Recycling of Waste Materials

Definition:-
• Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new
materials and objects.
• It is an alternative to "conventional" waste disposal that can save
material and help lower greenhouse gas emissions.
• Recycling can prevent the waste of potentially useful materials
and reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, thereby
reducing: energy usage, air pollution (from incineration), and
water pollution (from land filling).
• Recycling is a key component of modern waste reduction and is
the third component of the "Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle" of
wastes.
• Thus, recycling aims at environmental sustainability by
substituting raw material inputs into and redirecting waste
outputs out of the economic system.
 Role of Microbes in Waste Recycling
• Bacteria and other microbes are often associated
with illnesses, but they have an important role in
the waste recycling process. They are responsible
for the biodegradation of organic materials and
nutrient recycling in the natural environment. In
addition to this fundamental role, microbes are
also essential to the fermentation stages of waste
recycling, biodegradation of oil in the marine
ecosystems, helpful in the treatment of
wastewaters and in the production of alternative
energy.
 i) Conversion under aerobic
conditions:
• Under aerobic conditions ammonia is further
oxidised to nitrate. Phosphorus and sulphur
contained in the organic substances are
oxidised to phosphate and sulphate. These can
be further utilised by the microorganisms for
synthesis.
 ( (ii) Conversion under anaerobic
conditions :
• Methane (CH4) is a useful gaseous by-product
of anaerobic conversion, because it can be
combusted to produce heat/energy. On the
other hand if it is released to the atmosphere
without being combusted, it contributes to
the greenhouse gas effect.
 (iii) Conversion under photosynthetic
conditions:
• sunlight
aCO2 + rH2O + tNH3 Cw Hx Oy Nz + bO2
•
• As shown by the conversion reactions (the utilisation of organic
wastes for food by microorganisms) the product is mainly the
cellular material of the micro-organisms i.e. more organisms are
produced. The growth yield is the weight of micro-organisms
produced per unit weight of organic substances consumed by the
micro-organisms. The growth yield depends on the type of
substrate and environmental conditions. The smaller the value of
the growth yield the better it is for waste treatment, because less
sludge is produced which requires disposal. Its value is usually
between 0.2 and 0.5 for aerobic conversion, while the
corresponding value for anaerobic conversion is smaller.
 Natural Biodegradation

• Microorganisms recycle nutrients in the

environment, by decomposing organic materials.
Organic materials, such as animal carcasses and
tree trunks, decay by the action of decomposing
microbes, which are also responsible for getting
rid of industrial and household waste. Through a
process called biodegradation, microbes use
nutrients and chemical substances found in the
environment for their own survival. The nutrients
from the breakdown of these products are free in
the environment to feed plants or algae, which in
turn feed all animals.
 Fermentation
• People have used bacteria, yeasts and other microbes
to produce many foods and beverages since ancient
times. Bread is the result of a microbial fermentation
of sugars to produce carbon dioxide, which are
liberated in the dough making the bread rise. Microbes
are also fundamental in the production of beer and
wine, converting sugars into alcohol. Microbial
fermentation is also a step during the chemical process
of waste recycling. Aspergillus carbonarius is a
microorganism used in the biodegradation of
chromium shavings, which are part of tannery waste.
•
 Energy Production
• When degrading brewery waste and other
organic materials, microbes can produce
methane gas, the major component of natural
gas. As of February 2011, scientists at Cornell
University, NY, are also researching the use of
microbial communities to produce liquid biofuels,
reports Science Daily. Anaerobic microorganisms,
which live in oxygen-laking environments, can
also convert a mixture of manure and energy
crops, such as sugarcane and maize, into
electricity.
 What is biogas?
• Biogas is a clean environment friendly fuel which is
generated when bacteria degrade biological material in
the absence of oxygen, in a process known as
anaerobic digestion. It has a corrosive nature and
storage of biogas is not practical.
• Biogas typically refers to a mixture of different gases
produced by the breakdown of organic matter in the
absence of oxygen. It is a renewable energy source,
also called Marsh gas. It is a colorless, odorless and
inflammable gas. It can be produced by anaerobic
digestion with anaerobic organisms, which digest
material inside a closed system, or fermentation of
biodegradable materials.
• Biogas can be produced from raw materials such
as agricultural waste, manure, municipal waste,
plant material, sewage, green waste or food
waste. Food waste mainly consists of
carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, and traces of
inorganic compounds. The composition varies in
accordance with the type of food waste and its
constituents. Food waste consisting of rice and
vegetables is abundant in carbohydrates while
food waste consisting of meat and eggs has high
quantity of proteins and lipids.
 Composition of biogas

