Waste Treatment Processes

(CHEM4015/CIVE4140)
Week 12
Tertiary Treatment and Solid waste management
Solids Waste Management

Lecturer Name: Dr Nitin Raut

Dr Amal Al Saadi
Prof Rajamohan Natarajan
Academic Year: 2023-2024
Introduction to municipal solid waste (MSW)

Definition
 Waste that is other than emission or effluent and is regarded as inevitable by-product due
to human activities, generated a rate and discarded after used when no longer needed by
the generator
 Waste is a residual, a used-up product or material of marginal or negative value for the
owner that the owner wishes to get rid off (Christenser, 1988)

Materials Flow

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 Types of solid waste
 Municipal wastes (domestic waste)
 Industrial wastes
 Hazardous wastes
 Agriculture wastes
Industrial wastes
 Wastes arising from industrial
activities, include:
 Rubbish
 Ashes
 Demolition & construction
wastes
 Some wastes could be hazardous
Municipal wastes
 Food wastes
 Rubbish
 Ashes and residues
 Demolition & construction wastes
 Specials waste (battery, aerosol, cosmetic)
 Treatment plant wastes (domestic treatment
plant, sewage treatment plant)
Hazardous wastes
 pose a substantial danger immediately or
over a period of time to human, plant or
animal life.
 It exhibits any of the following
 Ignitability Corrosivity
 Reactivity Toxicity
 Can be categorized as radioactive, chemical,
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biological, flammable and explosive wastes
Agriculture wastes
Include
 Food processing wastes
 Plants residue
 Animal wastes
 Pesticide / herbicides are hazardous
Example sources of MSW
 Residential area – family dwellings
 Commercial area – markets, offices,
hotel, workshop school
 Open areas – roadside, parks, street,
playground beaches
 Treatment plants sites
 Industrial activities & construction
areas
Sources of solid waste
 It is basic to engineering management of
waste
 Knowledge of the source and type of the
waste
 Give data on composition and generation
rates 1 household = 5 peoples
Properties & Characteristics
of solid wastes
 Information on the waste characteristic is
important in evaluating alternative
 Equipment needed
 Treatment systems
 Management plans – disposal, resources
recovery and energy recovery options
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Components of waste 1. Individual components
Physicals components Composition of MSW Reflects
1. Individual component,  affluence of society
2. Analysis of particle size,  The way of life
3. Moisture content,  Economic status
4. Density  Social behaviour
Waste Range Typical Malaysia USA

Organic / food 5-25 17 32.0 10.0

Yard waste 0-10 10 - 15.0
Composition Paper 10-40 33 29.5 38.0
of MSW for Plastic 2-8 6 16.0 10.0
(% by mass) Textile / leather 0-3 2 3.4 7.0
Rubber 0-1 0.5 2.0 -
Wood 1-3 2 7.0 -
Glass 4-15 5 4.5 6.0
Ceramic - - 0.4 -
Ferrous metal 1-3 1 3.7 8.0
Non ferrous metal 0-1 1 0.6 -
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others 0-10 8 0.9 3.0
General trends in composition of MSW (% by weight)
Component Low income Middle income High income
countries
Food waste 40-85 20-65 6-30
Paper / cardboard 1-10 8-30 25-60
Plastic 1-5 2-6 2-8
Yard wastes 1-5 1-10 10-20
Other organics 2-10 2-15 4-15
Inorganics 1-55 1-45 7-35

2. Analysis of particles size

 Size of waste component effect the effectiveness of material recovery
 The use of mechanical separation technique (screens and magnetic separators) can
effectively sort the particle size
 Organic materials, size is important with respect to biological treatment (smaller
particles required)
 Reduction in particle size increase the rate of biological transformation and
degradation of material 6
 Shredding employed to reduce particle size
3. Moisture content
 It is important when waste is to be composted or digested anaerobically in
sanitary landfill
 For effective composting and digestion, optimum moisture content is required.
 Moisture content is expressed as mass of moisture per unit mass of wet or dry
material
a b
moisturecontent %  ( )100
a
Where, a = initial mass of sample as delivered
b = mass of sample after drying
4. Density
 Knowledge of density required to determine waste compacted volume
c
 Used for calculating volume of landfill space requirement
r 
 Compacted volume needed to determine collection vehicle capacity d
 Density is expressed on as-compacted or as-discarded basis.
 Ratio between as-compacted density, c to as-discarded density d is called
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compaction ratio, r or
Typical moisture content data for MSW

