system of transportation, resulting in the elimination of the waste transfer stations and the shortening of the transportation distances. This proposal pays heed to the zone division of the city and the areas under environment protection, and aims at reducing the destination of large areas to the burying of waste as well as reducing the problems caused by the flow of the collecting vehicles, at the same time that it lessens the negative effects on the environment.

The main purpose of this thesis was to compare GAC adsorption method, VOCs incinerationmethod and Non-treatment alternative by using LCA to find which method or alternative isenvironmentally preferable. The LCA framework proposed by ISO 14040 (1997) has beenconsidered in this research. The comparison was made by considering a flue gas contaminatedby toluene (with three different concentration 100, 1000, 2000 mg/m3). The plant locationwhere the polluted flue gas is emitted has been assumed to be located in Borås, Sweden. Theflow rate of emitted flue gas was 10000m3/hr. The present thesis report contains two mainparts.The results of LCA showed that when the toluene concentration is low (< 100 mg/m3), GACadsorption method, Non-treatment alternative and VOCs incineration method are respectivelypreferable from environmental point of view. On the other side, when the tolueneconcentration of inlet stream is high (>1000 mg/m3), the order of GAC adsorption method,incineration and Non-treatment alternative is more desirable. Furthermore, the resultsillustrated that as toluene plays the role of fuel as a hydrocarbon, VOCs incineration methodis much more suitable when toluene concentration is high due to lower demand on additionalfuel. In the other words, high toluene concentration of influent leads to less environmentalimpact when VOCs incineration method is exploited. Conversely, the environmental impactof GAC adsorption method is increased when the inlet concentration of toluene is escalated.In overall, the weighted result showed that GAC adsorption method is the most preferablemethod while Non-treatment alternative is the worst.

A alta complexidade da destinação dos resíduos sólidos nas megacidades, como é o caso do Município de São Paulo advém, não apenas da grande quantidade de resíduos gerados, mas também da sua extensão urbana.Os dois aterros sanitários localizados na periferia da Capital paulista – Bandeirantes e São João – recebem, diariamente, doze mil toneladas de resíduos urbanos, dentre as quais quase nove mil de resíduos domiciliares. Esses aterros ocupam, respectivamente, 140 e 85 hectares e estarão esgotados até o início da próxima década. O mero afastamento dos resíduos, destinação amplamente empregada nos municípios brasileiros, tem se mostrado como uma opção pouco viável nas megacidades, principalmente devido aos problemas urbanos a ele associados. Faz-se mister reduzir, significativamente, o volume de resíduos enviados aos aterros, meta não alcançada somente com o emprego da reciclagem. Através da incineração tem-se a redução necessária, sendo essa tecnologia já utilizada em diversos países.Com objetivo de modificar a atual destinação dos resíduos domiciliares de São Paulo para um sistema de estações redutoras de volume associado ao sistema viário principal, foi elaborada a proposta de implantação de seis incineradores localizados nas imediações de um anel viário metropolitano. Em cada unidade foi previsto um buffer de vegetação com a finalidade de minimizar os ruídos e os particulados no entorno, bem como proteger visualmente a área.A distribuição de unidades de redução de volume de resíduos permitiu a montagem de um sistema mais racional de transporte, com a eliminação das estações de transferência de resíduos e a diminuição das distâncias de transporte.Essa proposta, que respeita o zoneamento e as áreas de proteção ambiental, visa diminuir a dependência de grandes áreas para aterramento dos resíduos, reduzir os problemas resultantes do deslocamento de veículos coletores, ao mesmo tempo em que minimiza os efeitos negativos ao meio ambiente. / The extreme complexity of the solid waste management in mega cities like São Paulo is caused not only by the great amount of waste the city generates, but also by its huge urban area.The two existent sanitary landfills located in the outskirts of the city of São Paulo – namely Bandeirantes and São João – receive twelve thousand metric tons of urban solid waste daily, almost nine thousand metric tons of which are originated by household waste. These sanitary landfills occupy 140 and 85 hectares respectively, and it has been prognosticated that both areas will close before the next decade. The simple waste removal to areas outside the urban perimeter, a waste management concept implemented by most Brazilian cities, has been proved inefficient when mega cities are concerned, mainly due to urban problems associated with it. It is then necessary to reduce significantly the amount of waste sent to the sanitary landfills, a goal that has not been reached by simply recycling the waste. The technology of incineration on the other hand is an alternative that promotes this reduction and has been successfully used in many countries. A proposal has been devised to change the present management of household waste in São Paulo city to a system of reduction stations of the amount of waste linked to the main metropolitan road system. This proposal consists on the implementation of six incinerators placed in the vicinity of the metropolitan ring road. Each unit includes a vegetation buffer that both reduces the noise and particulates in the surroundings, and protects the area from visual pollution. The distribution of waste reduction units allowed the implementation of a more rational system of transportation, resulting in the elimination of the waste transfer stations and the shortening of the transportation distances. This proposal pays heed to the zone division of the city and the areas under environment protection, and aims at reducing the destination of large areas to the burying of waste as well as reducing the problems caused by the flow of the collecting vehicles, at the same time that it lessens the negative effects on the environment.

