is waste a good source of energy?
DESCRIPTION
Is Waste a Good Source of Energy?. Dr. Jeffrey Morris Sound Resource Management Group, Inc. Olympia, WA 98502 [email protected] Tel 360.867.1033. Earth, Wind & Fire Energy Summit -- Oct 4, 2014. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Is Waste a Good Source of Energy?
Dr. Jeffrey MorrisSound Resource Management Group, Inc.
Olympia, WA 98502
Tel 360.867.1033
Earth, Wind & Fire Energy Summit -- Oct 4, 2014
Energy Savings from Recycling vs. Energy Generated from Combustion/Gasification of MSW Materials
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Alum Cans PET Bottles HDPE Bottles Newspapers Cardboard Tin Cans Glass Bottles
Virgin-Content Production
Recycled-Content Production
Recycling Energy Conservation
WTE Electricity Generation
Million Btus per Ton
WTE = Waste-to-EnergyMSW = Municipal Solid Waste
MSW WTE Facility, Spokane, WA
MSW WTE Pollution Control Equipment
Carbon Footprints for Electricity Generation
Sources: Kim, H. C.; Fthenakis, V.; Choi J-K.; Turney, D. E., 2012. Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Thin-film Photovoltaic Electricity Generation – Systematic Review and Harmonization. Journal of Industrial Ecology 16 (S1): S110-S121; Morris, J., 2010. Bury or burn North American MSW? LCAs provide answers for climate impacts & carbon neutral power potential. Environmental Science & Technology 44 (20): 7944-7949; Morris, J., 2014. Recycle, Bury, or Burn Wood Waste Biomass? Journal of Industrial Ecology, in peer review; and Whitaker, M. B.; Heath, G. A.; Burkhardt, III, J. J.; Turchi, C. S., 2013. Life Cycle Assessment of a Power Tower Concentrating Solar Plant and the Impacts of Key Design Alternatives. Environmental Science & Technology 47 ( ): 5896-5903.
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1.0
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Solar NaturalGas
Coal MSW WTE FilmPlasticWTE
Wood WTE
GH
G E
mis
sio
ns (
po
un
ds C
O2e)
per
kW
h
Motivations for Life Cycle Analysis (LCA)
Provide environmental performance assessments for competing products or services
Evaluate environmental impacts that are otherwise not counted or are discounted in making choices
Provide assessments of multidimensional environmental impacts in monetary units in order to compare against the economic bottom line
Connect the dots in complex systems
Schematic of a Product’s Life Cycle
Raw Materials
Acquisition
Materials Manufacture
Product Manufacture
Product Use or
Consumption
Recovery,Recycle, Landfill, WTE Conversion
Reuse
Energy EnergyEnergy Energy Energy
Environmental Pollution
Environmental Pollution
Environmental Pollution
Environmental Pollution
Environmental Pollution
Energy
Material Recycling
Product Reuse
WTE vs. Recycling Climate Impacts Paper & Cardboard
WTE vs. Recycling Climate Impacts Film Plastic (LDPE)
Wood Chip Piles, 49 MW Biomass Plant Anderson, CA
Source: Dr. Mary Booth, Partnership for Policy Integrity, www.pfpi.net
Life Cycle Environmental Impacts for Clean Wood Waste – Recycle, Bury or Burn
-3.0
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3.0
Climate Change Acidification Eutrophication RespiratoryDiseases
Non-Cancers Cancers Ecotoxicity MonetizedOverall Score
Num
ber o
f Std
. Dev
. Abo
ve/(B
elow)
Mea
n
ReconstitutedWoodPaper Pulp
Fuel (NGas Sub)
Fuel (Coal Sub)
LFGTE (75%)
LF Flare (75%)
LF Vent (0%)
WTE
Monetization Estimates
• Climate Change – eCO2 @ $50 per ton
• Acidification – eSO2 @ $290 per ton
• Eutrophication – eN @ $4 per ton
• Human Health-Respiratory – ePM2.5 @ $10,000 per ton
• Human Health-Non-Cancers – eToluene @ $30 per ton
• Human Health-Cancers – eBenzene @ $3,030 per ton
• Ecotoxicity – e2,4-D @ $3,280 per ton
Source Separated Recycling Rates (Seattle 2012) vs.
Multi-Family Mixed Waste Processing Recovery Rates
Single-Family
Multi-Family
Commercial Self-Haul TotalMulti-Family
Dirty MRF
Newspaper 96% 83% 79% 18 86% 35Cardboard 92 80 88 34 86 75Mixed Paper 87 67 74 5 72 35Plastics 29 14 15 1 16 50Glass 92 76 77 20 82 30Metals 55 22 72 57 62 75Wood 0 0 0 0 0 ?Yard Debris 99 56 93 79 94 ?Food Waste 62 9 55 0 51 ?
Total 71% 32% 61% 11% 55% 25% + ?%
Source Separated Recycling & CompostingTrends for Seattle, WA
What Do We Do with Residual Wastes as They Decline – MRBT, LFGTE or WTE?
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-1.00
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MRBT HI MRBT LO LFGTE 80% LFGTE 40% WTE
-1.02
-0.50-0.23
2.06
0.38
Monetized Overall Environmental Impact(Standard deviations above(+)/below(-) the average impact for all options)
Report available at ww.ecocycle.org/specialreports/leftovers
Sources
Morris, J., 1996. Recycling versus incineration: An energy conservation analysis, Journal of Hazardous Materials, 47 (1-3 Special Issue on Energy-from-Waste): 277-293.
Morris, J., 2005. Comparative LCAs for curbside recycling versus either landfilling or incineration with energy recovery. International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 10(4): 273-284.
Morris, J., 2010. Bury or burn North American MSW? LCAs provide answers for climate impacts & carbon neutral power potential. Environmental Science & Technology 44(20): 7944-7949.
Morris, J., Matthews, H.S., Morawski, C., 2013. Review and meta-analysis of 82 studies on end-of-life management methods for source separated organics. Waste Management 33: 545-551.
Morris, J., 2014. Recycle, bury or burn clean wood waste. Journal of Industrial Ecology, in peer review.
Thank you.
Dr. Jeffrey Morris
Sound Resource Management Group, Inc.
Olympia, WA 98502
Tel 360.867.1033