Waste management and air

pollution control
DR M.W.Letshwenyo
 LEARNING OUTCOMES
• Be able to estimate waste generation rate
• Be able to characterise wastes
• Be able to design and manage waste management
facilities.
• Be able to manage hazardous wastes
• Be able to identify potential sources of air pollution
• Be able to determine dispersion of air pollutants
 Introduction to Waste Management

•Waste management refers to the collection, transportation,

processing, recycling, and disposal of waste materials.
•It aims to reduce the adverse impact of waste on human health
and the environment.
•Types of waste:
•Solid waste (household, industrial, and commercial waste)
•Liquid waste (sewage, industrial wastewater)
•Gaseous waste (emissions from factories and vehicles)
•Hazardous waste (toxic, chemical, radioactive, or biological
waste)
 Waste management
• Waste is directly linked to human development,
both technologically and socially.
• The compositions of different wastes have varied
over time and location, with industrial development
and innovation being directly linked to waste
materials.
• An Example of this include plastics and nuclear
technology.
• Some components of waste have economical value
and can be recycled once correctly recovered.
 Types of wastes
• Solid wastes: These are the unwanted substances
that are discarded by human society.
• They include urban wastes, industrial wastes,
agricultural wastes, biomedical wastes and radioactive
wastes.
• Liquid wastes: Wastes generated from washing,
flushing or manufacturing processes of industries are
called liquid wastes.
• Gaseous wastes : These are the wastes that are
released in the form of gases from automobiles,
factories or burning of fossil fuels like petroleum.
• They get mixed in the other gases atmosphere and
occasionally cause events such as smog and acid rain.
 Types of wastes
• There are many types of wastes defined by modern
systems of waste management, notably including:
Municipal Waste includes household waste
 commercial waste, demolition waste
Hazardous Waste includes Industrial waste
Bio-medical Waste includes clinical waste
Special Hazardous waste includes radioactive waste,
explosives waste, E-waste
 Sources of Wastes
•Municipal Solid Waste (MSW): Household, commercial, and
institutional waste.
•Industrial Waste: By-products of manufacturing and processing
industries.
•Agricultural Waste: Crop residues, animal manure, pesticides.
•Biomedical Waste: Hospitals, clinics, laboratories, including
infectious and non-infectious waste.
•E-Waste: Discarded electronic devices like computers, phones,
and televisions.
•Construction and Demolition Waste: Concrete, wood, metals,
and debris.
 Sources and classification
• Garbage: it is produced during the preparation of
meat, fruit, and vegetables.
• Rubbish: it is combustible or non- combustible solid
waste
• Pathological wastes: like dead animals and
human waste.
• Industrial wastes: Chemicals, paints metal ore
processing, sludge and fly ash.
• Agricultural wastes: Farm animal and crop residues.
Source Typical waste generators Types of solid wastes
Residential Single and multifamily dwellings Food wastes, paper,
cardboard, plastics, textiles,
leather, yard wastes, wood,
glass, metals, ashes etc
Industrial Light and heavy manufacturing, House keeping wastes,
fabrication, construction sites, power packaging, food wastes,
and chemical plants construction and demolition
materials, hazardous wastes,
ashes, and special wastes
Commercial Stores, hotels, restaurants, markets, Paper, cardboard, plastic,
office buildings etc wood, food wastes, glass,
metals, special wastes,
hazardous wastes
Institutional Schools, hospitals, prisons, government Same as above
centers
Construction and New construction sites, road repair, Wood, steel, concrete, dirt
demolitions renovation sites, demolition of buildings
Municipal services Street cleaning, landscaping, parks, Industrial process wastes,
beaches, scrap, materials, slag tailings
 Hazardous materials

• Hazardous, or toxic, waste threatens human health or

the environment because it is poisonous, dangerously
chemically reactive, corrosive, or flammable.
• Examples include:
– Industrial solvents.
– Hospital medical waste.
– Car batteries.
– Household pesticide products.
– Dry-cell batteries.
– Ash from incinerators and coal-burning power plants.
Harmful chemicals are found in many
homes
 What Harmful Chemicals Are in
Your Home?
Cleaning Gardening
Disinfectants Pesticides
Drain, toilet, and Weed killers
window cleaners
Ant and rodent killers
Spot removers Flea powders
Septic tank cleaners

Paint Products
Paints, stains,
varnishes, and
lacquers
Paint thinners,
solvents, and
strippers Automotive
Wood preservatives Gasoline
Artist paints and inks Used motor oil
General Antifreeze
Dry-cell batteries Battery acid
(mercury and
cadmium) Brake and
transmission fluid
Glues and cements Stepped Art
 Solid waste management
• Solid waste management may be defined as:
 the control of generation, storage, collection, transfer and
transport, processing, and disposal of solid wastes
 in a manner that is accord with the best principles of public
health, economics, engineering, conservation, aesthetics, and
other environmental considerations
 and that is also responsive to public attitudes.
 The first objective of solid waste management is to remove
discarded materials from inhabited places in a timely manner
to prevent the spread of diseases, to minimize the likelihood
of fires, and to reduce aesthetic results arising from putrefying
organic matter.
 Waste management strategies

