Solid Waste Management

Prof. Dan Tsang

Solid Waste
 Solid waste
 HK EPD classifies waste by making reference to the source of waste
and the institutional arrangements for waste collection and disposal
 major waste types
城市固体垃圾
 municipal solid waste (MSW)
拆毁
 construction & demolition (C&D) waste

 chemical waste, special waste and other waste

Solid Waste
 Municipal solid waste (MSW) in Hong Kong
 domestic solid waste
 households and public areas

 residential buildings, public litter bins, streets,

marine areas, and country parks
 commercial solid waste
 shops, restaurants, hotels, offices, and markets
in private housing estates
 industrial solid waste
 from all industries, except construction waste,
chemical waste, or other special waste

colection Groundwater
top
Gas
cover
monitoring
drainage
idesign waste
bottom liner
Video (10 min)
Landfill Disposal OO O O

leachate collection system

(landfill design & operation)
 Landfill closure
Landscaping and Surface water
cover maintenance control

Landfill design
Landfill gas management
Final cover
Gas conversion design
to electricity
Surface water
drainage
Gas Reactions
flaring occurring in Site planning
landfills Gas
collection
system design
Liner design
Leachate Leachate
Gas well and collection treatment
Load
ambient air Weight inspection

Groundwater Vadose Leachate management

zone Placement
Environmental monitoring Landfill operations
Biological Treatment
 Organic Waste Treatment Facilities (OWTF)
 phase 1
 tendering in 2010
 estimated operation in 2014
 treat 200 tonnes of organic waste (mostly food
waste) per day
 avoid landfilling of about 190 tonnes per day
堆肥
 produce about 20 tonnes of compost per day
 produce biogas as renewable energy
 expected generation of 14 million kWh of
electricity annually
 enough for use by 3000 households

 reduction in use of fossil fuel for power

generation = reduction of 25000 tonnes per
year of Green House Gas emission

Video (21 min)

Biological Treatment (food waste recycling_Jun2016)
厌氧菌消化
 Anaerobic digestion
Biological Treatment
堆制肥料
 In‐vessel composting system

臭⽓
,
Incineration 焚化
 Waste‐to‐energy (WTE)
 combustion process (incineration = complete combustion)
 significant volume reduction (~90% by volume, ~75% by weight)
 energy recovery for community (~10,000 kJ/kg)
病原体
 destruction of hazardous organic chemicals and pathogens (>99.99%)
 relatively small area

 applicable for developed countries with high population densities

 HK phased out three outdated incinerators in Kwai Chung, Kennedy
Town and Lai Chi Kok in 1990‐1997
 in replacement three strategic landfills came into operation in 1993‐95

Incineration
 Integrated Waste Management Facilities
 key components
 environmental education centre

 mechanical sorting and recycling facility

 waste heat recovery and power generation system

 advanced incineration facility

 Video (21 min)
Incineration (incineration_1_Jun2016)

 Integrated Waste Management Facilities

 moving grate

Incineration Design of incinerator

 Integrated Waste Management Facilities

。
Incineration
 Integrated Waste Management Facilities
 flue gas cleansing

Video (21 min)

Incineration (incineration_2_Jun2016)

 Integrated Waste Management Facilities

Group Project Presentation (Week 12)
Group Project Presentation (Week 12)
 Three persons form a team
 Submit a 10‐min video presentation

 Topic: MSW Incineration in Hong Kong: (a) incineration

bottom ash recycling; (b) low‐carbon incineration fly ash
treatment; (c) I‐Park3 site selection

 Submit your presentation slides before lecture before 6th

April, Thursday 5 pm, Week 12
[email protected]

Presentation Assessment Rubrics

Waste Characterization

Waste Characterization
 physical characteristics
 particle size distribution
 moisture content
 density

 chemical characteristics
 proximate analysis 近似分析
 ultimate analysis
 energy content (heating value)
Waste Characterization
 physical characteristics
 moisture content (%)
 wet‐weight basis (total mass of waste induding moisture)
mass of moisture
moisture content (%)  100%
total mass of waste

