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Characterization of MBT plants input and outputs: a review

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Abstract

Mechanical–biological treatment (MBT) plants treat municipal solid waste (MSW), residual after source separation, with the aim to minimize the environmental impact associated with the residues landfilling and to add values to waste outflows for a potential utilization. MBT consists in a combination of mechanical processes (shredding, size, density and magnetic separation, densification, etc.) and biological treatment (aerobic or anaerobic degradation) of the organic fraction mechanically separated. In this work a review regarding the MBT input and outputs characterization is presented with the aim to evaluate the quality of them and the effectiveness of MBT plants to produce materials that can be utilized for material/energy recovery. A strong variability of the different flows characteristics, mainly due to the heterogeneity of the input MSW and to the different configurations of processing units employed in MBT plants, was highlighted. Therefore most suitable end-uses or disposal for the MBT outputs are site-specific and should be related to prior detailed characterizations of the materials able to identify specific quality classes defined by proper technical standards.

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Abbreviations

BP:

Biogas production

DM:

Dry matter

DRI:

Dynamic respiration index

HCV:

Higher calorific value

LCV:

Lower calorific value

MBT:

Mechanical biological treatment

MSW:

Municipal solid waste

RDF:

Refused derived fuel

SOW:

Stabilized organic waste

SRF:

Solid recovered fuel

WM:

Wet matter

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  1. Division of Sanitary-Environmental Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering and Computer Science Engineering, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, via del Politecnico 1, Rome, Italy

    M. C. Di Lonardo, F. Lombardi & R. Gavasci

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  1. M. C. Di Lonardo
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  2. F. Lombardi
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  3. R. Gavasci
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Correspondence to M. C. Di Lonardo.

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Di Lonardo, M.C., Lombardi, F. & Gavasci, R. Characterization of MBT plants input and outputs: a review. Rev Environ Sci Biotechnol 11, 353–363 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11157-012-9299-2

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