Katsuya Nagata

Energy recovery potential and life cycle impact assessment of municipal solid waste management technologies in Asian countries using ELP model

Natural resource scarcity and the effects of environmental destruction have pushed societies to use and reuse resources more efficiently. Waste should no longer be seen as a burden but rather as another source of material such as energy fuel. This study analyzes the potential of three waste management scenarios that include the combination of four waste management technologies - incineration with energy recovery, composting, anaerobic digestion, and sanitary landfill gas collection - as ways to recover energy and material from municipal solid waste. The study applies the environmental load point (ELP) method and utilizes municipal waste characteristics and composition from India, Indonesia, and China as case studies. The ELP methodology employs integrated weighting in the quantification process to get a one-unit result. This study particularly uses analytic hierarchical process questionnaires to get the weighting value of the nine impact categories: energy depletion, global warming, ozone depletion, resource consumption, ecosystem influence, water pollution, waste disposal, air pollution, and acid rain. The results show that the scenario which includes composting organic waste and sanitary landfill with gas collection for energy recovery has medium environmental impact and the highest practicability. The optimum material and energy potential is from the Chinese case study in which 254 tonnes of compost fertilizer and 60 MWh of electricity is the estimated output for every 1,000 tonnes of waste treated.

EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF MERCURY HEAT PIPE

Abstract The purpose of this study is to collect basic data required for the development of mercury heat pipes operating in the temperature range of 623 to 873 K, which will be used in the industrial field. For this purpose, three kinds of mercury heat pipes were made of stainless tubing (SUS316L) 25 mm in diameter and 1000 mm in length. As a result of these tests, it is concluded that the mercury heat pipe exhibits good performance except during startup, but the material compatibility between the stainless steel tubing and mercury is not very good.

The development of the Environmental Efficiency Potential Assessment method

The Environmental Efficiency Potential Assessment (E2-PA) is a decision-making tool specifically designed to support eco-design of products by product designers and developers. The conceptual basis of E2-PA came from eco-efficiency and is characterised by its assessment policy, which evaluates the environmental performance in terms of the potential environmental impacts of the product. Sensitivity analyses of the E2-PA tool showed a consistent trend with life-cycle assessment (LCA). This result and the characteristics of the E2-PA indicate its potential as a useful tool for eco-design.

Integrated LCA for Printing Service in an emerging country

In most of emerging countries in Asia, such as Thailand, Printing Service LCA is not organized, so schematization and localization of practical methodology is transferred thanks to the joint research project by Shimizu Printing Inc. and Chulalongkorn University. Printing Service LCA developed in Japan is focusing not only on LCCO2 but also on Integrated LCA. It has strong possibility to take root even in emerging countries for environment-conscious Printing Services.

Integrated LCA for Municipal Solid Waste Management in Developing Country

Fast growing mega cities in developing Asian countries are faced with problem of municipal solid waste management (MSWM) due to land scarcity, rapid urbanization and population growth. To determine the most sustainable strategy to solve the problem, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has been commonly used. This study developed localized weightning approach for integrated LCA by taking Jakarta as a case study. The result of this study hopefully could be reflected and adapted in other highly populated cities in developing Asian countries as a sustainable approach in solving MSWM problem.

Analysis of China’s Forest–Paper Integration Project

China’s pulp and paper industry grows rapidly in recent decades. During the raw material transformation from non-wood to wood, the demand pressure of wood increased dramatically. The forest–paper integration project was launched to support the sustainable development of China’s pulp and paper industry. The necessity of the implementation of forest–paper integration project, it’s enforcement mode, the achievement, existing problems and suggestions are analysed in this paper.

Evaluation of a model plant for the recycling of home appliances

Abstract This model plant, recently constructed for recovering ferrous and non-ferrous metals from waste home appliances, was designed in its main systems by the Association for the Promotion of Recycling of Home Appliances and in its cryogenic systems by the Agency of Industrial Science and Technology. The methods used in the main systems were shredding with ballistic separation, air classification, magnetic separation, screening and comb-type picking, and the methods used in the cryogenic systems were shearing, precooling, dipping in liquid nitrogen, shredding and magnetic separation. Recovery fractions of metals in this plant were projected at 95% for iron and 70% for copper. The economic evaluation of this plant indicated that the running cost, exclusive of capital charges, was almost equal to the revenues from sales of the products in the case of the treatment of three waste home appliances consisting, approximately, of 20 per cent refrigerators, 30 per cent washing machines and 50 per cent television sets.

Development of 3D modeling method of teshima project by GIS

©2013 The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers This report shows the development of 3D modeling method of Teshima waste disposal project using GPS. Teshima waste disposal project has been conducted since 2003 as a solution of the illegal industrial waste dumping occurred in Teshima-island, Kagawa Prefecture. To prevent illegal dumping and to accumulate data of this project, we measured the disposal area 4 times a year and made the 3D model of the area. We call this system a “Co-creation system”. By comparing the 3D model change in time course, we can show stakeholders how the project has advanced. And by measuring the area changed between the two 3D models, we can calculate the amount of disposed garbage. With this system we promoted information sharing between stakeholders.

LCA of the advanced stoker-type incineration system and sewage gas generation system

This report shows the results of LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) of the advanced stoker-type incineration system and sewage gas generation system. Both of them show the reduction of ELP (Environmental Load Point) and CO2 emissions calculated by LCA. The case study is done to realize the effect of the establishment of the incineration plant attached to the sewage plant. By exchanging heat and fuel the attached system shows the good effect of CO2 reduction compared with the non-attached case. Then the effectiveness of the cooperation of the some plants for constructing high-quality waste management system is shown.

A study on the development of the evaluation method of supplier’s contributions to the Green IT

“Green IT” is expected to become the key to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Introducing the Green IT can reduce the “total” greenhouse gas emissions. However, attention is required to the fact that the reduction of the “total” greenhouse gas emissions consists of “increase” and “decrease”. For example,shifting to use energy-saving home electrical appliances reduces greenhouse gas emissions in consumer category. On the other hand, it increases in industrial category, such as manufacturing energy-saving home electrical appliances. If the way to return the merit of the Green IT, which contributes the reduction of total greenhouse gas emissions, to suppliers is not structured, it is possible to hinder promotion of the Green IT. Therefore, evaluation method of supplier’s contribution to Green IT is needed.