Table Of ContentEncyclopedia of Sustainability Science
and Technology Series
Editor-in-Chief: Robert A. Meyers
Nickolas J. Themelis
A. C. (Thanos) Bourtsalas Editors
Recovery of
Materials and
Energy from
Urban Wastes
A Volume in the Encyclopedia of
Sustainability Science and Technology,
Second Edition
Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science
and Technology Series
Editor-in-Chief
RobertA.Meyers
The Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science and Technology series (ESST)
addresses the grand challenge for science and engineering today. It provides
unprecedented, peer-reviewed coverage in more than 600 separate articles
comprising 20 topical volumes, incorporating many updates from the first
edition as well as new articles. ESSTestablishes a foundation for the many
sustainability and policy evaluations being performed in institutions
worldwide.
An indispensable resource for scientists and engineers in developing new
technologies and for applying existing technologies to sustainability, the
EncyclopediaofSustainabilityScienceandTechnologyseriesispresentedat
theuniversityandprofessionallevelneededforscientists,engineers,andtheir
studentstosupportrealprogressinsustainabilityscienceandtechnology.
Although the emphasis is on science and technology rather than policy, the
EncyclopediaofSustainabilityScienceandTechnologyseriesisalsoacom-
prehensive and authoritative resource for policy makers who want to under-
stand the scope of research and development and how these bottom-up
innovationsmapontothesustainabilitychallenge.
More information about this series at https://link.springer.com/bookseries/
15436
Nickolas J. Themelis
A. C. (Thanos) Bourtsalas
Editors
Recovery of Materials
and Energy from
Urban Wastes
A Volume in the Encyclopedia of
Sustainability Science and
Technology, Second Edition
With320Figuresand127Tables
Editors
NickolasJ.Themelis A.C.(Thanos)Bourtsalas
EarthandEnvironmentalEngineering EarthEngineeringCenter
ColumbiaUniversity ColumbiaUniversity
NewYork,NY,USA NewYork,NY,USA
ISBN978-1-4939-7849-6 ISBN978-1-4939-7850-2(eBook)
ISBN978-1-4939-7851-9(printandelectronicbundle)
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Series Preface
Our nearly 1000-member team recognizes that all elements of sustainability
scienceandtechnologycontinuetoadvanceasdoesourunderstandingofthe
needsforenergy,water,cleanair,food,mobility,andhealth,andtherelationof
every single aspect of this vast and interconnected body of knowledge to
climatechange.OurEncyclopediacontentisatalevelforuniversitystudents,
professors,engineers,andotherpracticingprofessionals.Itisgratifyingforour
teamtonotethatouronlineFirstEditionhasbeenheavilyutilizedasevidenced
by over 500,000 downloads which of course is in addition to scientists’
utilizationoftheEncyclopediaandindividual“spin-off”volumesinprint.
NowwearepleasedtohaveaLivingReferenceon-linewhichassuresthe
sustainabilitycommunitythatweareprovidingthelatestpeer-reviewedcon-
tentcoveringthescienceandtechnologyofthesustainabilityoftheearth.We
arealsopublishingthecontentasaSeriesofindividualtopicalbooksforease
usebythosewithaninterestinparticularsubjects,andwithexpertoversightin
each field to ensure that the second edition presents the state-of-the-science
today. Our team covers the physical, chemical and biological processes that
underlie the earth system including pollution and remediation and climate
change, and we comprehensively cover every energy and environment tech-
nology as well as all types of food production, water, transportation and the
sustainablebuiltenvironment.
Our team of 15 board members includes two Nobel Prize winners (Kroto
andFischlin),twoformerDirectorsoftheNationalScienceFoundation(NSF)
(ColwellandKilleen),theformerPresidentoftheRoyalSociety(LordMay),
andtheChiefScientistoftheRockyMountainInstitute(AmoryLovins).And
ourmorethan40eminentsectioneditorsandnowbookeditors,assurequality
ofourselectedauthorsandtheirreviewpresentations.
