The main aim of this study was to perform a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study of the management phase of a MBT plant treating unsorted urban residual waste, in order to identify the system’s hotspots as well as to evaluate alternative improvement opportunities. The MBT plant is located in Battipaglia, in the Campania region of Southern Italy. The functional unit of the study was defined as “the treatment of all the unsorted urban residual waste in input to the plant in the year 2015”, corresponding to 378,000 tons. The plant modelling was realized with the SimaPro v. 8.0 software tool. The inventory analysis was carried out on primary data, while for the background data; the Ecoinvent v.3 database was used. The environmental impacts were calculated with the ReCiPe 2008 H evaluation method (both at the midpoint and endpoint levels). Waste selection and RDF production were the most impacting phases. A significant consumption of electric energy occurring in all management phases was the main cause of impacts. However, if the MBT plant were supplied by electricity from photovoltaic panels, the total impacts would decrease by 38%. The exhausted air treatment system provided high contribution to total environmental impacts of MBT. This was due to both operation and maintenance of the bio-filters and scrubbers, i.e. energetic consumption of detecting systems and replacement of worn bio-filtering material. For some impact categories (Climate change and Human toxicity), the adoption of scrubbers and bio-filters could cause higher impacts of direct emissions in atmosphere of exhausted air without treatment.
LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT (LCA) OF THE MANAGEMENT PHASE OF A MBT PLANT IN THE CAMPANIA REGION OF SOUTHERN OF ITALY
FERRARA, CARMEN;DE FEO, Giovanni
2017-01-01
Abstract
The main aim of this study was to perform a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study of the management phase of a MBT plant treating unsorted urban residual waste, in order to identify the system’s hotspots as well as to evaluate alternative improvement opportunities. The MBT plant is located in Battipaglia, in the Campania region of Southern Italy. The functional unit of the study was defined as “the treatment of all the unsorted urban residual waste in input to the plant in the year 2015”, corresponding to 378,000 tons. The plant modelling was realized with the SimaPro v. 8.0 software tool. The inventory analysis was carried out on primary data, while for the background data; the Ecoinvent v.3 database was used. The environmental impacts were calculated with the ReCiPe 2008 H evaluation method (both at the midpoint and endpoint levels). Waste selection and RDF production were the most impacting phases. A significant consumption of electric energy occurring in all management phases was the main cause of impacts. However, if the MBT plant were supplied by electricity from photovoltaic panels, the total impacts would decrease by 38%. The exhausted air treatment system provided high contribution to total environmental impacts of MBT. This was due to both operation and maintenance of the bio-filters and scrubbers, i.e. energetic consumption of detecting systems and replacement of worn bio-filtering material. For some impact categories (Climate change and Human toxicity), the adoption of scrubbers and bio-filters could cause higher impacts of direct emissions in atmosphere of exhausted air without treatment.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
