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Chapter – 9 Municipal Solid Waste Management

1. The composition of a certain MSW sample and specific weights of its various
components are given below:
Component Percent by Specific weight
weight (kg/m3)
Food 50 300
Dirt and Ash 30 500
Plastics 10 65
wood and Yard waste 10 125
Specific weight (kg/m3) of the MSW sample is
(a) 319 (b) 217
(c) 209 (d) 199
[2006: 2 Marks]
Ans. (b)
2. 50g of CO2 and 25g of CH4 are produced from the decomposition of municipal
solid waste (MSW) with a formula weight of 120 g. What is the average per
capita green house gas production in a city of 1 million people with a MSW
production rate of 500 ton/day?
(a) 104 g/day (b) 120 g/day
(c) 208 g/day (d) 313 g/day
[2007: 2 Marks]
Ans. (d)
3. A coastal city produces municipal solid waste (MSW) with high moisture
content, high organic materials, low calorific value and low inorganic materials.
The most effective and sustainable option for MSW management in that city is
(a) Composting (b) Dumping in sea
(c) Incineration (d) Landfill
[2010: 1 Mark]
Ans. (a)
4. A landfill is to be designed to serve a population of 200000 for a period of 25
years. The solid waste (SW) generation is 2kg/person/day. The density of the
un-compacted SW is 100 kg/m3 and a compaction ratio of 4 is suggested. The

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ratio of compacted fill (i.e. SW + Cover) to compacted SW is 1.5. The landfill

3
volume (in million m ) required is ___
[2015: 2 Marks, Set-I]
5. Solid waste generated from an industry contains only two components, X and Y
as shown in the table below:
Component Composition Density
(% weight) (kg.m3)

X C1 ρ1

Y C2 ρ2

Assuming (c1 + c2) = 100, the composite density of the solid waste (ρ) is given
by
100
(a) �1 �2
+
�1 �2
�1 �2
(b) 100 �1
+
�2
(c) 100(�1 �1 + �2 �2 )
�1 �2
(d) 100 (�1 �1 +�2 �2
[2015: 1 Mark, Set-I]
Ans. (a)
6. The composition of a municipal solid waste sample is given below:
Component Percent by Mass Moisture content Energy content
(%) (kJ/kg on as
discarded basis)
Food waste 20 70 2500
Paper 10 4 10000
Cardboard 10 4 8000
Plastics 10 1 14000
Garden 40 60 3500
trimming
Wood 5 20 14000
Tin Cans 5 2 100

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The difference between the energy content of the waste sample calculated on dry
basis and as discarded basis (inkJ/kg) would be
[2017: 2 Marks, Set-2]
7. There are 20,000 vehicles operating in a city with an average annual travel of
12,000 km per vehicle. The NOx emission rate is 2.0 g/km per vehicle. The total
annual release of NOx will be
(a) 4,80,000kg (b) 4,800 kg
(c) 480 kg (d) 48 kg
[2018: 1 Mark, Set-l]
Ans. (a)
6
8. A city generates 40 x 10 kg of municipal solid waste (MSW) per year, out of
which only 10% is recovered/recycled and the rest goes to landfill. The landfill
has a single lift of 3 m height and is compacted to a density of 550 kg/m3. If
80% of the landfill is assumed to be MSW, the landfill area (in m2, up to one
decimal place) required would be ____
[2018: 1 Mark, Set-I]
9. A waste activated sludge (WAS) is to be blended with green waste (GW). The
carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) contents, per kg of WAS and GW on dry basis
are given in the table.

Parameter WAS GW

Carbon (g) 54 360

Nitrogen (g) 10 6
The ratio of WAS to GW required (up to two decimal places) to achieved a
blended C: Nratio of 20:1 on dry basis is
[2018: 2 Marks, Set-I]
10. A coal containing 2% sulfur is burned completely to ash in a brick kiln at a rate
of 30 kg/min. The sulfur content in the ash was found to be 6% of the initial
amount of sulfur present in the coal fed to the brick kiln. The molecular weights
of S, H and O are 32, 1 and 16 g/mole, respectively. The annual rate of sulfur
dioxide (SO2) emission from the kiln (in tonnes/year, up to two decimal places)
is .

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[2018: 2 Marks, Set-II]

11. Raw municipal solid waste (MSW) collected from a city contains 70%
decomposable material that can be converted to methane. The water content of
the decomposable material is 35%. An elemental analysis of the
decomposable material yields the following mass percent.
C: H: O: N: other = 44: 6: 43: 0.8: 6.2
The methane production of the decomposable material is governed by the
following stoichiometric relation
Ca Hb Oc Nd + nH2O → mCH4 + sCO2 + dNH3
Given atomic weights: C = 12, H = 1, O = 16, N = 14. The mass of methane
produced (in grams, round off to 1 decimal place) per kg of raw MSW will be
[2019: 2 Marks, Set-II]
12. A Waste to energy plant burns dry solid waste of composition: Carbon = 35%,
Oxygen = 26%, Hydrogen = 10%, Sulphur = 6%, Nitrogen = 3% and Inert =
20%. Burning rate is 1000 tonnes/d. Oxygen in air by weight is 23%. Assume
complete conversion of Carbon to CO2, Hydrogen to H2O, Sulphur to SO2 and
Nitrogen to NO2.
Given Atomic weights: H = 1, C = 12, N = 14, O = 16, S = 32.
The stoichiometric (theoretical) amount of air (in tonnes/d, round off to the
nearest integer) required for complete burning of this waste, is
[2020: 2 Marks, Set-II]
13. Which one of the following statements is correct?
(a) Combustion is an exothermic process, which takes place in the absence of
oxygen.
(b) Pyrolysis is an exothermic process, which takes place in the absence of
oxygen.
(c) Pyrolysis is an endothermic process, which takes place in the absence of
oxygen.
(d) Combustion is an endothermic process, which takes place in the abundance
of oxygen.
[2021: 1 Mark, Set-1]
Ans. (c)
14. Determine the correctness or otherwise of the following Assertion [A] and the
Reason [R].

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Assertion [A]: One of the best ways to reduce the amount of solid wastes is to
reduce the consumption of raw materials,
Reason [R]: Solid wastes are seldom generated when raw materials are
converted to goods for consumption.
(a) Both [A] and [R] are true and [R] is the correct reason for [A].
(b) Both [A] and [R] are false.
(c) [A] is true but [R] is false.
(d) Both [A] and [R] are true but [R] is not the correct reason for [A]
[2021: 1 Mark, Set-II]
Ans. (c)

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