Social, economic and environmental benefits of organic waste home composting in Iran.

Organic waste management is challenging in low-middle income countries. Environmental impacts and high management costs affect the sustainable development of cities, an issue that is exacerbated by the lack of social involvement. The research conducted in Iran aims to assess the benefits of organic waste home composting in Shiraz to improve solid waste management (SWM) sustainability. The introduction of a pilot project to assess home composting systems was described, together with an economic, social and environmental analysis. The current SWM system (S0) has been compared with the new strategy proposed (S1), where home composting is considered to be introduced to collect about 10% of the municipal solid waste generated in a 10-year horizon. An economic balance related to the capital costs and operational costs of both systems was introduced, in parallel with a life cycle assessment (LCA) of the SWM system, and a questionnaire survey of the local population. Results showed that S1 leads to around 5% economic savings for the municipality due to the avoidance of organic waste transportation and disposal. Environmental benefits include a lowering of CO2-Eq emissions of about 19,076 tonnes year-1. In addition, about 28% of the interviewed (n = 319) agreed to employ the home composting system at home (CI 5.5%, 95% of confidence level) supporting the theory that about 10% of the organic waste can be segregated and home-composted. The research underlines that home composting can contribute to improve the sustainability of SWM systems in developing countries.

Experimental investigation of products from thermal treatment of real-world mixed single-use and multi-layered waste plastics.

The usage and disposal of highly abundant single-use and multilayered plastics contribute to significant ecological problems. The thermochemical recovery of these plastics to useful products and chemicals provides opportunity for positive economic and environmental impacts. Most previous research use idealised and unrepresentative feedstocks. To address this, various mixed waste plastics collected from the rejected fraction of a municipal waste recovery facility in Ghana were pyrolyzed at varying temperatures of 450, 500 and 550 °C and their yields compared. The obtained chemical products were analysed using several different techniques. Energy and carbon balances of the processes were produced using the CHNS and energy content of the oil fraction and the compositional results of the pyrolysis gas fraction, the latter of which was measured by Gas Chromatography Thermal Conductivity Detection (GC-TCD). The oils were further assessed via Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) to identify the available valuable compounds. The formed oil contained approximately 40% light hydrocarbons (C6 - C11), 18% middle hydrocarbons (C11 - C16) and 42% heavy hydrocarbon compounds (C16+). The optimal oil yield of 65.9 ± 0.5% and low heating value of 44.7 ± 0.1 MJ/kg for single-use plastics were recorded at highest heating temperatures of 550 and 500 °C, respectively. The findings provide indication that pyrolysis is a fitting solution for energy recovery from waste plastics.

Comparative Study of Commercial Silica and Sol-Gel-Derived Porous Silica from Cornhusk for Low-Temperature Catalytic Methane Combustion.

The synthesis and characterization of sol-gel-derived cornhusk support for low-temperature catalytic methane combustion (LTCMC) were investigated in this study. The prepared cornhusk support was impregnated with palladium and cerium oxide (Pd/CeO2) via the classical incipient wetness method. The resulting catalyst was characterized using various techniques, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), N2 physisorption (BET), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and hydrogen temperature-programmed reduction (H2-TPR). The catalytic performance of the Pd/CeO2/CHSiO2 catalyst was evaluated for methane combustion in the temperature range of 150-600 °C using a temperature-controlled catalytic flow reactor, and its performance was compared with a commercial catalyst. The results showed that the Pd/CeO2 dispersed on SiO2 from the cornhusk ash support (Pd/CeO2/CHSiO2) catalyst exhibited excellent catalytic activity for methane combustion, with a conversion of 50% at 394 °C compared with 593 °C for the commercial silica catalyst (Pd/CeO2/commercial). Moreover, the Pd/CeO2/CHSiO2 catalyst displayed better catalytic stability after 10 h on stream, with a 7% marginal loss in catalytic activity compared with 11% recorded for the Pd/CeO2/commercial catalyst. The N2 physisorption and H2-TPR results indicated that the cornhusk SiO2 support possessed a higher surface area and strong reducibility than the synthesized commercial catalyst, contributing to the enhanced catalytic activity of the Pd/CeO2/SiO2 catalyst. Overall, the SiO2 generated from cornhusk ash exhibited promising potential as a low-cost and environmentally friendly support for LTCMC catalysts.

Water Desalination Using the Once-through Multi-Stage Flash Concept: Design and Modeling.