Theextentofourcoverageclearlysetsourprojectapartfromotherpubli-
cationswhichnowexist,bothinextentanddepth.Infact,currentcompendia
ofthescienceandtechnologyofseveralofthesetopicsdonotpresentlyexist
and yetthe content iscrucialtoany evaluation and planning for the sustain-
abilityoftheearth.Itisimportanttonotethattheemphasisofourprojectison
scienceandtechnologyandnotonpolicyandpositions.Rather,policymakers
willuseourpresentationstoevaluatesustainabilityoptions.
Vital scientific issues include: human and animal ecological support sys-
tems, energy supply and effects, the planet’s climate system, systems of
agriculture, industry, forestry, and fisheries and the ocean, fresh water and
humancommunities,wastedisposal,transportationandthebuiltenvironment
v
vi SeriesPreface
ingeneralandthevarioussystemsonwhichtheydepend,andthebalanceofall
ofthesewithsustainability.Inthiscontext,sustainabilityisacharacteristicofa
process or state that can be maintained at a certain level indefinitely even as
global population increases toward nine billion by 2050. The population
growth, and the hope for increase in wealth, implies something like a 50%
increaseinfooddemandbyasearlyas2030.Atthesametime,theproportion
ofthepopulationthatlivesinanurbanenvironmentwillgoupfromabout47%
to 60%. Global economic activity is expected to grow 500%, and global
energy and materials use is expected to increase by 300% over this period.
Thatmeanstherearegoingtobesomerealproblemsforenergy,agriculture,
andwater,anditisincreasinglyclearthatconflictingdemandsamongbiofuels,
food crops, and environmental protection will be difficult to reconcile. The
“green revolution” was heavily dependent on fertilizers which are
manufacturedusingincreasinglyexpensiveanddiminishingreservesoffossil
fuels. In addition, about 70% of available freshwater is used for agriculture.
Clearly,manynaturalresourceswilleitherbecomedepletedorscarcerelative
topopulation.
Larkspur,CA,USA RobertA.Meyers,Ph.D.
October2018 Editor-in-Chief
Volume Preface
The rapid growth of urban population and economic development since the
middleofthenineteenthcenturyhasresultedintheannualgenerationofbillions
oftonsofurbanwastes.Sinceantiquity,suchwastesweredisposedinlandfills.
Inmoderntime,thispracticehasbecomeuntenablebecauseofthescarcityof
landnearurbancenters,theenvironmentalimpactsoflarge-scalelandfilling,and
theneedtoconservenonrenewableresources.Technologyadvanceshavemade
possibletheenormousincreaseinmaterialsandenergyconsumption;technol-
ogy can also help mitigate the adverse effects of dealing with the discards of
society: The “wastes” generated by humanity can be transformed to useful
resources by means of recycling (materials recovery) or thermal processing
(energyrecovery).Thisisthesubjectofthisvolumeandisanessentialpartof
whathasbeendefinedbytheUnitedNationsas“sustainabledevelopment.”
Anobviousexampleofwhathasbeencalledthe“ecologicalimperialism”
ofhumanityoverallotherspeciesisthemassivetransformationofgreenfields
and forests to landfills. In the past, landfills were located near population
centers.Inrecenttimes,cities, likeNewYork,haverunoutoflandfill space
andtransporttheirwasteshundredsofkilometersawaytomega-landfills.This
ismadepossiblebywastetransferstations,dieseltrucks,andothertechnolog-
icalequipmentandalsobythefactthatcitiesaregenerallymoreaffluentthan
the communities where the new mega-landfills are created. Currently, the
globaluseoflandforlandfillingurbanwastesisestimatedatoveronebillion
tonsperyear.Ifallurbanwastelandfillswerelocatedatoneplace,theywould
use up, each year and forever, a surface area of 100 km2, equivalent to the
surfaceareaofmetropolitanParis.
Themeansavailableformanagingthegeneratedwastescanbedividedinto
twobroadcategories:
(cid:129) Recycling, whichincludesthereuse ofsome products,recoveryof mate-
rials(metals,paper,someplastics,glass),anaerobicdigestion,andaerobic
composting of biogenic organics, such as food and “yard,” or “green,”
wastes.Thisisthesubjectoftheessaysinthefirstpartofthisvolume.
