Lecture

Thermal Waste Treatments: Energy Recovery and Impact

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In course

ENV-304: Treatment and valorization of water and waste

Les systèmes eaux et déchets en Suisse: du traitement end-of-pipe à la fermeture des cycles. Principes de l'adduction, de l'évacuation et du traitement des eaux. Bases du dimensionnement des ouvrages, réseaux et stations d'épuration. Gestion, traitement et ...

Description

This lecture covers the thermal treatments of waste, focusing on energy recovery and environmental impact. It discusses processes like pyrolysis, gasification, and incineration, emphasizing the recovery of heat energy and the reduction of CO2 emissions. Various technologies for heat recovery, such as turbo-generators and steam exchangers, are explained. The lecture also delves into the impact of waste treatments on the environment, including emissions, atmospheric impacts, and the management of residues. It explores the challenges and solutions related to the treatment of sewage sludge, phosphorus recovery, and carbon capture. The importance of material cycles, such as the separation and recycling of metals and phosphorus, is highlighted.

Official source

Ontological neighbourhood

Environmental science

Environmental policy: Waste management

Climate: Climate change mitigation

Pollution: Water pollution

Related concepts (32)

Waste heat recovery unit

A waste heat recovery unit (WHRU) is an energy recovery heat exchanger that transfers heat from process outputs at high temperature to another part of the process for some purpose, usually increased efficiency. The WHRU is a tool involved in cogeneration. Waste heat may be extracted from sources such as hot flue gases from a diesel generator, steam from cooling towers, or even waste water from cooling processes such as in steel cooling.

Gasification

Gasification is a process that converts biomass- or fossil fuel-based carbonaceous materials into gases, including as the largest fractions: nitrogen (N2), carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen (H2), and carbon dioxide (). This is achieved by reacting the feedstock material at high temperatures (typically >700 °C), without combustion, via controlling the amount of oxygen and/or steam present in the reaction. The resulting gas mixture is called syngas (from synthesis gas) or producer gas and is itself a fuel due to the flammability of the H2 and CO of which the gas is largely composed.

Resource recovery

Resource recovery is using wastes as an input material to create valuable products as new outputs. The aim is to reduce the amount of waste generated, thereby reducing the need for landfill space, and optimising the values created from waste. Resource recovery delays the need to use raw materials in the manufacturing process. Materials found in municipal solid waste, construction and demolition waste, commercial waste and industrial wastes can be used to recover resources for the manufacturing of new materials and products.

Coal gasification

In industrial chemistry, coal gasification is the process of producing syngas—a mixture consisting primarily of carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen (), carbon dioxide (), methane (), and water vapour ()—from coal and water, air and/or oxygen. Historically, coal was gasified to produce coal gas, also known as "town gas". Coal gas is combustible and was used for heating and municipal lighting, before the advent of large-scale extraction of natural gas from oil wells.

Heat recovery steam generator

A heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) is an energy recovery heat exchanger that recovers heat from a hot gas stream, such as a combustion turbine or other waste gas stream. It produces steam that can be used in a process (cogeneration) or used to drive a steam turbine (combined cycle). HRSGs consist of four major components: the economizer, evaporator, superheater and water preheater . The different components are put together to meet the operating requirements of the unit.

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