Open burning of biomass and anthropogenic waste is a major source of aerosols at the biosphere-atmosphere interface, yet its impact on Earth’s climate and air quality is not fully understood due to the intricate feedbacks between the natural environment and human activities. Earth system models (ESMs) are a vital tool in the study of these aerosol-biosphere-atmosphere interactions. ESMs allow the estimation of radiative forcing and climate impacts in terms of changes to temperature and precipitation as well as the attribution to natural or anthropogenic drivers. To provide coherent results, however, ESMs require rigorous development and evaluation against observations. In my work I use the NASA-GISS ESM: ModelE. One of its strengths lie in its detailed aerosol schemes that include microphysics and thermodynamic partitioning, both necessary for the simulation of secondary inorganic aerosols. To overcome one of ModelE’s weaknesses, namely its lack of interactive biomass burning (BB) emissions, I developed pyre: ModelE’s interactive fire emissions module. pyrE is driven by flammability and cloud-to-ground lightning, both of which are calculated in ModelE, and anthropogenic ignition and regional suppression parameterizations, based on population density data. Notably, the interactive fire emissions are generated from the flaming phase in pyrE (fire count), rather than the scar left behind (burned area), which is commonly used in other interactive fire modules. The performance of pyrE was evaluated against MODIS satellite retrievals and GFED4s inventory, as well as simulations with prescribed emissions. Although the simulated fire count is bias-high compared to MODIS, simulated fire emissions are bias-low compared to GFED4s. However, the bias in total emissions does not propagate to atmospheric composition, as pyrE simulates aerosol optical depth just as well as a simulation with GFED4s prescribed emissions. Upon the development and evaluation of the fire-aerosol capabilities of ModelE, I have utilized it, with the EVA health model, to study the health impacts of outdoor smoke in 1950, 2015, and 2050. I find that chronic exposure to aerosols (PM2.5) is the main driver of premature deaths from smoke exposure, yet by 2050, acute exposure to ozone, formed downwind of BB smoke plumes, is projected to cause more premature deaths than exposure to PM2.5. I estimate the annual premature deaths from BB and waste burning (WB) smoke in 1950 to be ~41,000 and ~19,000, respectively, and in 2015 to be ~310,000 and ~840,000, respectively. By 2050 I project 390,000 and 1.5 million premature deaths from BB and WB respectively. In light of the growing impact of WB smoke exposure I identify the need to scale up viable waste management practices in regions of rapid population growth.

