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Anaerobic Digestion of the Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Waste in Europe - Status, Experience and Prospects -

Anaerobic digestion has come of age in the field of the treatment of the organic fraction derived from municipal solid waste, more so than any other alternative treatment Technology developed in the last 20 years. With a total of 244 plants and a capacity of almost 8 million ton of organics treatment capacity, anaerobic digestion is already taking care of about 25 % of the biological treatment in Europe. In The Netherlands and Belgium, it is expected that 80 % of the composting plants will have anaerobic digestion as the primary treatment technology by the year 2015. Long term successful experience has made anaerobic digestion the preferred treatment technology for the MSW organics, making use of a variety of technological approaches and systems. It can only be expected that anaerobic Digestion will continue to increase on a steady basis, not only because of the production of renewable energy but also because of the reduction in odor potential and surface area required.

The management of municipal solid waste (MSW) has been subject to major developments during the past 20 years. At the end of the ‘80s, landfilling and mass burn incineration were still the major methods by which MSW was disposed of. Composting made up a small percentage of the disposal and was on the decline because of major quality challenges due to heavy metals and inert materials in the final end-product. Recycling was limited to paper and glass and easily recoverable materials.

Major progress was made in all areas of waste management but the introduction of anaerobic digestion into the treatment of MSW is one of the most successful and innovative technology developments observed during the last two decades in the waste management field. Anaerobic digestion has become fully accepted as a proven and an even preferred method for the intensive biodegradation phase of organic fractions derived from MSW.

Even though continued progress has been made with other alternative treatment technologies (gasification, pyrolysis, plasma, biological drying, etc.), these technologies have by far not seen the same widespread implementation that anaerobic digestion has been able to achieve. In Europe alone, 244 installations dealing with the organic fraction of MSW as a significant portion of the feedstock have been constructed or are permitted and contracted to be constructed (up to 2014). The cumulative capacity of all of these anaerobic digestion plants amounts to 7,750,000 ton per year of organics going into the digestion phase. If one assumes 300 kg of biodegradable waste generated per person and per year, this capacity represents about 5 % of the biodegradable waste generated across Europe (excluding former USSR-states) by 550 million inhabitants. In addition, this capacity represents 25 % of all biological treatment, which is estimated at around 20 % of all municipal solid waste disposal in Europe. However, it should be noted that probably 10 to 15 % of the plants are no longer in operation. This could be partially compensated by the too low (inventoried) capacity to be constructed in 2014, as there are undoubtedly projects that are not included in the assessment yet.

Copyright:	© Thomé-Kozmiensky Verlag GmbH
Quelle:	Waste Management, Volume 3 (Oktober 2012)
Seiten:	10
Preis:	€ 0,00
Autor:	Luc de Baere Bruno Mattheeuws
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