Feasibility analysis of municipal solid waste mass burning in the Region of East Macedonia--Thrace in Greece.

The present work conducts a preliminary techno-economic feasibility study for a single municipal solid waste mass burning to an electricity plant for the total municipal solid waste potential of the Region of Eastern Macedonia - Thrace, in Greece. For a certain applied and highly efficient technology and an installed capacity of 400,000 t of municipal solid waste per year, the available electrical power to grid would be approximately 260 GWh per year (overall plant efficiency 20.5% of the lower heating value). The investment for such a plant was estimated at €200m. Taking into account that 37.9% of the municipal solid waste lower heating value can be attributed to their renewable fractions, and Greek Law 3851/2010, which transposes Directive 2009/28/EC for Renewable Energy Sources, the price of the generated electricity was calculated at €53.19/MWhe. Under these conditions, the economic feasibility of such an investment depends crucially on the imposed gate fees. Thus, in the gate fee range of 50-110 € t(-1), the internal rate of return increases from 5% to above 15%, whereas the corresponding pay-out time periods decrease from 11 to about 4 years.

Laboratory scale bioremediation of petroleum-contaminated soil by indigenous microorganisms and added Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain Spet.

The bioremediation of petroleum-contaminated soil was investigated at laboratory scale, using three different approaches. The first approach comprised biostimulation of indigenous microorganisms. The second approach involved combination of biostimulation of indigenous microorganisms and bioaugmentation by inoculation with free cells of petroleum degrading Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain Spet. The third was a variation of the second, in which inoculation with encapsulated cells in starch and sodium alginate of P. aeruginosa strain Spet was applied. The bioremediation of the original hydrocarbon-contaminated soil (3.5% dry weight) and that of diluted with clean natural soil at 1:1 w/w were investigated. By providing sufficient moisture, nutrients and aeration by stirring in the original contaminated soil, total concentration of n-alkanes was reduced by 94% after 191 days of treatment and total concentration of 16 polycyclic aromatic compounds by 79%, while for the 1:1 diluted soils biodegradation reached 89% and 79%, respectively. The results showed that bioaugmentation with free or encapsulated P. aeruginosa cells and/or soil dilution had no significant effect on biodegradation.

Composition and production rate of solid waste from dental laboratories in Xanthi, Greece.

The composition and production rate of solid waste produced by four dental laboratories were measured in the Prefecture of Xanthi (Greece) during 2002. The selected dental labs in Xanthi were expected to produce approximately 75% of the waste produced from of all seven dental laboratories in the Xanthi Prefecture. Sampling was performed during a 2-month period. Solid waste was categorized into three major categories: (a) infectious and potentially infectious waste, (b) non-infectious toxic waste and (c) household type solid waste. Dental laboratories solid waste (DLSW) was produced at a rate of 0.059 g/cap/day (or 22 g/cap/year) at the time of the study. Household type waste, infectious and potentially infectious waste and non-infectious toxic waste comprised approximately 74%, 26% and less than 0.5% of the total DLSW weight produced, respectively. DLSW was estimated to be approximately 0.007% of the amount of municipal solid waste produced in the Prefecture of Xanthi.

Leaching of VOCs from cement-based stabilized/solidified refinery oily sludge using solid phase microextraction.

Cement-based Stabilization/Solidification was applied to refinery oily sludge. Zero Headspace Extraction was employed for the investigation of the leaching behavior of volatile organic compounds from untreated and stabilized/solidified oily sludge in water. A method is described combining zero headspace extraction, solid phase microextraction and gas chromatography with flame ionization detector for determination of volatile organic compounds in aqueous leachates. For stabilization/solidification of the waste, two types of cement were used, I42.5 and II42.5. The I42.5 is a Portland Cement whereas the II42.5 is a Blended Cement, which contains pozzolanic material. In general, the I42.5 cement showed better immobilizing characteristics than the II42.5 cement, but the difference was small. The leaching behavior of toluene, o-xylene, p,m-xylene and ethylbenzene from stabilized/solidified samples was similar for both types of cement. The reduction in the maximum leached amount of stabilized/solidified specimens compared with that of the untreated oily sludge alone, varied from 80% to 98%, for specimens with 10% cement addition (both types). Increased leaching was observed with increasing cement addition. In the case of naphthalene, stabilized/solidified samples leached more than threefold the amount leached from the untreated oily sludge alone.

Hypochlorous acid-activated carbon: an oxidizing agent capable of producing hydroxylated polychlorinated biphenyls.

Granular activated carbon (GAC), in the presence of dilute aqueous hypochlorite solutions typical of those used in water treatment, was converted to a reagent capable of carrying out free-radical coupling reactions and other oxidations of dilute aqueous solutions of phenols. The products included biphenyls with chlorine and hydroxyl substitution (hydroxylated polychlorinated biphenyls). For example, 2,4-dichlorophenol, a common constituent of wastewaters and also natural waters treated with hypochlorite, was converted to 3,5,5'trichloro-2,4'-dihydroxybiphenyl and several related compounds in significant amounts. It is possible that these products pose more of a health hazard than either the starting phenols or the unhydroxylated polychlorinated biphenyl derivatives.