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Waste-to-Materials: The Longterm Option

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Waste to Energy

Part of the book series: Green Energy and Technology ((GREEN))

Abstract

Managing solid waste is one of the biggest challenges in urban areas around the world. Technologically advanced economies generate vast amounts of organic waste materials, many of which are disposed to landfills. In the future, efficient use of carbon containing waste and all other waste materials has to be increased to reduce the need for virgin raw materials acquisition, including biomass, and reduce carbon being emitted to the atmosphere therefore mitigating climate change. At end-of-life, carbon-containing waste should not only be treated for energy recovery (e.g. via incineration) but technologies should be applied to recycle the carbon for use as material feedstocks. Thermochemical and biochemical conversion technologies offer the option to utilize organic waste for the production of chemical feedstock and subsequent polymers. The routes towards synthetic materials allow a more closed cycle of materials and can help to reduce dependence on either fossil or biobased raw materials. This chapter summarizes carbon-recycling routes available and investigates how in the long-term they could be applied to enhance waste management in both industrial countries as well as developing and emerging economies. We conclude with a case study looking at the system-wide global warming potential (GWP) and cumulative energy demand (CED) of producing high-density polyethylene (HDPE) from organic waste feedstock via gasification followed by Fischer–Tropsch synthesis (FTS). Results of the analysis indicate that the use of organic waste feedstock is beneficial if greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with landfill diversion are considered.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In addition, in the future other carbon recycling technologies such as the synthetic tree air-capture unit, developed by Klaus Lackner of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, that stands in the open and captures CO2 on its collector surfaces (“leaves”) comprised of anionic resin [39], may serve as source of carbon for chemicals feedstock synthesis.

  2. 2.

    The removal of hazardous substances from the waste via thermal treatment leads to an ash or slag rich in hazardous substances, potentially enabling efficient recycling of metals from the waste stream in the future [10].

  3. 3.

    In the beginning the thermochemical platform would, amongst other feedstocks, utilize conventional fossil-based plastics as feedstock for the production of syngas and subsequent plastics via the methanol to olefins (MTO) or Fischer–Tropsch synthesis (FTS). However, as this platform is continuously applied to recycle plastic waste by gasification and to produce new plastics from them, this implies that the feedstock origin will slowly shift from fossil- to waste based plastics (assuming that fossil-based feedstocks will become increasingly scarce over the course of the next decades). At the same time those plastics will slowly fade out that are less appropriate as feedstock or end-product of the recycling pathway.

  4. 4.

    This includes variations caused by e.g. changing houshold patterns due to the season (e.g. more garden waste in summer); unusual events such as Christmas, holidays; etc.

  5. 5.

    See Key Sheet II in Chap. 4 of the [66] report.

  6. 6.

    Biogenic carbon present in the BMSW feedstock has been excluded from the analysis

  7. 7.

    The process ‘electricity, medium voltage, at grid from the ecoinvent database is used.

  8. 8.

    Kalogo et al. [34] reported that there is some discussion as to whether MSW classification should be included in the analysis. Some authors share the opinion that this step does not need to be included in an LCA. They state the fact that MSW is anyways classified into the different waste fractions because it is economically feasible due to the value of recovered material and because of legal mandates for prior separation.

  9. 9.

    The study by Broder et al. [9] looked specifically at classification processes that would be able to generate a clean RDF suitable for biochemical ethanol synthesis. We assume that this sort of classification system will produce a pure organic feedstock that would be suitable for subsequent conversion towards chemicals via gasification and AD.

  10. 10.

    Baseline Design/Economics for Advanced Fischer–Tropsch Technology, DOE Contract No. DE-AC22-91PC90027, Topical Report Volume 1, Process Design – Illinois No. 6 Coal Case with Conventional Refining, October, 1994.

  11. 11.

    The iron-based F-T catalyst promotes the water–gas shift reaction which produces hydrogen for the F-T synthesis reaction (CO + H2O = CO2 + H2).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Research Group, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, 03824, US

    Philip Nuss & Kevin H Gardner

  2. Research Group 3: Material Flows and Resource Management, Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy, Döppersberg 19, Wuppertal, 42103, Germany

    Stefan Bringezu

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Correspondence to Philip Nuss .

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  1. , Department of Mechanical Engineering, Aristotle University Thessaloniki, Box 483, Thessaloniki, GR-54124, Greece

    Avraam Karagiannidis

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Nuss, P., Bringezu, S., Gardner, K.H. (2012). Waste-to-Materials: The Longterm Option. In: Karagiannidis, A. (eds) Waste to Energy. Green Energy and Technology. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-2306-4_1

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