Waste Valorization, Loop-Closing, and Industrial Ecology Ange Nzihou, Reid Lifset

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Ange Nzihou, Reid Lifset. Waste Valorization, Loop-Closing, and Industrial Ecology. Journal of Industrial Ecology, Wiley, 2010, 14 (2), p.196-199. 10.1111/j.1530-9290.2010.00242.x. hal-01634025

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Ange Nzihou and Reid Lifset

Recycling has always been a pivotal con- orization is the treatment of waste for beneficial cept in industrial ecology. From the seminal use as raw material or as an energy carrier, with article by Frosch and Gallopoulos (1989) the emphasis on processes and practices that re- in Scientific American that marks the begin- duce emissions and related environmental im- ning of this field, the productive use of what pacts. The term valorization typically refers to would otherwise be efforts to make use a waste has been seen Waste valorization is the treatment of of bulk, production- as central to resource related wastes, such as efficiency and the re- waste for beneficial use as raw mate- paper sludge, inciner- duction of environ- rial or as an energy carrier, with em- ator ash, metal slags, mental damage. phasis on processes and practices that pressure-treated wood In industrial ecol- wastes, or foundry ogy, recycling is of- reduce emissions and related environ- sands. These wastes ten framed broadly as mental impacts. The term valorization differ from household “loop closing,” an ex- typically refers to efforts to make use of wastes in that they are pression that alludes more homogenous and to the ecological anal- bulk, production-related wastes, such much larger in mag- ogy that is one of key as wood waste, paper sludge, incinera- nitude. The wastes of premises of the field. tor ash, metal slags, or foundry sands. interest in valoriza- The term refers to a va- tion are also generally riety of ways materials considered to be non- flows can form a loop so that resources are cycled hazardous both in the informal sense and in the through the economy rather than being disposed legal sense. (This, of course, varies widely by ju- of in a landfill. Loop closing includes the familiar risdiction and according to the specific waste in recycling of household wastes, but it also extends question. Whether the wastes are truly benign is to other phenomena, including industrial sym- also a matter of contention, as the debate over the biosis, the exchange or sharing of industrial by- land application of industrial wastes illustrates products and resources facilitated by geographic [Lifset 2001].) proximity. The field of waste valorization is increasingly One of the forms of recycling that falls within supported and engaged in by industry and govern- this realm is variously called waste valorization ment. The interest of industry is explained by the in Europe, Asia, and South America and bene- field’s multi- and interdisciplinarity and by the ficial use or reuse in North America. Waste val- focus on laboratory, pilot, and full-scale experi- ments with potential applications to the valorization of waste and biomass into energy and useful materials. This field is also shaped in important ways by legislation and regulation. Various challenges in the field of waste val- glaze (glaze frit). Laboratory tests indicate that orization have been identified and will be the the solubility of heavy metals contained in the object of significant effort in research for the ash is significantly reduced and that the inno- near future (Nzihou 2010). The emission of pol- vative and conventional frit are similar in their lutants and greenhouse gases is of particular con- thermal behavior. The authors use life cycle as- cern. Raw materials may contain elements, such sessment (LCA) to examine the environmental as chlorine, sulfur, and heavy metals, that can impacts on a comprehensive basis. To this pur- affect the quality of the end-of-pipe product. pose, they investigate environmental impacts of Energy efficiency (allotherm and autotherm) of two scenarios of end-of-life of bottom ash from the processes is another key focus. As a result, municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI)— modeling research has progressed rapidly. In that namely, landfill disposal (conventional scenario) respect, scientific investigation that presents ac- and bottom ash recovery for glaze frit production curate data on the composition and character- (innovative scenario). istics of the materials is a basic prerequisite for Alonso-Santurde and colleagues (2010) ex- any scheme in waste and biomass conversion. amine the use of foundry sands as raw material in The challenges extend to regulation and pol- brick making, focusing on the leaching of prob- icy: The environmental policy set in the 1990s lematic substances, primarily metals, during use is still in force and is mainly focused on dis- and at end of life. This area has been extensively posal and storage of waste and residues in land- investigated over the last 10 years by waste val- fills. This regulation no longer reflects current orization researchers, and it has shown tangible knowledge—thanks to progress in research in re- advantages in terms of producing ceramic mate- cent years—of the beneficial reuse of waste and rials from waste, thereby saving natural resources biomass. and reducing the amount of waste going to This issue of the Journal of Industrial Ecology in- landfill. Alonso-Santurde and colleagues’ (2010) cludes a special feature on waste valorization and assessment of the materials derived from the loop-closing. The articles are derived from the foundry sands, made according to the European second International Conference on Engineering leaching test standard (NEN7345:1995), show for Waste Valorisation, held in Patras, Greece, in that most of the pollutants listed in the June 2008, and from a call for papers distributed European Union’s Landfill Directive1 are lower to the membership of the International Society than the threshold for the inert waste category for Industrial Ecology. Professor Ange Nzihou, landfill, except for arsenic, chromium, and lead. of the Ecole des Mines d’Albi-Carmaux in Albi, Sablayrolles and colleagues (2010) examine France; Professor Matthew Leach, of the Cen- the application of wastewater sludge (biosolids) ter for Environmental Strategy at the University to agricultural land using LCA, focusing in par- of Surrey in the United Kingdom; and Professor ticular on toxic impacts to humans through plant Gerasimos Lyberatos, of the University of Patras uptake and comparing the environmental per- in Greece, served as the guest editors. Partial sup- formance of dried and composted sludge from port for the special feature was provided by the a wastewater treatment facility in France. They WasteEng Conferences, a series of meetings fo- find that dried biosolids are more harmful to cused on research on the valorization of waste the environment than the composted biosolids and biomass. for six out of the eight impact categories they The result of these efforts is five articles ad- study. dressing a diversity of topics in the domain of Posch (2010) examines the recycling of in- waste valorization and loop-closing. Two articles dustrial wastes but asks a very different set of discuss treatment processes to valorize industrial questions than the other contributors. Posch’s re- wastes—to make them useful as raw materials. search takes the existence of waste valorization or Barberio and colleagues (2010) investigate the loop closing for granted; instead of asking engi- viability and the environmental consequences neering questions about treatment and environ- of using municipal solid waste incineration bot- mental questions about impact, he examines the tom ash for production of glass frit for ceramic drivers and consequences. He explores whether industrial recycling networks or other forms of in- whether couched as waste valorization, benefi- dustrial symbiosis projects can be used as starting cial use, or loop-closing, that go to the heart of points for much broader intercompany cooper- industrial ecology and environmental engineer- ation for sustainable development. Researchers ing and that remain worthy of our attention and have previously suggested that the interaction research. catalyzed by by-product exchange could generate companies’ further collective efforts at sustainable development. Posch investigates this ques- Note tion through surveys of recycling networks in 1. See http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/landfill_ Austria and Germany. He finds that the percent- index.htm for details on the Landfill Directive. age of by-products passed on to other companies for recycling purposes is not higher among companies that belong to organized recycling References networks than among companies of the manufac- Alonso-Santurde, R., A. Coz, N. Quijorna, J. Vig- turing sector in Austria as a whole. The relation- uri, and A. Andres.´ 2010. Valorization of ships among recycling partners are found to be foundry sand in clay bricks at an indus- similar to conventional buyer−supplier relation- trial scale: Environmental behavior of clay- ships. The companies that engage in recycling sand mixtures. Journal of Industrial Ecology DOI: activities remain notably unaware of their mem- 10.1111/j.1530-9290.2010.00233.x. bership in the organized network, which raises Barberio, G., P. Buttol, P. Masoni, S. Scalbi, F. Andreola, L. Barbieri, and I. Lancellotti. questions about whether network membership 2010. Use of incinerator bottom ash for frit leads to heightened possibilities for collective production. Journal of Industrial Ecology DOI: pursuit of sustainability. 10.1111/j.1530-9290.2010.00224.x. Bjorklund¨ and Johansson’s research (2010) Bjorklund,¨ A. and J. Johansson. 2010. Reducing life falls more in the category of loop-closing than in cycle environmental impacts of waste electrical that of waste valorization, because it deals with and electronic equipment recycling: Case study end-of-life products. The authors assess the effi- on dishwashers. Journal of Industrial Ecology DOI: cacy of targeted manual disassembly of discarded 10.1111/j.1530-9290.2009.00191.x. dishwashers to remove copper-containing parts Frosch, R. and N. Gallopoulos. 1989. Strategies for prior to shredding. The goal is to improve the manufacturing. Scientific American 261(3): 94– effectiveness of material recovery and the en- 102. Lifset, R. 2001. Closing the loop and honing our tools. vironmental performance of appliance recycling Journal of Industrial Ecology 5(4): 1–2. from a life cycle perspective. They find that this Nzihou, A. 2010. Toward the valorization of waste and strategy, which emerges from a conceptual frame- biomass. Waste and Biomass Valorization. 1(1): 3– work known as material hygiene, may reduce the 7. abiotic depletion and global warming potential Posch, A. 2010. Industrial recycling networks as in a life cycle perspective. The preliminary dis- starting-points for broader sustainability oriented mantling leads to increased copper recovery and cooperation? Journal of Industrial Ecology DOI: reduces copper contamination of the recovered 10.1111/j.1530-9290.2010.00231.x. steel fractions. Sablayrolles, C., B. Gabrielle, and M. Montrejaud- The articles gathered here as part of the special Vignoles. 2010. Life cycle assessment of biosolids feature on waste valorization and loop-closing land application and evaluation of the fac- tors impacting human toxicity through plant present interesting findings. As a group, they uptake. Journal of Industrial Ecology DOI: do not introduce a novel thread in industrial 10.1111/j.1530-9290.2010.00222.x. ecology—the need to explore opportunities to close loops, to valorize waste to enable the closing of loops, and to examine carefully the envi- About the Authors ronmental consequences of these efforts is familiar. Instead, this group of articles reminds us that Ange Nzihou is the editor in chief of the jour- there are important questions and opportunities, nal Waste and Biomass Valorization and chair of the WasteEng Conference Series. He is a resident Address correspondence to: fellow in the Ecole des Mines d’Albi-Carmaux in Prof. Ange Nzihou Albi, France. Reid Lifset is the editor in chief Ecole des Mines d’Albi-Carmaux of the Journal of Industrial Ecology and a resi- Campus Jarlard, Route de Teillet dent fellow in the Center for Industrial Ecol- 81013 ALBI CT Cedex 09 ogy at the Yale University School of Forestry France & Environmental Studies in New Haven, [email protected] Connecticut. http://perso.mines-albi.fr/∼nzihou