•Waste Prevention (Source Reduction)

•Minimizing waste production at the source.
•Using eco-friendly products and packaging.
•Implementing sustainable manufacturing processes.
•Reuse
•Repurposing materials without altering their form.
•Example: Using old clothes as rags, refilling water bottles.
•Recycling
•Processing waste materials into new products.
•Common recyclables: paper, glass, metal, plastics.
•Composting
•Biological decomposition of organic waste to produce compost.
•Used to improve soil fertility.
•Waste-to-Energy (WTE)
•Converting waste into usable energy through incineration or biogas production.
•Landfilling
•Disposal of waste in designated landfill sites.
•Should be properly managed to prevent pollution.
•Incineration
•Burning waste at high temperatures to reduce its volume.
•Can generate energy but may produce harmful emissions.
 Waste management hierarchy
•Prevention – Avoid waste generation.
•Minimization – Reduce the amount of waste
produced.
•Reuse – Extend product life by reusing
materials.
•Recycling – Convert waste into new products.
•Energy Recovery – Convert waste into
energy.
•Disposal – Last resort, including landfills and
incineration.
 Goals
 The goals of M.S.W.M can be summarized as follows:
• To protect environmental health.
• To promote the quality of the urban environment.
• To support the efficiency and productivity of the economy.
• To generate employment and income.
 To achieve the above goals, it is necessary to establish sustainable
system of S.W.M.
 The principal of sustainable waste management strategies are to:
• Minimize waste generation.
• Maximize waste recycling and reuse.
• Ensure the safe and environmentally sound disposal of waste.
• Resort to the circular economy principles
 Functional Elements of a Waste
Management System:
• The activities involved in the solid waste management are
grouped into six functional elements:
• Waste generation.
• On-site handling, storage and processing.
• Collection.
• Transfer and transport.
• Processing and recovery.
• Disposal.
 PROPERTIES
• Information on properties of solid wastes is needed
for:
 Equipment needs
 Management programs and plans
 Physical composition
• Information and data on the physical composition of solid
wastes include:
 Identification of individual components that make up solid
wastes
 Analysis of particle size
 Moisture content
 Density of solid wastes
Can help in:
 Selection of storage and transport used
 Potential for resource recovery
 Choice of suitable method of disposal
 Individual components
• Include:
 Food wastes
 Card board
 Paper
 Plastic
 textiles
 Leather
 Glass
 Tin cans
 wood
 Particle size

• Size of component materials in solid wastes

• Important in the recovery of materials
• General indication of particle distribution
• Smaller particle size provide greater surface area and more rapid
reaction with microorganisms in a compost pile
• more rapid combustion in an incinerator MSW stratify vertically when
mixed with smaller and denser components migrating to the bottom
of a pile and lighter, bulky migrating to the top.
• Size distribution is measured by passing samples of MSW over a
series of screens, beginning with coarse screen and continuing down
to a fine screen
 Moisture content
• Expressed as the mass of moisture per unit mass of wet or dry
material
• In the wet-mass method measurement, moisture in a sample
is expressed as a percentage of the wet mass of the material
• In the dry mass methods, it is expressed as a percentage of
the dry mass of the material
• Wet –mass moisture content is expressed as:
• 100
• A = initial mass of sample as delivered
• B = mass of sample after drying
 Typical moisture content

Component Range (%) Typical (%)

Food wastes 50-80 70
Paper 4-10 6
Cardboard 4-8 5
Plastics 1-4 2
Textile 6-15 10
Rubber 1-4 2
Leather 8-12 10
Garden trimmings 30-80 60
Wood 15-40 20
Misc. organics 10-60 25
Glass 1-4 2
Tin cans 2-4 3
 Density
• One of the important characteristics of solid waste
• Essential to assess the total mass and volume of waste that must be
managed
• Important to estimate number of containers and vehicles required for
the collection and transportation and frequency of collection
• Changes in density changes frequently as wastes move from source
to disposal because of:
 Nature of its components
 Moisture content
 Degree of compaction
 Geological location
 Length of time of storage

 Density
• Useful parameter in waste characterization as it provides information on
predicting:
 Storage
 Volume
• Density of raw uncompacted solid waste will vary as a function of
composition, moisture content, physical shape, degree of compaction
• Efficient use of landfill volume is essential parameter in landfill
management
• Knowledge of compaction density, volume of land required at landfill can
then be calculated
• Density of MSW can be calculated as- compacted ρc or as – discarded
density ρd
• Compaction ratio r, is defined as the ratio of as compacted density to as-
discarded density
 Density
• For materials having different densities calculation of overall bulk
density is:
• = ρ(a+b)
• Where Ma, Mb are masses of A and B ρa and ρb are bulk densities
of A and B
• Waste volume reduction is = F, where F is fraction remaining of
initial volume as a result of compaction, Vo is the initial volume and
Vc the compacted volume
 Density
• The overall density of solid waste composed of
different materials can be calculated using the
weighted average density formula:

• Ρ overall =
• where:
• Wi = weight (mass) of material i
• ρi = density of material i
• Ρoverall = overall density of the solid waste mixture
 Example
• Consider a solid waste sample consisting of:
 Paper: 5 kg, density = 250 kg/m³
 Plastic: 3 kg, density = 900 kg/m³
 Glass: 8 kg, density = 2500 kg/m³
 Organic waste: 6 kg, density = 600 kg/m³
• Step 1: Multiply Each Material’s Weight by Its
Density
• (5×250)+(3×900)+(8×2500)+(6×600) =
1250+2700+20000+3600
• = 27550 kg/m3
• Step 2: Sum the Total Weight
• 5+3+8+6=22 kg
• Step 3: Divide to Find Overall Density
• = 27550 kg/m3/22 kg = 1252.27 kg/m3.
 Example
Component % by weight Uncompacted bulk density
(kg/m3)

Corrugated cardboard 25 30

Paper products 15 61

Aluminum 9 38

Food waste 29 368

Yard waste 22 7.1

 Example
a. What is the bulk density for the waste mixture
prior to compaction?
b. Assume that the compaction in the landfill cell
is 500 kg/m3
c. Estimate the volume reduction (expressed as
%) during compaction in the landfill
d. If the food and yard waste is diverted for
composting , what is the uncompacted bulk
density of the remaining waste?
 Solution
• Density prior to compaction:

• Percent volume reduction:

• 22.27/500 = 0.04 or 4%
• When food and yard waste is removed bulk
density is:
• = 49/1.32 = 37 kg/m3.
 Typical densities for solid wastes
components and mixtures
Item Range kg/m3 Typical density kg/m3

Food wastes 120-480 290

Paper 30-130 85

Cardboard 30-80 50

Plastics 30-130 65

Textiles 30-100 65

Rubber 90-200 130

Leather 90-260 160

Garden trimming 60-225 105

Wood 120-320 240

Misc. organics 90-360 240

Glass 160-480 195

Tin cans 45-160 90

Non ferrrous metals 60-240 160

 Example: Based on 100 kg sample of waste
Component Percent by mass Moisture content, Dry mass (kg)
(%)
Food waste 15 70 4.5 (15x0.3)
Paper 45 6 42.3
Cardboard 10 5 9.5
Plastics 10 2 9.8
Garden trimmings 10 60 4.0
wood 5 20 4.0
Tin cans 5 3 4.9
TOTAL 100 79
 Solution
1. Moisture content = 100 = 21%
2. Density (based on 1000 kg sample of waste)
component Percent by mass Typical density (kg/m3) Volume (m3)

Food waste 15 290 V=

15/(100)*1000/290=
0.52

Paper 45 85 5.29
Cardboard 10 50 2
Plastics 10 65 1.54
Garden trimmings 10 105 0.95
Wood 5 240 0.21
Tin cans 5 90 0.56
TOTAL 100 11.1
Density
3
 Sampling
• A critical step of a waste investigation is the sampling.
• The aim is to achieve a representative sampling.
• It has to take into account many factors, such as the sampling area, the sample
size, the sample preparation, the season, the kind of waste etc.
• The waste homogeneity influences the amount and number of samples
needed.
• For MSW, fairly large samples are necessary (Pohlmann 1994).
• Maystre and Viret (1995) come to the conclusion that at least 300 kg of sample
is needed at each sampling occasion.
• With other wastes that are more homogenous, for example waste from
process industries, representative sampling can be reached with smaller
samples.
• The samples used in experiments and analyses might be homogenised and
divided into sub-samples.
• The sample preparation influences the waste properties. E.g., waste
comminution can cause heating resulting in the evaporation of some
 Sampling procedure
• A common method for dividing samples into sub-samples is
quartering.
• For this purpose special equipment that divides a sample into
four equally large sub-samples is widely used.
• The process is repeated until the desired sample size is reached.
• According to Ham and co-workers (1979), quartering is the only
technique that yields a representative sample.
• Predicting composition of solid wastes to be collected now and
in the future is difficult
• This is due to heterogeneous nature of waste materials
• Assessing total mix of waste material such as those in previous
slide, load count and mass volume methods can be used
 Procedure
• Unload a truckload of wastes in a controlled area away from other
operations
• Quarter the waste load
• Select one of the quarters and quarter that quarter
• Select one of the quartered quarters and separate all of the individual
components of the waste into preselected components
• Place the separated components in a container of known volume and
tare mass and measure the volume and mass of each component.
• The separated components should be compacted tightly to simulate
the conditions in the storage containers from which they were
collected
• Determine the percentage distribution of each component by mass
and the as discarded density
 Chemical composition
• Important for evaluating alternative processing and energy
recovery options
• If used as fuel, 4 important properties to be known:
1. Proximate analysis
 Moisture (loss at 105˚C for 1 h)
 Volatile matter(additional loss on ignition at 950˚C)
 Ash (residue after burning)
 Fixed carbon (remainder)
2. Fusing point of ash
3. Ultimate analysis, percent of C, H, O, N, S and ash
4. Heating value (energy value)