Thermal water desalination is one of the most important techniques to solve the water scarcity problem in many regions of the world. Out of around 7.8 billion people in the world, only about 6 billion of them have access to clean water; notably, climate change plays a major role in accelerating the evaporation rate of water from water bodies, which in turn increases the scarcity. Multi-stage flash, recognized to have a high rate of water production in comparison with other available technologies, accounts for 35% of water desalination facilities worldwide. This paper presents a detailed Excel model to evaluate the amount of energy required to drive 16 stages of multi-stage flash. This model aims to design and evaluate the amount of thermal energy required for such projects and optimize their performance by calibrating the governing parameters. Furthermore, the 16 stages were simulated via the Ebsilon 13.02 software package to match the results and evaluate the fulfillment of the plant requirements. The temperature drop of the brine stream was 2.34 °C/stage. The top brine temperature was 130 °C. The results show that 29.5 kg/s of superheated steam is required to desalinate 162 kg/s of 2500 kg/s influent mass flow of brine. The effect of water intake temperature was also examined by using Ebsilon. The performance ratio decreased from 5.49 to 2.66 when the water intake temperature decreased from 30 °C to 5 °C.

Material characterization and conditioning of cattle feedlot manure as feedstock for dry batch anaerobic digestion.

The focus of the study was to determine the suitability of cattle feedlot manure originating from clay-pack feedlots as a possible feedstock material for dry batch anaerobic digestion. Oedometer tests were carried out that measure the permeability and compressibility of the feedstock under practical conditions experienced in large-scale dry batch anaerobic digestion plants. Material characterization tests showed that feedlot manure was impermeable under compression and therefore unsuitable for percolation. Mixtures of feedlot manure, wood chips (3 %ww) and wheat straw (6 %ww) showed superior permeability under compression compared to feedlot manure alone with an 56% increased permeability. Further practical tests showed that dry digestion of feedlot manure mixtures led to methane yields of 99 mL/g VS which equals 86% of the material biochemical methane potential (BMP). High percolation rate and low inoculum recycle led to the highest specific methane yield (SMY) and digester productivity with implications on process design to reduce capital investment costs.

Monitoring of Food Waste Anaerobic Digestion Performance: Conventional Co-Substrates vs. Unmarketable Biochar Additions.

This study proposed the selection of cost-effective additives generated from different activity sectors to enhance and stabilize the start-up, as well as the transitional phases, of semi-continuous food waste (FW) anaerobic digestion. The results showed that combining agricultural waste mixtures including wheat straw (WS) and cattle manure (CM) boosted the process performance and generated up to 95% higher methane yield compared to the control reactors (mono-digested FW) under an organic loading rate (OLR) range of 2 to 3 kg VS/m3·d. Whereas R3 amended with unmarketable biochar (UBc), to around 10% of the initial fresh mass inserted, showed a significant process enhancement during the transitional phase, and more particularly at an OLR of 4 kg VS/m3·d, it was revealed that under these experimental conditions, FW reactors including UBc showed an increase of 144% in terms of specific biogas yield (SBY) compared to FW reactors fed with agricultural residue. Hence, both agricultural and industrial waste were efficacious when it came to boosting either FW anaerobic performance or AD effluent quality. Although each co-substrate performed under specific experimental conditions, this feature provides decision makers with diverse alternatives to implement a sustainable organic waste management system, conveying sufficient technical details to draw up appropriate designs for the recovery of various types of organic residue.

Provision of extended producer responsibility system for products packaging: A case study of Iran.

A powerful legal tool in evolving solid waste management (SWM) systems is extended producer responsibility (EPR). It is a mechanism that shifts the responsibility of a product to manufacturers/importers at the 'end-of-life' stage. Yet, implementation of the EPR concept has faced difficulties in developing countries. In Iran, as one such country, the principle of EPR system was issued in executive regulation of SWM in 2005, however, so far, it has been limited to a voluntary scheme. The problem merits further investigation. Therefore, this study aims to shed light on the obstacles in the path of developing EPR system for product packaging. The research examines the current SWM systems in four functional classified frameworks: legal, institutional, financial and technical. The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the system are elaborated through semi-structured interviews with a senior executive in the Ministry of Interior (MoI). Then, viable methods to increase resource efficiency and sustainable waste treatment are suggested. The change in the financing mechanism in the Budget Law 2020 forces the manufacturers/importers of products containing recyclable components to pay the revenue from one in 1000 products to MoI for developing recycling facilities and incinerators through partnerships with the private sector. This new strategy would promote proper management of product packaging, create more jobs and a market for international cooperation. However, poor source-separation of wet/dry waste, informal sector activities, exclusive focus on the economic aspect of waste management, lack of expertise and public awareness campaigns are the barriers in this regard.

