This work was part of a major study that examined the policy and technology implications of alternatives for managing the municipal solid wastes (MSW) of New York City. At this time, of the 4.1 million metric tons of MSW collected by the City annually, 16.6% are recycled, 12.4% are combusted in Waste-to-Energy (WTE) plants, and the remaining 71% are landfilled. Despite the heterogeneity of orga...

Energy simulation programs are increasingly used to assess the energy performance of buildings and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems during design. Faults during operation can lead to considerable increase in energy use and associated operating costs. In 2009, 13 of the most common energy faults in U.S. commercial buildings were thought to cause wastes of over $3.3 billi...

Global waste production has raised recently due to numerous agricultural and industrial activities. Among other actions devoted to waste reduction, revaluation seems to be the most advantageous one from an environmental and economic point of view. In the olive oil sector, by-product management (namely olive pomace, olive mill wastewater, and sludge residue) poses serious problems for companies,...

This paper presents a comparison of commercial fluidized bed gasifiers and combustors used to recover energy from municipal solid wastes and biomass. The work reported here is excerpted from four case studies prepared for the International Energy Agency’s Bioenergy Agreement, under Task 23 (Energy from Thermal Conversion of MSW and RDF, 1998-2000) and Task 36 (Energy from Integrated Solid Waste...

Recovery of energy from MSW by combustion in Waste-to-Energy (WTE) plants reduces land filling and air/water emissions, and also lessens dependence on fossil fuels for power generation. The objective of this study was to assess the potential of gasification processes as an alternative to the combustion of MSW. Gasification uses a relatively small amount of oxygen or water vapor to convert the o...

Due to the stringent and explicit European environmental legislation about land spreading of nitrates, the direct land application of the poultry litter is not anymore the most appropriate disposal technique. We investigated the combustion of pure common poultry derived wastes and mixtures of these with olive pomace in a domestic burner optimized for wood pellet combustion. Typical waste and pr...

Biological production of hydrogen is poised to become a significant player in the future energy mix. This review highlights recent advances and bottlenecks in various approaches to biohydrogen processes, often in concert with management of organic wastes or waste CO2 . Some key bottlenecks are highlighted in terms of the overall energy balance of the process and highlighting the need for econom...