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Using Chemistry to Achieve Zero-Waste |
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by Elina Haber | 01-10-2021 00:16
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[Thematic Report]
Can we free our lands of trash? Unfortunately, we can not, but it is worth a try. The world only develops when everyone makes greener choices through a "Zero-Waste" lifestyle. However, as individuals, attaining responsible consumption is not enough to get rid of landfills. Deciding to pursue green jobs, like waste treatment careers, is how we build a "Zero-Waste" world. Precisely, the current environmental challenge unlocks many opportunities to employ technology for good intentions. It would be interesting to discover how chemistry, technology, and waste are creating jobs. 1. Gasification of waste Gasification tends to be used to make energy from coal material. Likewise, gasifying waste produces useable syngas through an incomplete combustion process. It is a thermochemical process of converting solid biomass in a high-temperature atmosphere. The gasifier may contain agricultural residue, food waste, animal manure, municipal solid waste, and even medical waste. Synthetic gas is a mixture of Hydrogen, Carbon Monoxide, and sometimes Carbon dioxide, depending on the quality of the biomass used and how elements are processed. Other products are liquids such as oils, tars, and solids (char, ash). Implementing this plant is expensive compared to cheap non-renewable energy plants. 2. Pyrolysis of waste The pyrolysis process is conducted without oxygen, where argon or nitrogen gas flow is usually needed. The complex thermal decomposition of waste generates biochar, bio‐oil, and gases like methane, hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide. The temperature required is 350–550°C, then the reaction can proceed until 700–800°C without oxygen. The pyrolysis treatment requires low temperature compared to incineration and gasification. The proportion of each end product depends on the temperature, time, heating rate, pressure, types of precursors, reactor design, and configuration. Similar to incineration, this waste treatment process can not power vehicles either. 3. Incineration of waste To treat waste, we can incinerate it in a high-temperature atmosphere. However, this process focuses on burning trash regardless of its materials, exposing near residents to dangerous pollutants. Concerning the plant, it produces ash and generates more energy than other WtE plants. It appears that the incinerator releases a vast amount of visible carbon dioxide. Moreover, the end products can not form gas and fuels to power vehicles. Based on this, generating energy from waste through incineration is not encouraged. The border line is that everyone can attain a Zero-Waste lifestyle. However, this lifestyle may not be the best solution to get rid of the landfills we already have, but is totally a great way to deal with waste we are still in control of. That's why we must pursue green jobs in the waste management sector, combining chemistry with technology. This is where gasification plays its role, having a variety of end products that incineration and pyrolysis can't form. Hence, gasification is the most sustainable way to deal with landfills and therefore to help stop generating pollution from waste. Pyrolysis: https://www.intechopen.com/chapters/56034 Gasification: https://www.intechopen.com/online-first/78641 Photos https://images.app.goo.gl/xbxMPL6xoedC9yoR6 https://images.app.goo.gl/YkN4gDu1zNp8DzYd6 https://images.app.goo.gl/fA9qvgTr8tV4CUbJ7 |
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Former E-gen Ambassador
Elina Haber 
Previous : [Thematic Report] Applying Zer...
2 Comments
Hello Elina, this is your mentor Hannah.
I'm so sorry for the late comment.
Well written thematic article on our September's theme zero waste.
This is also related to our October's topic waste management, though improving the methods to greener process would be great.
Thank you for your great article and please keep up with your wonderful work :) Happy new year!
Sincerly,
Hannah
Posted 03-01-2022 14:40
Hello Elina,
this is your mentor Joon!
Interesting article with approaches to go zero waste. There are different ways
to treat wastes and some of them are somewhat eco-friendly compared to
others. I have never known the first two and would be interested to find out
more about it, but regarding the incineration of waste, I am quite aware of it.
Though incineration in relatively lower temperature creates pollutant, when it
goes up to certain level, temperature used to process cement (this is hotter than
lave), it becomes a completely eco-friendly method of processing it. If you are interested
to know, search for extreme high temperature waste incineration. You will find different
information through the way.
Thanks for the article, and let's keep up!
Posted 03-10-2021 16:30