 dry‐weight basis Cdry mass of wasteexcuding

moistures
mass of moisture
moisture content (%)   100%
dry mass of waste

 density (kg/m3)
mass
density 
volume

Waste Characterization
 chemical characteristics
 proximate analysis
 moisture (weight loss at 105oC for 1 h)
挥发
 volatile matter (additional weight loss on ignition at 950oC in a
closed crucible)坩锅
 fixed carbon (residue from the above)
 ash (residue from combustion at 950oC in an open crucible)
 ultimate analysis (elemental analysis)
 C (carbon), H (hydrogen), O (oxygen), N (nitrogen), S (sulphur) by
elemental analyzer
 ash content
Waste Characterization
 Energy content
 heating value – calorific value 热值
 MSW composition
 moisture content
 ash content

 standard test to measure gross heat value

 burn the MSW sample completely in a bomb calorimeter

 measure the rise in temperature of a surrounding water bath

 results known as higher heat value (HHV), or gross heat value

Waste Characterization
 Energy content
 alternatively, HHV can be estimated based on empirical equations
 HHV = 53.5 (F + 3.6 CP) + 372 PLR
(Khan and Abu‐Ghararah, 1991)
 HHV = higher heat value (kJ kg‐1)
 F = mass % of food
纸板
 CP = mass % of cardboard & paper
 PLR = mass % of plastic, rubber, and leather ⽪⾰
Waste Characterization
 Incineration
 favourable for wastes having
 high energy content

 low moisture content

⽆机物
 low ash content (inorganics)

 e.g., paper, plastics, textiles, rubber,

leather, and wood

Waste Characterization
 Energy content
 alternatively, HHV can be estimated based on empirical equations
 HHV = 337 (C) + 1428 (H – O/8) + 9 (S)
(Modified Dulong formula)

 HHV = 339 (C) + 1440 (H) – 139 (O) + 105 (S)

(Rhyner et al., 1995)

 HHV = higher heat value (kJ kg‐1)

 C = dry mass % of carbon



H = dry mass % of hydrogen
O = dry mass % of oxygen
S = dry mass % of sulphur
} arymasspencentage
Waste Characterization
 Energy content
 lower heat value (LHV), or net energy, for estimating energy recovery
 LHV = HHV – energy loss in vaporized water

 energy loss in vaporized water due to

 converting moisture into vapour

 hydrogen in waste that react with oxygen to form water

 1 kg of vaporized moisture loses 2440 kJ at 25oC

 2440 kJ per kg of H2O

 1 kg of hydrogen produce 9 kg of water vapour

 total water vapour = initial moisture content + 9 (hydrogen content)

Waste Characterization
 Energy content
 energy loss in vaporized water
 QL = 2440(W + 9H)⼋
 QL = latent heat of water vapour released (kJ)

 W = kg of moisture in waste

 H = kg of hydrogen in dry waste

 lower heat value (LHV), or net energy, for estimating energy recovery
 LHV = HHV – energy lost in vaporized water
 LHV = HHV ‐ QL

value
'
heat
gress
Collection and Transport
 Collection and transfer

Solid Waste
 Transfer stations in HK
 Island East Transfer Station & North Lantau Transfer Station
Solid Waste
 Transfer stations in HK

Solid Waste
 Transfer stations
 tipping floor, hoppers, compaction equipment
 large containers shipped by rail or sea
 more economical with increasing distance to treatment/disposal sites
and amount of waste
 thus particularly suitable for larger cities

Direct haul Direct haul

Disposal
Collection
site
route
$/Tonne

Transfer
station
Transfer station
Break-even
Disposal
site
Transfer Collection point
Station route

Distance between collection

route and disposal site
Collection and Transport
 Transfer stations in HK

Special Waste
Facilities

Video (21 min)

Solid Waste (waste management_May2016)

 Waste management hierarchy

Solid Waste

Solid Waste
 Targets
Solid Waste
 Waste Charging Scheme
 objectives
 charging does not bear a revenue‐generating objective

Waste Charging
 Construction waste
 inert substances (known as public fill)
 over 80% of construction waste, including debris, rubble, earth, and concrete
 suitable for land reclamation and site formation
 non‐inert substances
 bamboo, timber, vegetation, packaging waste, and other organic materials
 landfill disposal
Waste Charging
 Construction waste disposal charging

Waste Charging
 Waste Charging Scheme
 objectives
 reduce waste generation at source
 increase waste recovery rate
 foster behavioural change
Integrated Waste Management
 Re‐visiting waste hierarchy