(cid:129) Post-recycling wastes are those remaining after all possible recycling has
beendone.Overthemillennia,thetraditionalwayforpost-recyclingwastes
hasbeeneithertoburythemorsetthemonfireinnonregulatedwastedumps.
As the volume of urban wastes increased, the waste dumps of developed
regions were transformed to sanitary landfills. These were provided with
vii
viii VolumePreface
imperviouslinings,whichallowedcollectionandtreatmentofliquideffluents,
andlandfillgascollectionsystems,whichreducedsubstantiallytheamountof
methaneescapingtotheatmosphere.However,inthelast50years,engineers
and scientists have developed an alternative to sanitary landfills: Waste-to-
energy(WTE)powerplantsarefueledbysolidwastesandcanbebuiltwithin
or near cities. They transform the post-recycling residues of society to elec-
tricity,heat,andrecyclablemetalsandminerals.
Theenvironmentalperformanceofwastemanagementofacityorcountry
can be rated by comparing their recovery of materials (i.e., recycling and
composting) and energy (i.e., WTE) to the amount of MSW landfilled. This
comparison can be made by means ofthe “ladder of sustainable wasteman-
agement,” which rates nations according to how little they landfill and how
muchtheyrecycleandcombustwithenergyrecovery.
Insomepartsoftheworld,thereisamisconceptionthatrecyclingandWTE
compete with each other. However, as discussed in this volume, many cities
strivetoincreasetheirrecyclingandcompostingratesasmuchaspossible.As
the recycling rate levels off, the most advanced cities increase their WTE
capacitysoastoattain“zerolandfilling,”whichhasalreadybeenattainedby
severalenvironmentallyadvancednations.
Inthiscontext,averysuccessfulexampleistheEuropeanUnionthathas
directed its member nations to phase out landfilling by increasing their
recyclingandWTEcapacities.Incontrast,theUnitedStates,despiteitshigher
economic level, recycles and composts about 30% of the urban waste, com-
bustsanother7%inWTEpowerplants,andlandfills63%.Inthedeveloping
world,theleaderinthewaste-to-energyarenaisChina,whointhecourseof
thelastdecadehasbecometheworld’smajoruserofwastetoenergy.Atthis
point, it is abundantly clear that there are only two ways of managing post-
recyclingwastes:sanitarylandfillsandWTEpowerplants.Thelatterarethe
onlysustainableoption.TheremainingobstaclefortheuniversaluseofWTE
is that it is costlier than for landfilling, when the “external” environmental
costsandbenefitsareexcluded.
Theharmoniouscoexistenceofmaterialsrecovery(recycling)andenergy
recovery(WTE)isexemplifiedinthisvolumeonmaterialsandenergyrecov-
eryfromurbanwastes.Itiscomprisedofcontributionsbyveryknowledgeable
and prominent scientists and engineers in the area of integrated waste
management.
NewYork,USA NickolasJ.Themelis
January2019 A.C.(Thanos)Bourtsalas
Contents
RecoveryofMaterialsandEnergyfromUrbanWaste,
Introduction ............................................ 1
NickolasJ.Themelis
SolidWasteGenerationandCharacterization ................ 7
AndersLagerkvistandLisaDahlén
WasteCollectionandTransport ............................ 21
JessW.Everett
RecyclingCollectionandMaterialSeparation ................ 41
MatthewJ.Franchetti
RecyclingTechnologies ................................... 63
GiuseppeBonifaziandSilviaSerranti
ElectronicWasteandItsRegulation ........................ 119
ShirleyThompson
ConstructionandDemolitionWastes ........................ 125
ThomasDyer,MagdyAbdelrahman,andZ.H.Cheng
WTE:Non-recycledCombustibleWastesinCement
Production ............................................. 141
A.C.(Thanos)Bourtsalas
WTE:ManagementofWTEResiduesinEurope .............. 159
JuergenVehlowandA.C.(Thanos)Bourtsalas
WTE:DecreasingtheEntropyofSolidWastesandIncreasing
MetalRecovery ......................................... 183
HelmutRechberger
SolidWastePublicInvolvementandEducation ............... 197
MatthewJ.Franchetti
WTE:TheMartinWTETechnology ........................ 221
UlrichMartin,JohannesMartin,andRalfKoralewska
ix
