TECH 454 Environmental Engineering

Name

TECH 454- Environmental engineering

Project 2

Question 1

Burning municipal solid waste to generate energy

Municipal solid waste is a type of solid waste derived from industrial, residential, commercial and institutional sources. Municipal solid waste contains biomass, non-biomass, and noncombustible waste such as metals and glass. Biomass materials include cardboard, food waste, paper, wood, grass clippings, and leather products. Non-biomass materials include synthetic materials such as plastics and made from petroleum. These materials are burned in specialized plants to make heat and electricity. In the US, approximately 14 kilowatt hours of electricity is achieved through the combustion about 30 million tons of combustible municipal solid waste (Masters & Ela, 1991).

By burning municipal solid waste in incinerators, energy is obtained in form of heat which is used to generate steam. Steam then runs turbines which convert the energy to electric energy. Apart from the many uses, biomass materials are also decomposed to give methane gas in landfills which is then used as a source of energy in heat production. Combustion of these waste helps reduce waste by 87%. In addition to that burning municipal waste energy helps in reducing the amount of waste material disposed in landfills. Burning solid waste can also be bad since the waste can release toxins for instance dioxins to the atmosphere. Ash should also be handled properly to avoid them being hazardous (Masters & Ela, 1991).

Ways of pollution control for landfills

Some of the major ways to allow control of pollution caused by landfills include design and implementation of waste management and implementing the 3 Rs (Re-use, recycle and reduce. By designing and integrated waste management, environmental sensitivity can be considered in the on-site design with monitoring systems to ensure that land fill gas and underground water are monitored for any contamination. Re-use, recycle and reduce of waste materials should be regulated according to environmental laws to ensure that various areas are governed. The laws should ensure maximum protection by reduction of waste as much as possible (Masters & Ela, 1991).

Should ash be used or disposed in a land fill?

The burned ash from incinerator are collected as bottom or fly ash. Both ashes obtained contains dioxins and heavy metals. Fly ash is hazardous and poses a great risk to inhalations and are airborne. Ash when left out can also be dangerous since the toxins can cause acidity to water bodies. Since is and end waste after incineration, we can therefore not use it anywhere but the way to dispose it is to dispose the ash in land fills that are specifically designed for hazardous materials. These landfills are plastic lined or lined with conventional clay (Masters & Ela, 1991).

Question 2

Reference

Masters, G. M., & Ela, W. P. (1991). Introduction to environmental engineering and science (Vol. 3). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.