Component Moisture (%)

Range Typical
Food wastes 50-80 70
Paper 4-10 6
Cardboard 4-8 5
Plastics 1-4 2
Textiles 6-15 10
Rubber 1-4 2
Leather 8-12 10
Wood 15-40 20
Misc. Organics 10-60 25
Glass 1-4 2
Tin cans 2-4 3
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Dirt, ashes, brick, etc 6-12 8
Table 5. Typical densities for solid wastes components and mixtures

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 Chemical Composition1/2

 Important in evaluating alternative

processing and energy recovery
options
 Energy content or fuel value of waste
is the amount of heat that will be
released when wastes are combusted
 Calorific value of wastes decreased
with increased in moisture content –
if incineration is used, auxiliary fuel
is required

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Example estimating the energy content of a solid-waste sample

 Estimate the energy content of a solid-waste sample with the

composition given in example. what is the content on a dry
basis and on an ash-free dry basis?
Chemical content Comp % by mass
 Representative data on the ultimate Food waste 15
analysis of typical municipal waste Paper 45
components are presented in Table
10.8. If energy values are not Cardboard 10
available, approximate values may Plastics 10
be determined by using eq., known Garden trimmings 10
as the modified Dulong formula
Wood 5
Tin cans 5

 O
kJ kg  337C  1428 H    9 S 10.4
 8 12
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Waste management
Waste management is the collection, transport, processing, recycling or
disposal and monitoring of waste materials.

The main necessity of waste management is to enrich the resources which are
being depleted due to rising population and increasing consumption rates.

WASTE MINIMISATION
Prevention of waste being created is known as waste reduction which is an
important method of waste management.

The modern concepts based on the three ‘R’s are: Reduce, Reuse and
Recycle.

Methods of avoidance include reuse of second hand products, designing

products to be refillable or reusable, repairing broken items instead of
buying new etc. 14
HIERARCHY OF WASTE MINIMIZATION

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_hierarchy
PROCESSES DURING THE SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT
Integrated solid waste management through the following processes can
provide a better reliable solution for the problem of municipal solid waste
generation.

WASTE COLLECTION
 WASTE COLLECTION
 SEGREGATION  From individual houses, wastes can be
collected in person with the help of
 RECYCLING
vehicle.
 SHREDDING OR PULVERIZING
 COMPOSTING
 To minimize the time and cost
involved in collecting waste through
vehicles, public can be given
instruction to dump their house wastes
in one place (nearby their street).

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SEGREGATION
Segregation of wastes into degradable and non-degradable wastes is to be done to
recover or divert non-degradable wastes (electric items, plastics, tyres etc.) and
degradable items (wood, textiles etc.) to its recycling plant and if possible, it can
be reused.
It is a tedious process which therefore needs labour. Magnets can also be used to
segregate ferrous metals.
This process will help in reducing the amounts of waste going for composting and
also earns money (through selling wastes to recycling plant.

RECYCLING

The non-degradable and degradable wastes can be recycled very

economically in the recycling plants.
Apart from sending wastes to recycling plant, recycling of some organic
waste is possible.
Some of the waste recycling techniques are: Fly ash, Organic wastes, Slag
and scrap, Industrial gases, Waste waters, Recovery of silver from
photographic films. 17
SHREDDING OR PULVERIZING
 This process involves in size reduction of organic wastes before it goes for
composting.
 This process reduces the overall volume by 40%.
ADVANTAGES:
 It will increase surface area availability for bacterial activity
(decomposition).
 Facilitates easy handling of moisture content and aeration.

COMPOSTING
Aerobic composting is one of the cheapest and easiest methods that are being
available for MSW.
Generally, composting can be carried out in three techniques. They are
i) windrow composting
ii) Aerated static pile method
iii) In vessel method
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References

1. Metcalf & Eddy, Inc. (2003). Wastewater engineering:

treatment, disposal and reuse.4th edition, McGraw Hill, Inc.,
New York, NY
2. https://studylib.net/doc/5496826/wastewater-characterization

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