Systematic simplification of the Anaerobic Digestion Model No. 1 (ADM1) - Model development and stoichiometric analysis.

Rigorous process models provide a reliable basis for model-based monitoring and control of anaerobic digestion plants. Due to the complex model structure and non-linear system characteristics, the established Anaerobic Digestion Model No. 1 (ADM1) is rarely applied in industrial plant operation. The present investigation proposes a systematic procedure for successive model simplification and presents the description of five model variants of a mass-based ADM1. Individual model structures greatly differ in their number of implemented process phases, characteristic components and required parameters. Simplified model variants combine nutrient degradation and biogas formation based on first-order sum reactions, whereas complex model structures describe individual degradation pathways and intermediates during acido- and acetogenesis. Characteristic features of the derived model structures as well as the stoichiometric methane potentials and microbial biomass yields of the underlying degradation pathways of individual model variations are evaluated and discussed in detail.

Systematic simplification of the Anaerobic Digestion Model No. 1 (ADM1) - Laboratory experiments and model application.

Due to a limited number of available measurements on agricultural biogas plants, established process models, such as the Anaerobic Digestion Model No. 1 (ADM1), are rarely applied in practise. To provide a reliable basis for model-based monitoring and control, different model simplifications of the ADM1 were implemented for process simulation of semi-continuous anaerobic digestion experiments using agricultural substrates (maize silage, sugar beet silage, rye grain and cattle manure) and industrial residues (grain stillage). Individual model structures enable a close depiction of biogas production rates and characteristic intermediates (ammonium nitrogen, propionic and acetic acid) with equal accuracy as the original ADM1. The impact of different objective functions and standard parameter values on parameter estimates of first-order hydrolysis constants and microbial growth rates were evaluated. Due to the small number of required model parameters and suitable system characteristics, simplified model structures show clear advantages for practical application on agricultural biogas plants.

Refuse-derived fuel potential production for co-combustion in the cement industry in Algeria.

As in many developing countries, municipal solid waste (MSW) management is one of the most significant challenges facing urban communities in Algeria. The effective management of solid waste involves the application of various treatment methods, and technologies to ensure the protection of public health and the environment. This research work aimed to examine potential production and utilization of refuse-derived fuel (RDF) from MSW to be used as a substitute fuel in cement kilns in Algeria. After receiving the input waste, sieves were used to categorize MSW according to size. The waste fractions >80 mm were subjected to a drying process in an open-air area and had been turned periodically in order to increase the dry matter (DM). A cost study was performed to evaluate the environmental and economic savings of RDF utilization in the cement industry. At the end of the drying process, as a consequence of the waste moisture reduction, the low heating value was found to be 16 MJ kg-1, and the DM 87%. Concerning heavy metal content, their concentrations were within the limits set by the European Committee for Standardization (CEN)/TC 343 standardization. The chlorine content was around 0.37% to 0.80%. The feasibility study of adding RDF as a substitute fuel in the cement industry showed that when 15% of RDF is used, the RDF consumption will be 4.7 metric tonnes (Mt) h-1, which will save 4347.2 Nm3 h-1 of natural gas and 0.3 Mt h-1 in carbon dioxide emissions, with a net gas cost saving of 65 USD h-1.

Potential of windrow food and green waste composting in Tunisia.

Solid waste management and disposal is one of the most significant challenges facing urban communities around the world. There is a wide range of alternative waste management options and strategies available for dealing with the notable increase in the waste stream. Composting is one of the most viable and efficient waste treatment options in terms of the reduction in the negative effects from the application of organic waste to soil. The experimental research aimed to examine the potential of producing compost from different organic waste streams in Tunisia. Two experimental windrow piles made from cooked and uncooked food and garden wastes were initiated and temporally monitored. The composting process was controlled in terms of temperature and moisture. Sampling was carried out over the period of the composting process. All of the collected samples were analyzed in terms of their physical, chemical, and biological properties; pH, C:N ratio, nitrification index (NI), microbiological tests, respiration activity (AT4), and heavy metal content. The quality of the final product was determined and compared with Tunisian and German standards. The findings demonstrated a significant reduction in the initial C:N ratio to about 15 by the end of the process. Additionally, the results showed that the compost produced appeared to be stable and was deemed to be class V finished compost; the NI was found to be around 1, while the AT4 was estimated to be lower than 6 mg O2/g TS. Regarding the heavy metal content, the final products were characterized as having a lower concentration than those values set by Tunisian and German standards.

Adoption of sustainable solid waste management and treatment approaches: A case study of Iran.

