title: Waste Separation Press (WSP): a mechanical pretreatment option for organic waste from source separation.
abstract: An efficient biological treatment of source separated organic waste from household kitchens and gardens (biowaste) requires an adequate upfront mechanical preparation which possibly includes a hand sorting for the separation of contaminants. In this work untreated biowaste from households and gardens and the screen overflow >60mm of the same waste were mechanically treated by a Waste Separation Press (WSP). The WSP separates the waste into a wet fraction for biological treatment and a fraction of dry contaminants for incineration. The results show that it is possible to replace a hand sorting of contaminants, the milling and a screening of organic waste before the biological treatment by using the WSP. A special focus was put on the contaminants separation. The separation of plastic film from the untreated biowaste was 67% and the separation rate of glass was about 92%. About 90% of the organics were transferred to the fraction for further biological treatment. When treating the screen overflow >60mm with the WSP 86% of the plastic film and 88% of the glass were transferred to the contaminants fraction. 32% of the organic was transferred to the contaminants fraction and thereby lost for a further biological treatment. Additionally it was calculated that national standards for glass contaminants in compost can be met when using the WSP to mechanically treat the total biowaste. The loss of biogas by transferring biodegradable organics to the contaminants fraction was about 11% when preparing the untreated biowaste with the WSP.
authors.affiliation: Unit of Environmental Engineering, Section of Waste Treatment and Resource Management, University of Innsbruck, Technikerstraße 13, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jank
authors.affiliation: Unit of Environmental Engineering, Section of Waste Treatment and Resource Management, University of Innsbruck, Technikerstraße 13, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.affiliation: Unit of Environmental Engineering, Section of Waste Treatment and Resource Management, University of Innsbruck, Technikerstraße 13, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.affiliation: Unit of Environmental Engineering, Section of Waste Treatment and Resource Management, University of Innsbruck, Technikerstraße 13, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: Frederic
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gerke
authors.affiliation: Unit of Environmental Engineering, Section of Waste Treatment and Resource Management, University of Innsbruck, Technikerstraße 13, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: Anke
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bockreis
mesh_terms: D005735:Garbage; D062611:Solid Waste / Q000032:analysis*; D018505:Waste Management / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D062611:Solid Waste
keywords: Biowaste; Contaminants separation; Mechanical pretreatment; Process evaluation