Dataset Information

Life Cycle Impact Assessment of Garbage-Classification Based Municipal Solid Waste Management Systems: A Comparative Case Study in China.

ABSTRACT: Confronted with a series of problems caused by surging generation of municipal solid waste (MSW), the Chinese central and local governments have promulgated and implemented policies to deal with them, including promotions of the classification of MSW. However, to date, practical knowledge and understanding about benefits for garbage classification from its environmental performance perspective is still limited. The present study is purposed to comprehensively investigate the environmental effects of garbage classification on municipal solid waste management (MSWM) systems based on three proposed garbage classification scenarios in China, via a comparative life cycle impact assessment (LCIA). Taking advantage of Impact Assessment of Chemical Toxics (IMPACT) 2002+ method, this comparative LCIA study can quantitatively evaluate midpoint, endpoint, and single scored life cycle impacts for the studied MSWM systems. A Monte Carlo uncertainty analysis is carried out to test the effectiveness and reliabilities of the LCIA results. The LCIA and uncertainty analysis results show that MSWM systems based on various garbage classification scenarios have significant variations in the studied midpoint, endpoint, and single scored environmental impacts. Different garbage classification scenarios have their individual environmental-friendly superiority for specific impact categories. Overall, results of this study demonstrate that MSW treatment systems integrated with garbage classification are more environmentally friendly by comparison with non-classification; and that the more elaborate the level of MSW classification, the smaller its impacts on the environment.

SUBMITTER: Yuan Y

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7432649 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Life Cycle Impact Assessment of Garbage-Classification Based Municipal Solid Waste Management Systems: A Comparative Case Study in China.

Yuan Yujun Y Li Tong T Zhai Qiang Q

International journal of environmental research and public health 20200723 15

Confronted with a series of problems caused by surging generation of municipal solid waste (MSW), the Chinese central and local governments have promulgated and implemented policies to deal with them, including promotions of the classification of MSW. However, to date, practical knowledge and understanding about benefits for garbage classification from its environmental performance perspective is still limited. The present study is purposed to comprehensively investigate the environmental effect ...[more]

PMID: 32718001

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Project description:Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) management has been a long-standing problem for many cities in developing countries. Urbanization, population growth, and excessive demand for resources caused significant waste related environmental and socio-economic problems in cities. Integration of policy decisions with actionable targets and management of economic and environmental extremes were common challenges to achieving sustainable waste management strategy. Circular economy is a concept that has been evolved with sustainable resource management perspective adopted in this study to support scientific decision-making process for urban planners and policymakers. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a framework to assess the environmental impacts of waste life cycle ranging from waste generation, transportation, treatment, and end disposal. This study used the LCA framework to evaluate the impact of MSW management of a selected local authority in Colombo, Sri Lanka, to identify the environmental impact of four (04) proposed scenarios in comparison with the Business-As-Usual (BAU) scenario. Environmental impacts were calculated using global warming potential in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and short-lived climate pollutants. The results revealed that management of MSW within the local authority boundary by integrating recycling, incineration, and sanitary landfill (3:8:1 ratio) offered the highest positive impacts (- 121.84 kg of CO2 eq./ton) while BAU scenario caused the highest negative impacts (250.97 kg of CO2 eq./ton) in comparison with selected scenarios. Moreover, incineration, sanitary landfill, recycling, and anaerobic digestion contributed to emission savings and energy generation. LCA framework was used to identify the composition of MSW for suitable technologies as well as to evaluate the efficiency of existing management mechanisms within a local authority. Evaluation was used to understand the holistic picture of multiple management options to support policymakers in the decision-making process. This framework can be used as a benchmarking tool and bridging concept between the waste management policy and local action plans, which is an important step towards achieving a circular economy for developing countries.Supplementary informationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s43615-022-00200-x.

Project description:BackgroundPretreatment is necessary to reduce biomass recalcitrance and enhance the efficiency of enzymatic saccharification for biofuel production. Ionic liquid (IL) pretreatment has gained a significant interest as a pretreatment process that can reduce cellulose crystallinity and remove lignin, key factors that govern enzyme accessibility. There are several challenges that need to be addressed for IL pretreatment to become viable for commercialization, including IL cost and recyclability. In addition, it is unclear whether ILs can maintain process performance when utilizing low-cost, low-quality biomass feedstocks such as the paper fraction of municipal solid waste (MSW), which are readily available in high quantities. One approach to potentially reduce IL cost is to use a blend of ILs at different concentrations in aqueous mixtures. Herein, we describe 14 IL-water systems with mixtures of 1-ethyl-3-ethylimidazolium acetate ([C2C1Im][OAc]), 1-butyl-3-ethylimidazolium acetate ([C4C1Im][OAc]), and water that were used to pretreat MSW blended with agave bagasse (AGB). The detailed analysis of IL recycling in terms of sugar yields of pretreated biomass and IL stability was examined.ResultsBoth biomass types (AGB and MSW) were efficiently disrupted by IL pretreatment. The pretreatment efficiency of [C2C1Im][OAc] and [C4C1Im][OAc] decreased when mixed with water above 40%. The AGB/MSW (1:1) blend demonstrated a glucan conversion of 94.1 and 83.0% using IL systems with ~10 and ~40% water content, respectively. Chemical structures of fresh ILs and recycle ILs presented strong similarities observed by FTIR and 1H-NMR spectroscopy. The glucan and xylan hydrolysis yields obtained from recycled IL exhibited a slight decrease in pretreatment efficiency (less than 10% in terms of hydrolysis yields compared to that of fresh IL), and a decrease in cellulose crystallinity was observed.ConclusionsOur results demonstrated that mixing ILs such as [C2C1Im][OAc] and [C4C1Im][OAc] and blending the paper fraction of MSW with agricultural residues, such as AGB, may contribute to lower the production costs while maintaining high sugar yields. Recycled IL-water mixtures provided comparable results to that of fresh ILs. Both of these results offer the potential of reducing the production costs of sugars and biofuels at biorefineries as compared to more conventional IL conversion technologies.Graphical abstractSchematic of ionic liquid (IL) pretreatment of agave bagasse (AB) and paper-rich fraction of municipal solid waste (MSW).

Dataset Information

Life Cycle Impact Assessment of Garbage-Classification Based Municipal Solid Waste Management Systems: A Comparative Case Study in China.

Publications

Life Cycle Impact Assessment of Garbage-Classification Based Municipal Solid Waste Management Systems: A Comparative Case Study in China.

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