<p>Fjärrvärmen utgör idag ungefär 12 % (48 TWh) av Sveriges totala energianvändning. Starka argument att använda fjärrvärme för att tillgodose bostäders och lokalers värmebehov är möjligheten att använda olika bränslen av skiftande pris och kvalitet, den goda verkningsgraden en centraliserad värmeanläggning erhåller samt fördelen med att kombinera produktionen av el och värme.</p><p>Halmstad energi och miljö (HEM), förser Halmstad och närområdet med fjärrvärme och total mängd producerad energi uppgick 2009 till 596 GWh. Avfall och biobränsle utgör den största produktionsandelen men även industriell spillvärme samt mindre mängder olja och naturgas används för att framställa värme.</p><p>Konkurrenssituationen för fjärrvärme är på många orter i det närmsta monopolistisk där en stor aktör äger hela marknaden. Det är viktigt att förbättra fjärrvärmesystemet för att i framtiden behålla dess konkurrenskraft. Följande rapport utreder och beskriver åtgärder för att göra ett redan befintligt fjärrvärmesystem mer effektivt.</p><p>Utifrån möten med personal på HEM har tio punkter presenterats, vilka utvärderar olika delmoment i Halmstads fjärrvärmesystem. Utifrån dessa punkter presenteras en ”kvalitetsstämpel” vilken beskriver hur väl HEM:s fjärrvärmesystem fungerar inom respektive delområde.</p><p>Slutsatsen av rapporten visar att förbättringspotential ur en energieffektiv synvinkel är möjlig men att de ekonomiska fördelarna är få.</p> / <p>District heating constitutes about 12 % (48 TWh) of the total energy usage in Sweden. Arguments for utilize district heating to provide housings and premises with heat are the possibility to use different kinds of fuels with various prices and quality, the good efficiency a centralized heating plant gives and the benefits of produce electricity and heat at the same time.</p><p>The energy company HEM supplies Halmstad and surrounding area with district heating and the produced amount of energy 2009 was 596 GWh. Waste and bio fuels constitutes the largest part of produced energy but also industrial lost heat and small amounts of oil and natural gas are used to produce heat.</p><p>The competitive situation for district heating is in many places close to monopolistic because only one major participant owns the market. It is important to improve a district heating system to maintain it’s ability to be competitive in the future. The following report investigates and describes interventions to make an already existing district heating system more efficient.</p><p>From meetings with personnel, ten items has been presented evaluating different elements in the district heating system of Halmstad. These elements also give a view of how well HEM:s district heating system works in different areas.</p><p>The conclusion of this report shows that the potential of a more energy efficient system is possible but the economical benefits are few.</p>

Thesis (M.Ing. (Development and Management Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

In this study potential health risks for employees in connection with handling of bottom ash and bottom ash water at a Municipal Waste Incineration (MWI) plant have been investigated. Air surrounding the bottom ash and the bottom ash water has been examined. MWI is one of the primary ways to manage solid household waste, and bottom ash is the main solid residue produced by the incineration process. Bottom ash constitutes about 15-20% of the original waste. The bottom ash is extinguished in a water bath (bottom ash water). The study was carried out in a MWI plant in Karlstad, Sweden. The plant is equipped with a grate furnace with a capacity of 7 tonnes per hour. Annually about 50 000 tonnes are incinerated at the plant. Levels of airborne particles, metals present in the airborne particles, volatile organic compounds (VOC), and phosphine were measured in the air. Analysis of the bottom ash water including: pH, total phosphorus, ammonium, chemical oxygen demand (COD), suspended solids, and bacteria were also carried out. Further, a questionnaire was distributed to investigate how the workers at the MWI plant re°ected on health when working. The results showed that the levels of airborne particles, metals and VOC did not pose any major health risks. The bacterial analysis demonstrated very low concentrations of bacteria in the water and thus that the bacteria posed no risk for the workers. The phosphine measurements did not result in levels exceeding the Swedish threshold limit value. However, the method used in this study was not well-tested in these sorts of environments and the results implied that higher levels of phosphine might be present. The conclusion from the questionnaire was that there is a concern about health risks in connection with certain tasks at the plant. / På Hedenverket, Karlstads Energi AB, förbränner man årligen cirka 50 000 ton hushålls- och verksamhetsavfall. En av restprodukterna av förbränningen kallas slagg (bottenaska) och utgör ca 15-20% av det inmatade avfallet. Slaggen släcks i ett vattenbad under själva pannan (slaggsläckningsbad) och matas sedan ut, via ett skakbord för reduktion av vatten, till containrar innan det slutligen körs på deponi. Syftet med det här projekt var att utreda om det föreligger några hälsorisker vid arbete kring slaggen och slaggsläckningsvattnet. För att skapa en bild av möjliga hälsorisker gjordes en inledande studie av tidigare utredningar, mätningar gjorda på avfallsförbränningsanläggningar runt om i Svergie och vad kemiska och biologiska hälsorisker innebär. Även lagstiftning på området har berörts. Med tidigare utredningar och mätningar samt diskussioner som grund utfördes mätningar av damm, metallhalter i damm, VOC och fosfin i luften samt en analys av slaggvattnet och bakterier i slaggvattnet. För att skapa en uppfattning av hur personalen, som arbetar med driften, upplever sin arbetssituation ur hälsorisksynpunkt genomfördes även en enkätundersökning. Resultaten av undersökningarna på Karlstads Energi AB visade att varken damm, metaller eller VOC utgör någon hälsorisk. Bakterieprovtagningen av slaggsläckningsvattnet visade på mycket låga halter av bakterier och bakterier kan därför inte sägas utgöra någon hälsorisk. Undersökningar av slaggvatten på andra anläggningar i Sverige visar däremot på höga metallhalter i slaggvattnet och det vore således inte särskilt hälsosamt att få i sig större mängder av detta. Resultaten av fosfinmätningen visar inte heller på några alarmerande nivåer, men metoden som användes är inte väl beprövad i den här typen av miljö. Resultaten kan tyda på att högre halter av fosfin förekommer, men hur höga de är inte möjligt att svara på. Fosfin är ett ämne som i små mängder kan ge upphov till bland annat illamående. I enkätundersökningen påtalades att obehag och illamående uppstºar vid längre arbeten över skakbordet och det är möjligt att fosfin kan vara en orsak till detta. Enkätundersökningen visade även att det finns en oro för hälsan vid vissa typer av arbeten på anläggningen och oro för att hälsan ska påverkas negativt på längre sikt.