Developing countries face serious environmental, social and economic challenges when it comes to managing different kinds of solid waste. Iran, as one such country, is forced to deal with many difficulties including the absence of a comprehensive policy framework, a lack of technical know-how, insufficient financial resources and lack of proper disposal facilities. This study attempts to suggest ways to overcome those problems by providing applicable waste management solutions to the local conditions. The research was performed in four structured phases: diagnosis of the existing solid waste management system practised, identification of areas of weakness in the waste management frameworks, bridging the gaps to ensure the sustainability of the concepts offered, and finally the provision of affordable solutions. A source-separated collection system for wet and dry fractions was drawn up. Establishment of a mechanical biological treatment facility and the introduction of biological treatment technology were considered as the main treatment options. From the economic point of view, the extended producer responsibility concept was provided as a resource management tool. The involvement of the stakeholders, as well as the public-private partnership model, was identified as the cornerstone in the planning and implementing of the new approaches. A roadmap was consequently designed aimed at gradually introducing a waste management system in a sustainable and environmentally sound manner.

Material Characterization and Substrate Suitability Assessment of Chicken Manure for Dry Batch Anaerobic Digestion Processes.

Chicken manure is an agricultural residue material with a high biomass potential. The energetical utilization of this feedstock via anaerobic digestion is an interesting waste treatment option. One waste treatment technology most appropriate for the treatment of stackable (non-free-flowing) dry organic waste materials is the dry batch anaerobic digestion process. The aim of this study was to evaluate the substrate suitability of chicken manure from various sources as feedstock for percolation processes. Chicken manure samples from different housing forms were investigated for their chemical and physical material properties, such as feedstock composition, permeability under compaction and material compressibility. The permeability under compaction of chicken manure ranged from impermeable to sufficiently permeable depending on the type of chicken housing, manure age and bedding material used. Porous materials, such as straw and woodchips, were successfully tested as substrate additives with the ability to enhance material mixture properties to yield superior permeability and allow sufficient percolation. In dry anaerobic batch digestion trials at lab scale, the biogas generation of chicken manure with and without any structure material addition was investigated. Digestion trials were carried out without solid inoculum addition and secondary methanization of volatile components. The specific methane yield of dry chicken manure was measured and found to be 120 to 145 mL/g volatile solids (VS) and 70 to 75 mL/g fresh matter (FM), which represents approximately 70% of the methane potential based on fresh mass of common energy crops, such as corn silage.

Potential utilization of commercial waste in Jakarta as alternative fuel by cement industry.

As the capital city of Indonesia, Jakarta had a population of 10.2 million in 2015 that generated 6200 metric tonnes (Mt) day-1 of municipal waste in the 2017-2019 period. In the composition of the waste, as much as 9% is contributed by the commercial sector. This research focuses on five shopping areas in Jakarta (commercial areas (CAs)). The five CAs produce 110 Mt of waste per day and 79% of them are disposed of in landfills. 95% of the waste is a combustible fraction which can be used as an alternative fuel by the cement industry because the fraction has a low heating value of around 24 MJ kg-1. It is estimated that in one year, the CAs can produce about 34,500 Mt of alternative fuel with 820 TJ of energy. Approximately, the resulting energy savings are 2.6% which is equal to approximately 35,500 Mt of coal. In addition, the utilization of alternative fuel can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 1.7% or 50,000 Mt.

Anaerobic digestion and the effect of hydrothermal pretreatment on the biogas yield of cocoa pods residues.

The current research investigated the possibility of valorizing cocoa pods residues through anaerobic digestion and the possibility of increasing the biogas yield by hydrothermal pretreatment. Using a central composite surface response methodology, the effect of temperature and reaction time on the hydrothermal pretreatment process was studied. Temperature and reaction time was varied between 150-220 °C and 5-15 min respectively. The result show that untreated cocoa pods residues has a biogas potential of 357 l(N)/kgVS and a methane content of 55%. The effect of hydrothermal pretreatment on the biogas yield was diverse. Severities below 3.0 resulted in increased biogas yield. However, higher severity resulted in lower biogas yield. The optimum biogas yield (526.38 l(N)/kgVS) was obtained at 150 °C and 15 min, which represents a severity of 2.65.

Lomustine-temozolomide combination therapy versus standard temozolomide therapy in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma with methylated MGMT promoter (CeTeG/NOA-09): a randomised, open-label, phase 3 trial.

