title: Comparison of municipal solid waste treatment technologies from a life cycle perspective in China.
abstract: China has endured the increasing generation of municipal solid waste; hence, environmental analysis of current waste management systems is of crucial importance. This article presents a comprehensive life cycle assessment of three waste treatment technologies practiced in Hangzhou, China: landfill with and without energy recovery, and incineration with waste-to-energy. Adopting region-specific data, the study covers various environmental impacts, such as global warming, acidification, nutrient enrichment, photochemical ozone formation, human toxicity and ecotoxicity. The results show that energy recovery poses a positive effect in environmental savings. Environmental impacts decrease significantly in landfill with the utilization of biogas owing to combined effects by emission reduction and electricity generation. Incineration is preferable to landfill, but toxicity-related impacts also need to be improved. Furthermore, sensitivity analysis shows that the benefit of carbon sequestration will noticeably decrease global warming potential of both landfill scenarios. Gas collection efficiency is also a key parameter influencing the performance of landfill. Based on the results, improvement methods are proposed. Energy recovery is recommended both in landfill and incineration. For landfill, gas collection systems should be upgraded effectively; for incineration, great efforts should be made to reduce heavy metals and dioxin emissions.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Clean Energy Utilization, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, PR China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chi
authors.forename: Daoan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zou
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: Qunxing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Mingjiang
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ni
mesh_terms: D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000032:analysis; D002681:China; D004147:Dioxins / Q000032:analysis; D004560:Electricity; D004736:Energy-Generating Resources; D004777:Environment; D057232:Global Warming; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis; D010126:Ozone; D012037:Refuse Disposal / Q000379:methods*; D062611:Solid Waste; D064091:Waste Disposal Facilities
chemical_list: D004147:Dioxins; D019216:Metals, Heavy; D062611:Solid Waste; D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D010126:Ozone
keywords: Municipal solid waste; heavy metals; improvement measurements; landfill gas to energy; life cycle assessment; waste to energy