The closure of the nuclear fuel cycle is a topic of interest in the sustainability context of nuclear energy. The implication of such closure includes considerations of nuclear waste management. This originates from the fact that a closed fuel cycle requires recycling of useful materials from spent nuclear fuel and discarding of non-usable streams of the spent fuel, which are predominantly the fission products. The fission products represent the near-term concerns associated with final geological repositories for the waste stream. Long-lived fission products also contribute to the long-term concerns associated with such repository. In addition, an ultimately closed nuclear fuel cycle in which all actinides from spent nuclear fuels are incinerated will result in fission products being the only source of radiotoxicity. Hence, it is desired to develop a transmutation strategy that will achieve reduction in the inventory and radiological parameters of significant fission products within a reasonably short time. In this dissertation, a transmutation strategy involving the use of the VHTR is developed. A set of specialized metrics is developed and applied to evaluate performance characteristics. The transmutation strategy considers six major fission products: 90Sr, 93Zr, 99Tc, 129I, 135Cs and 137Cs. In this approach, the unique core features of VHTRs operating in equilibrium fuel cycle mode of 405 effective full power days are used for transmutation of the selected fission products. A 30 year irradiation period with 10 post-irradiation cooling is assumed. The strategy assumes no separation of each nuclide from its corresponding material stream in the VHTR fuel cycle. The optimum locations in the VHTR core cavity leading to maximized transmutation of each selected nuclides are determined. The fission product transmutation scenarios are simulated with MCNP and ORIGEN-S. The results indicate that the developed fission product transmutation strategy offers an excellent potential approach for the reduction of inventories and radiological parameters, particularly for long-lived fission products (93Zr, 99Tc, 129I and 135Cs). It has been determined that the in-core transmutation of relatively short-lived fission products (90Sr and 137Cs) has minimal advantage over a decay-only scenario for these nuclides. It is concluded that the developed strategy is a viable option for the reduction of radiotoxicity contributions of the selected fission products prior to their final disposal in a geological repository. Even in the cases where the transmutation advantage is minimal, it is deemed that the improvement gained, coupled with the virtual storage provided for the fission products during the irradiation period, makes the developed fission product transmutation strategy advantageous in the spent fuel management scenarios. Combined with the in-core incineration options for TRU, the developed transmutation strategy leads to potential achievability of engineering time scales in the comprehensive nuclear waste management.