Substances Symbol Percentage

Methane CH4 50 - 70
Carbon Dioxide CO2 30 - 45
Hydrogen H2 5 - 10
Nitrogen N2 1-2
Water vapour H2O 0.3
Hydrogen Sulphide H2S Traces
 Biogas production process
(anaerobic digestion)
• anaerobic digestion is a "liquid" process, where
waste is mixed with water to facilitate digestion.
Since biogas is a mixture of methane and carbon
dioxide it is a renewable fuel. It consists broadly
of four phases, namely,
• enzymatic hydrolysis,
• acid formation,
• acetate production and
• gas production.
Enzymatic Hydrolysis (Liquefication) :

• In the first phase, larg epolymer molecules that cannot be

transported to cell membranes by microorganisms are broken down
by hydrolases secreted by facultative or obligate anaerobic
hydrolytic bacteria. Hydrolysis breaks down the polymers into
oligomer or monomeric units. Polysaccharides are broken down
into oligosaccharides and, monosaccharides; for example,
represents production of glucose molecules by starch hydrolysis.
Proteins are broken down into peptides and amino acids and lipids
are converted into glycerol and fatty acid.
• (C6 H10 O5) n + � H2O � C6H12O6
• Starch glucose
• In general, Complex organic matter is degraded to basic structure
by hydraulic bacteria. (Protein to Polypeptide and Amino Acid, Fat
to Glycerin and Fatty Acid, Amylase to Monosacride and
Polysacride).
• In the anaerobic conditions, the hydrolysis rate is
relatively slower than the rate of acid formation
and depends on the nature of substrate, bacterial
concentration, pH, and the temperature of the
bioreactor. Other parameters such as size of the
substrate particles, pH, production of enzymes,
and adsorption of enzymes on the substrate
particles also affect the hydrolysis rate.
Streptococcus and Enterobacter are genera of
anaerobes that are responsible for hydrolysis.
•
 Acidogenesis Phase (Acid
production) :
• In the second phase, acidogenesis takes place in which hydrolytic
products are fermented to volatile fatty acids such as acetate,
propionate, butyrate, valerate, and isobutyrate along with carbon
dioxide, hydrogen, and ammonia. During acidification, facultative
anaerobic bacteria utilize oxygen and carbon creating an anaerobic
condition for methanogenesis. The monomers obtained in phase
one become substrates for the microbes in phase two where the
substrates are converted into organic acids by a group of bacteria.
Acting bacteria in this process are called hydrogen-producing
bacteria and acid-producing bacteria.
• Acetate, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide can be utilized directly for
methane production. However, propionate, butyrate, valerate, and
isobutyrate are introduced for further degradation by syntrophic
acetogenic bacteria to form acetate and hydrogen.
 Acetogenesis phase (Acetate
production) :
• Acetogenic bacteria belonging to genera Syntrophomonas and
Syntrophobacter that convert the acid phase products into acetates
and hydrogen such as Methanococcus jannaschii,
Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum. Few acetate molecules
are also generated by reduction of carbon dioxide using hydrogen
as an electron source. Acetates will further be utilized by
methanogens in subsequent steps. However, hydrogen released in
the process exerts inhibitory effec to nmicroorganisms .Therefor, in
anaerobic digesters, acetogenic bacteria live in syntrophic
relationship with
• hydrogenotrophic methanogens that remove the hydrogen by
utilizing it for methane formation. Also, acetogenesis is the phase,
which depicts the efficiency of the biogas production because 70%
of methane arises when acetate reduces. Simultaneously, 11%
hydrogen is also formed during the process.
 Methanogenesi phase
(Methane production)
• In the last phase, methanogenesis takes place which is carried out by
methanogensis bacteria. Methane can be produced either by fermentation
of acetic acid or by reducing carbon dioxide. Therefore, the products of
previous phase, that is, acetic acid, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide, act as a
precursor for methane formation. Only 30% of methane produced in this
process comes from carbon dioxide reduction carried out by methanogens.
• Methane can be generated in two ways by two types of methanogensis:
• (a) acetoclastic methanogensis that produce methane from acetic acid
• CH3COOH CH4+ CO2

