title: Factors influencing the life cycle burdens of the recovery of energy from residual municipal waste.
abstract: A life cycle assessment was carried out to assess a selection of the factors influencing the environmental impacts and benefits of incinerating the fraction of municipal waste remaining after source-separation for reuse, recycling, composting or anaerobic digestion. The factors investigated were the extent of any metal and aggregate recovery from the bottom ash, the thermal efficiency of the process, and the conventional fuel for electricity generation displaced by the power generated. The results demonstrate that incineration has significant advantages over landfill with lower impacts from climate change, resource depletion, acidification, eutrophication human toxicity and aquatic ecotoxicity. To maximise the benefits of energy recovery, metals, particularly aluminium, should be reclaimed from the residual bottom ash and the energy recovery stage of the process should be as efficient as possible. The overall environmental benefits/burdens of energy from waste also strongly depend on the source of the power displaced by the energy from waste, with coal giving the greatest benefits and combined cycle turbines fuelled by natural gas the lowest of those considered. Regardless of the conventional power displaced incineration presents a lower environmental burden than landfill.
authors.affiliation: Department of Engineering and Innovation, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, United Kingdom. Electronic address: stephen.burnley@open.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Burnley
authors.affiliation: Resource and Waste Solutions LLP, Cirencester, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Terry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Coleman
authors.affiliation: Environmental Resources Management, 2nd Floor, Exchequer Court, 33 St Mary Axe, London EC3A 8AA, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Adam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Peirce
mesh_terms: D057231:Climate Change; D003246:Conservation of Energy Resources / Q000379:methods*; D004777:Environment; D017745:Incineration; D059027:Recycling; D062611:Solid Waste / Q000032:analysis*; D064091:Waste Disposal Facilities
chemical_list: D062611:Solid Waste
keywords: Efficiency; Energy from waste; Incineration; Life cycle assessment; Metal recovery; Municipal waste