The research presented in this dissertation focuses on the waste management techniques currently used by Chevron-Escravos Nigeria Limited (CENL), as background knowledge of the existing waste disposal system practiced by the company. Investigation has shown that more than four tons (4tons) of organic food waste that CENL generates daily is being disposed of by using incineration and landfilling of the resulting residues. The high recoverability and economic values in form of nutrients and stored energy is not being considered. The main dissertation problem was to develop an alternative means of promoting the economic and environmental recoverability of these huge amounts of organic wastes, by developing a disposal technique other than the current incineration and landfill methods. The mechanism considered to achieve this objective was laid out in the customized organic waste converter or processor that provides one of the baselines for this dissertation. It also presents a procedural description of converting organic food waste to bio-feeds and feedstock of high quality. This alternative processing and utilization of organic food waste was carried out to provide information about tradeoffs to the current practice of incineration and landfill management systems. This was done to guide decision making and to serve as a framework within which the plausibility of the proposed solution could be examined. A comparative analysis of the two scenarios of waste to feed and waste to incineration system, the environmental impact, economic viability, and opportunity cost of recycling organic food waste produce of animal bio-feed was assessed by using: • Life cycle analysis (LCA) • By-products Breakeven Sale Product (BBSP) model. The BBSP model evaluates the opportunity of recycling the organic food waste in production of animal bio-feed to waste incineration. The outcome of the dissertation indicates that incineration is an important contributor to human and environmental toxicity and global warming. The proposed solution (recycling approach) balances the socio-economic, political and environmental safety by producing renewable, clean and eco-friendly feed and by-products. It was also concluded that there are alternative possibilities for the utilization of industrial organic food waste, where both the energy and nutrients are completely utilized, rather than the norms of conversion through chemical, biological, and thermal or other forms of energy fuels), which typically utilizes only one of these (calorific contents) categories at a time. The above mentioned utilization can be achieved by transforming the current waste disposal system. By introducing an alternative model for the recycling of plant and animal nutrients and the utilization of energy, renewable energy can be saved, human health and the environment can be protect and a sustainable economy can be maintained. In summary, it was demonstrated that there is huge capital losses and environmental contamination due to the current waste management practices. Recycling of OF W for feed production would be cost effective method that contributes towards protecting the environment achieving economic sustainability. / Thesis (M.Ing. (Development and Management Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

The research presented in this dissertation focuses on the waste management techniques currently used by Chevron-Escravos Nigeria Limited (CENL), as background knowledge of the existing waste disposal system practiced by the company. Investigation has shown that more than four tons (4tons) of organic food waste that CENL generates daily is being disposed of by using incineration and landfilling of the resulting residues. The high recoverability and economic values in form of nutrients and stored energy is not being considered. The main dissertation problem was to develop an alternative means of promoting the economic and environmental recoverability of these huge amounts of organic wastes, by developing a disposal technique other than the current incineration and landfill methods. The mechanism considered to achieve this objective was laid out in the customized organic waste converter or processor that provides one of the baselines for this dissertation. It also presents a procedural description of converting organic food waste to bio-feeds and feedstock of high quality. This alternative processing and utilization of organic food waste was carried out to provide information about tradeoffs to the current practice of incineration and landfill management systems. This was done to guide decision making and to serve as a framework within which the plausibility of the proposed solution could be examined. A comparative analysis of the two scenarios of waste to feed and waste to incineration system, the environmental impact, economic viability, and opportunity cost of recycling organic food waste produce of animal bio-feed was assessed by using: • Life cycle analysis (LCA) • By-products Breakeven Sale Product (BBSP) model. The BBSP model evaluates the opportunity of recycling the organic food waste in production of animal bio-feed to waste incineration. The outcome of the dissertation indicates that incineration is an important contributor to human and environmental toxicity and global warming. The proposed solution (recycling approach) balances the socio-economic, political and environmental safety by producing renewable, clean and eco-friendly feed and by-products. It was also concluded that there are alternative possibilities for the utilization of industrial organic food waste, where both the energy and nutrients are completely utilized, rather than the norms of conversion through chemical, biological, and thermal or other forms of energy fuels), which typically utilizes only one of these (calorific contents) categories at a time. The above mentioned utilization can be achieved by transforming the current waste disposal system. By introducing an alternative model for the recycling of plant and animal nutrients and the utilization of energy, renewable energy can be saved, human health and the environment can be protect and a sustainable economy can be maintained. In summary, it was demonstrated that there is huge capital losses and environmental contamination due to the current waste management practices. Recycling of OF W for feed production would be cost effective method that contributes towards protecting the environment achieving economic sustainability. / Thesis (M.Ing. (Development and Management Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.