• (b) hydrogenotrophic methanogensis that utilize hydrogen to reduce

carbon dioxide.
• CO2 + 4 H2 CH4 + 3 H2O
•
 Significance of the microbial
population in anaerobic digester
• Anaerobic digestion is the outcome of complex
microbiome working in solidarity.
Microorganisms work on different phases of
anaerobic digestion for maintaining a synergistic
balance to ensure the stability of anaerobic
digestion.
• Ι- Hydrolytic bacteria
• Complex organic matter are degraded to basic
structure that cannot be transported to cell
membranes by hydrolases secreted by bacteria.
 Π- Hydrogen producing acetogenic
bacteria
• Simple organic matters are converted into
acetic acid, H2 and CO2 . Facultative
anaerobic bacteria utilize oxygen and carbon
creating an anaerobic condition for
methanogenesis.
 Ш- Acetogenic bacteria
• That convert the acid products into acetates
and hydrogen.
 Ⅳ- Methanogensis bacteria
• In this process, acetic acid, H2, CO2, are
converted into CH4. These bacteria have strict
PH requirement and low adaptability to
temperature.
•
 Utilization of Biogas

• Cooking:
• A biogas plant of 2 cubic meters is sufficient for providing cooking fuel
needs of a family of about five persons.
• Lighting:
• Biogas is used in silk mantle lamps for lighting purposes. The requirement
of gas for powering a 100 candle lamp (60 W) is 0.13 cubic meter per hour.
• Power Generation:
• Biogas can be used to operate a dual fuel engine to replace up to 80 % of
diesel-oil. Diesel engines have been modified to run 100 per cent on
biogas. Petrol and CNG engines can also be modified easily to use biogas.
• Transport Fuel:
• After removal of CO2, H2S and water vapor, biogas can be converted to
natural gas quality for use in vehicles.
 Advantages of biogas

•
• Availability of power at affordable rates
• Reduces pollution
• Reduces time wastage while collecting firewood
• Reduces reliance on fossil fuels
• Saves on the environment (Reduces deforestation)
• Improves living standards in rural areas
• Reduces global warming
• Produces good quality enriched manure to improve soil fertility.
• Effective and convenient way for sanitary disposal of organic wastes, improving the hygienic
conditions.
• As a smokeless domestic fuel it reduces the incidence of eye and lung diseases.
• Production of large amount of methane gas (ambient temperature storage)
• Production of free flowing thick sludge
• Odorless sludge
• Sludge can be used as fertilizer and soil conditioner
• Sanitary way for human and animal waste disposal
• Conservation of scarce resources like wood
•
 Disadvantages of biogas

• The process is not very attractive economically on a large

industrial scale.
• It is very difficult to enhance the efficiency of biogas
systems.
• Biogas contains some gases as impurities, which are
corrosive to the metal.
• Parts of internal combustion engines.
• Not feasible to set up at all the locations.
• Incorrect handling of liquid sludge causes pollution.
• Requires control and maintenance.
• Needs proper condition.
•