Mariachiara Zanetti

Participatory approach, acceptability and transparency of waste management LCAs: Case studies of Torino and Cuneo

The paper summarises the main results obtained from two extensive applications of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to the integrated municipal solid waste management systems of Torino and Cuneo Districts in northern Italy. Scenarios with substantial differences in terms of amount of waste, percentage of separate collection and options for the disposal of residual waste are used to discuss the credibility and acceptability of the LCA results, which are adversely affected by the large influence of methodological assumptions and the local socio-economic constraints. The use of site-specific data on full scale waste treatment facilities and the adoption of a participatory approach for the definition of the most sensible LCA assumptions are used to assist local public administrators and stakeholders showing them that LCA can be operational to waste management at local scale.

Improvement of anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge in a wastewater treatment plant by means of mechanical and thermal pre-treatments: Performance, energy and economical assessment

Performances of mechanical and low-temperature (<100°C) thermal pre-treatments were investigated to improve the present efficiency of anaerobic digestion (AD) carried out on waste activated sludge (WAS) in the largest Italian wastewater treatment plant (2,300,000p.e.). Thermal pre-treatments returned disintegration rates of one order of magnitude higher than mechanical ones (about 25% vs. 1.5%). The methane specific production increased by 21% and 31%, with respect to untreated samples, for treatment conditions of respectively 70 and 90°C, 3h. Thermal pre-treatments also decreased WAS viscosity. Preliminary energy and economic assessments demonstrated that a WAS final total solid content of 5% was enough to avoid the employment of auxiliary methane for the pre-treatment at 90°C and the subsequent AD process, provided that all the heat generated was transferred to WAS through heat exchangers. Moreover, the total revenues from sale of the electricity produced from biogas increased by 10% with respect to the present scenario.

Foundry processes: the recovery of green moulding sands for core operations

Three different treatment processes for the reclamation of bentonite bonded moulding sands, made up of silica sand, coal dust, and clay, are considered in this work. The studied processes are the following: two kinds of wet mechanical regeneration, performed by the Safond and Sasil plants situated in Northern Italy, and a dry mechanical regeneration, performed by Gemco Engineering in the Netherlands. The performances of each treatment process were evaluated, considering the inflows and outflows. Each sample was physically and chemically characterized by means of particle-size analysis and the determination of thinness index (AFS), acid request, coal dust, oolitic, and some metals contents. The results of the inflow and outflow characterization were compared for each process to evaluate the efficiency of the considered regeneration plant. From an economic point of view, dry mechanical regeneration has proved to be the best solution but wet regeneration allows a better quality product to be obtained.

Automobile Shredder Residues in Italy: Characterization and valorization opportunities

At the moment Automobile Shredder Residue (ASR) is usually landfilled worldwide, but European draft Directive 2000/53/CE forces the development of alternative solutions, stating the 95%-wt recovery of an End of Life Vehicle (ELV) weight to be fulfilled by 2015. This work describes two industrial tests, each involving 250-300 t of ELVs, in which different pre-shredding operations were performed. The produced ASR materials underwent an extended characterization and some post-shredding processes, consisting of dimensional, magnetic, electrostatic and densimetric separation phases, were tested on laboratory scale, having as main purpose the enhancement of ASR recovery/recycling and the minimization of the landfilled fraction. The gathered results show that accurate depollution and dismantling operations are mandatory to obtain a high quality ASR material which may be recycled/recovered and partially landfilled according to the actual European Union regulations, with particular concern for Lower Heating Value (LHV), heavy metals content and Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC) as critical parameters. Moreover post-shredding technical solutions foreseeing minimum economic and engineering efforts, therefore realizable in common European ELVs shredding plants, may lead to multi-purposed (material recovery and thermal valorization) opportunities for ASR reuse/recovery.

Modeling biogas production at landfill site

Abstract Biogas production is characteristic of municipal solid waste landfills. A knowledge of the trend of this production allows an exploitation of this energy source. The here presented model is more accurate than those that already exist as it takes the temperature variation in time and depth and the landfill settlement into account. The obtained model fits experimental data well.

Anaerobic digestion of extruded OFMSW

Organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) was used to feed two pilot plants of 1000 l working in anaerobic conditions. The OFMSW had previously been treated using a system of extrusion which, due to exerted pressure, separates the undesired fractions of waste from organic waste and reduces the organic fraction in a kind of homogeneous jam. Pilot tests were performed in semi-continuous conditions with a stepwise progressive increase of the total solids content (TS) of the input material from 3% TS w/w (1.5 g VS l(-1) d(-1) organic loading rate) to 10% TS w/w (4.3 g VS l(-1) d(-1) organic loading rate) using activated sludge as diluting agent. The average specific biogas production obtained was 600 l kg(-1)VS. When the input TS content was increased to 10% w/w, the biogas average specific production went up to 800 l kg(-1)VS. The methane content in the biogas was always higher than 60% measured by volume.