BACKGROUND: There is an urgent need for more effective therapies for glioblastoma. Data from a previous unrandomised phase 2 trial suggested that lomustine-temozolomide plus radiotherapy might be superior to temozolomide chemoradiotherapy in newly diagnosed glioblastoma with methylation of the MGMT promoter. In the CeTeG/NOA-09 trial, we aimed to further investigate the effect of lomustine-temozolomide therapy in the setting of a randomised phase 3 trial. METHODS: In this open-label, randomised, phase 3 trial, we enrolled patients from 17 German university hospitals who were aged 18-70 years, with newly diagnosed glioblastoma with methylated MGMT promoter, and a Karnofsky Performance Score of 70% and higher. Patients were randomly assigned (1:1) with a predefined SAS-generated randomisation list to standard temozolomide chemoradiotherapy (75 mg/m2 per day concomitant to radiotherapy [59-60 Gy] followed by six courses of temozolomide 150-200 mg/m2 per day on the first 5 days of the 4-week course) or to up to six courses of lomustine (100 mg/m2 on day 1) plus temozolomide (100-200 mg/m2 per day on days 2-6 of the 6-week course) in addition to radiotherapy (59-60 Gy). Because of the different schedules, patients and physicians were not masked to treatment groups. The primary endpoint was overall survival in the modified intention-to-treat population, comprising all randomly assigned patients who started their allocated chemotherapy. The prespecified test for overall survival differences was a log-rank test stratified for centre and recursive partitioning analysis class. The trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01149109. FINDINGS: Between June 17, 2011, and April 8, 2014, 141 patients were randomly assigned to the treatment groups; 129 patients (63 in the temozolomide and 66 in the lomustine-temozolomide group) constituted the modified intention-to-treat population. Median overall survival was improved from 31·4 months (95% CI 27·7-47·1) with temozolomide to 48·1 months (32·6 months-not assessable) with lomustine-temozolomide (hazard ratio [HR] 0·60, 95% CI 0·35-1·03; p=0·0492 for log-rank analysis). A significant overall survival difference between groups was also found in a secondary analysis of the intention-to-treat population (n=141, HR 0·60, 95% CI 0·35-1·03; p=0·0432 for log-rank analysis). Adverse events of grade 3 or higher were observed in 32 (51%) of 63 patients in the temozolomide group and 39 (59%) of 66 patients in the lomustine-temozolomide group. There were no treatment-related deaths. INTERPRETATION: Our results suggest that lomustine-temozolomide chemotherapy might improve survival compared with temozolomide standard therapy in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma with methylated MGMT promoter. The findings should be interpreted with caution, owing to the small size of the trial. FUNDING: German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

Anaerobic Digestion.

The term anaerobic digestion usually refers to the microbial conversion of organic material to biogas, which mainly consists of methane and carbon dioxide. The technical application of the naturally-occurring process is used to provide a renewable energy carrier and - as the substrate is often waste material - to reduce the organic matter content of the substrate prior to disposal.Applications can be found in sewage sludge treatment, the treatment of industrial and municipal solid wastes and wastewaters (including landfill gas utilization), and the conversion of agricultural residues and energy crops.For biorefinery concepts, the anaerobic digestion (AD) process is, on the one hand, an option to treat organic residues from other production processes. Concomitant effects are the reduction of organic carbon within the treated substance, the conversion of nitrogen and sulfur components, and the production of an energy-rich gas - the biogas. On the other hand, the multistep conversion of complex organic material offers the possibility of interrupting the conversion chain and locking out intermediates for utilization as basic material within the chemical industry.

The Influence of Pressure-Swing Conditioning Pre-Treatment of Cattle Manure on Methane Production.

Cattle manure is an agricultural residue, which could be used as source to produce methane in order to substitute fossil fuels. Nevertheless, in practice the handling of this slowly degradable substrate during anaerobic digestion is challenging. In this study, the influence of the pre-treatment of cattle manure with pressure-swing conditioning (PSC) on the methane production was investigated. Six variants of PSC (combinations of duration 5 min, 30 min, 60 min and temperature 160 °C, 190 °C) were examined with regards to methane yield in batch tests. PSC of cattle manure showed a significant increase up to 109% in the methane yield compared to the untreated sample. Kinetic calculations proved also an enhancement of the degradation speed. One PSC-variant (190 °C/30 min) and untreated cattle manure were chosen for comparative fermentation tests in continuously stirred tank reactors (CSTR) in lab-scale with duplicates. In the continuous test a biogas production of 428 mL/g volatile solids (VS) (54.2% methane) for untreated manure was observed and of 456 mL/g VS (53.7% methane) for PSC-cattle-manure (190 °C/30 min). Significant tests were conducted for methane yields of all fermentation tests. Furthermore, other parameters such as furfural were investigated and discussed.