Strategies for the enhancement of automobile shredder residues (ASRs) recycling: results and cost assessment.

With reference to the European regulation about the management of End-of-Life Vehicles (ELVs), Directive 2000/53/EC imposes the achievement of a recycling target of 85%, and 95% of total recovery by 2015. Over the last few years many efforts have been made to find solutions to properly manage the waste coming from ELVs with the aim of complying with the targets fixed by the Directive. This paper focuses on the economical evaluation of a treatment process, that includes physical (size and density), magnetic and electrical separations, performed on the light fraction of the automobile shredder residue (ASR) with the aim of reducing the amount of waste to dispose of in a landfill and enhancing the recovery of valuable fractions as stated by the EU Directive. The afore mentioned process is able to enhance the recovery of ferrous and non-ferrous metals of an amount equal to about 1% b.w. (by weight) of the ELV weight, and to separate a high energetic-content product suitable for thermal valorization for an amount close to (but not higher than) 10% b.w. of the ELV weight. The results of the economical assessment led to annual operating costs of the treatment ranging from 300,000 €/y to 350,000 €/y. Since the considered plant treats about 13,500 metrictons of ASR per year, this would correspond to an operating cost of approximately 20-25 €/t. Taking into account the amount and the selling price of the scrap iron and of the non magnetic metal recovered by the process, thus leading to a gain of about 30 €/t per ton of light ASR treated, the cost of the recovery process is balanced by the profit from the selling of the recovered metals. On the other hand, the proposed treatment is able to achieve the fulfillment of the targets stated by Directive 2000/53/EC concerning thermal valorization and reduce the amount of waste generated from ELV shredding to landfill.

CHARACTERIZATION OF CRUMB RUBBER FROM END-OF-LIFE TYRES FOR PAVING APPLICATIONS

Crumb rubber (CR) derived from grinding of end-of-life tyres (ELTs) may be successfully used as a bitumen modifier or as a supplementary component in the production of bituminous mixtures employed for the construction and maintenance of road pavements. However, CRs deriving from different sources and production processes yield effects on performance of corresponding paving mixtures under traffic loading and on gaseous emissions produced during laying on site which may change considerably depending upon their physical and chemical properties. In order to quantitatively assess the possible variability of CR characteristics, 16 samples were taken from 9 Italian and 2 foreign ELT processing plants. Investigation activities included field surveys, during which plants were examined in detail, and laboratory tests, which focused on physical and chemical characterization of CR. Based on the analysis of available technical information and experimental data, it was possible to find relationships between the peculiar characteristics of treatment cycles and corresponding CR properties.

Foundry waste recycling in moulding operations and in the ceramic industry.

An industrial treatment was performed by the Sasil plant of Brusnengo (Biella, Northern Italy), which is part of the Gruppo Minerali S.p.A. (Novara, Northern Italy), to consider the reclamation of bentonite bonded moulding sands obtained from the Teksid Italia S.p.A. cast iron foundry plant in Crescentino (Vercelli, Northern Italy). An evaluation of the fine particles produced by the wet-mechanical regeneration treatment was made with the purpose of proposing their recycling as binding agents in moulding operations in the cast iron foundry and for the production of tiles in the ceramic industry. The pre-mixed product sold by bentonite suppliers (35% coal dust and 65% bentonite, 0.15 [UNKNOWN]/kg) could be made from the recovered fine fraction below 0.025 mm with the addition of active clay and coal dust, thus obtaining a product that will have physico-chemical properties similar to those of calcic bentonite. The improvements due to the addition of the fine particles to the usually employed clay for tile production were also underlined from the results of several baking tests. The recovery and recycling of sands and fine particles obtained from the reclamation of bentonite moulding sands will lead to a saving of raw materials and landfill space, with economic and environmental advantages.

Experimental study on the abatement of ammonia and organic carbon with ozone

Abstract Ammonia and organic carbon are commonly widespread substances both in municipal and in industrial wastewaters and are usually treated having recourse to biological processes. This work presents some preliminary results useful for the design of an oxidation treatment using ozone which has effect on both ammonia and organic carbon. In the first part of the paper the oxidation of relatively low concentrations of ammonia (20 mg/l) by means of ozone and halides (chloride, bromide) was investigated with the aid of on-purpose made solutions. The experimental findings pointed out that the reaction rate of an oxidation process involving ammonia and ozone (or ozone and halides) is different from a zero-order kinetics and is affected by the presence of free OH– ions. In fact high pH values promote both the ozone (O3) decomposition in HO• radicals and the displacement of the ammonia equilibrium (NH3/NH4 +) toward NH3. Chloride was found to have no effect on the ammonia oxidation, on the other hand, the joine...