University of Southern Denmark Central Sorting Systems In

University of Southern Denmark Central sorting systems in Municipal Solid Waste management Cimpan, Ciprian Publication date: 2016 Document version: Final published version Citation for pulished version (APA): Cimpan, C. (2016). Central sorting systems in Municipal Solid Waste management. Syddansk Universitet. Go to publication entry in University of Southern Denmark's Research Portal Terms of use This work is brought to you by the University of Southern Denmark. Unless otherwise specified it has been shared according to the terms for self-archiving. If no other license is stated, these terms apply: • You may download this work for personal use only. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying this open access version If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details and we will investigate your claim. 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Oct. 2021 Central sorting systems in Municipal Solid Waste management Ciprian Cimpan PhD Thesis December 2015 Centre for Life Cycle Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, Biotechnology and Environmental Technology University of Southern Denmark Ciprian Cimpan Central sorting systems in Municipal Solid Waste management PhD Thesis, December 2015 The thesis is available as a pdf-file for download from the website of the Centre for Life Cycle Engineering: www.sdu.dk/lifecycle Address: Centre for Life Cycle Engineering Department of Chemical Engineering, Biotechnology and Environmental Technology University of Southern Denmark Campusvej 55 DK-5230, Odense M Denmark Phone: +45 6550 7360 Homepage: www.sdu.dk/lifecycle ISBN: 978-87-93413-03-0 Preface The research work presented in this thesis was conducted for a PhD degree in Energy and Environmentally Efficient Technologies at the Department of Chemical Engineering, Biotechnology and Environmental Technology, University of Southern Denmark (Faculty of Engineering). The supervision of this PhD work was ensured by Professor Henrik Wenzel (SDU) and Professor Thomas Pretz (RWTH Aachen University). The main funding body was the Danish graduate school 3R Residual Resources Research. Furthermore, the work was closely linked to and partly financed by the TOPWASTE project (www.topwaste.dk) project. This PhD thesis consists of a synopsis of the research work presented in four published papers and one report published by the newly established Centre for Life Cycle Engineering. Throughout the thesis, the papers and report are referred by the names of the authors and the Roman numerals I – V (e.g. Cimpan et al. (IV)). The thesis is based on the following publications: I. Cimpan, C., Wenzel, H., 2013. Energy implications of mechanical and mechanical-biological treatment compared to direct waste-to-energy. Waste Management 33, 1648-1658. II. Cimpan, C., Maul, A., Jansen, M., Pretz, T., Wenzel, H., 2015. Central sorting and recovery of MSW recyclable materials: A review of technological state- of-the-art, cases, practice and implications for materials recycling. Journal of Environmental Management 156, 181-199. III. Cimpan, C., Maul, A., Wenzel, H., Pretz, T., 2016. Techno-economic assessment of central sorting at material recovery facilities - the case of lightweight packaging waste. Journal of Cleaner Production. 112, 4387–4397. IV. Cimpan, C., Rothmann, M., Hamelin, L., Wenzel, H., 2015. Towards increased recycling of household waste: Documenting cascading effects and material efficiency of commingled recyclables and biowaste collection. Journal of Environmental Management 157, 69-83. V. Ciprian, C., Rothmann, R., Wenzel, H., 2015. Material flow analysis, carbon footprint and economic assessment of alternative collection and treatment of domestic household waste from the region of Funen, Denmark. Centre for Life Cycle Engineering, University of Southern Denmark, report 2015-01, ISBN no.: 978-87-93413-00-9. i In addition, the following publications have been made during this PhD work (not included in the thesis): Parajuly, K., Thapa, K.B., Cimpan, C., Wenzel, H. Informal recycling and electronic waste in Kathmandu, Nepal: Characterization and a proposal for future system evolution. Submitted to Habitat International. Hyks, J., Oberender, A., Hjelmar, O., Cimpan, C., Wenzel, H., Hu G., Cramer, J. 2014. Shredder Residues: Problematic substances in relation to resource recovery. Environmental Report No. 1568. Danish Environmental Protection Agency. Shabeer Ahmed, N., Wenzel, H., Cimpan, C., Hansen, J.B. A Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Thermal versus Mechanical Treatment Pathways for Recovering Resources from Shredder Residues. Submitted to Waste Management. Lastly, the work carried out during this PhD was presented at the following conferences: Cimpan, C., Rothmann, M., Wenzel, H. 2015. Optimization of resource recovery from MSW by combining source separation and central sorting – a case study for Funen, Denmark. The ISIE Conference 2015 – Taking stock of Industrial Ecology. Guilford, UK. Cimpan, C., Maul, A., Wenzel, H., Pretz, T. 2015. Insight into economies of scale for waste packaging sorting plants. 30th International Conference on Solid Waste Technology and Management, Philadelphia, PA U.S.A. Cimpan, C., Rothmann, M., Pedersen, N., Wenzel, H. 2013. The effects of Dual- stream commingled collection of recyclables from households in Sønderborg, Denmark. 2nd International Conference WASTES: Solutions, Treatments and Opportunities, Sep. 11th-13th, Braga, Portugal. Cimpan, C., Wenzel, H. 2012. Alternative pathways of future energy and materials recovery from mixed MSW. Proceedings of the ISWA World Solid Waste Congress, Sep. 17th-19th, Florence, Italy. ii Acknowledgements Despite the occasional pitfalls, taking the road coming up to writing a PhD thesis is a privilege. It is a privilege first and foremost because it allows for selfish devotion of countless hours to learning things that one is passionate about. It is a privilege also because it allows for meeting, interacting, working and sometimes forging long-lasting connections with extraordinary people. For setting me on this road but also for his support in tackling any research related challenges, I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Henrik Wenzel, whom trusted my capabilities as a researcher and tirelessly supported and acknowledged my efforts. I thank him foremost for expanding my understanding of the complex facets of sustainability. Deep gratitude goes also to Prof. Thomas Pretz, for hosting me as a visiting researcher in the Department for Processing and Recycling in RWTH Aachen, and especially for taking time to convey to me methods for techno-economic assessment and priceless understanding regarding the materials recovery industry. From the many wonderful colleagues I met in Aachen, I want to specifically give thanks to Anja Maul, for making my stay both productive during work time, and enchanting outside it, by showing me the wonderful nature and medieval sights of the Eifel region. I would like to thank all my colleagues in the new Centre for Life Cycle Engineering, and particularly Lorie Hamelin for scientific support and the many stimulating conversations, Marianne Wesnæs for invaluable administrative and moral support, Komal Habib for being always a great office mate and travel companion, and Keshav Parajuly for many friendly games of foosball and relaxing coffee breaks that were definitely needed. In addition, I extend special thanks to Marianne Rothmann, for all the hard work she put into the study that concluded this PhD. At last, I want to thank and dedicate this thesis to my better half, Adriana, who not only listened to innumerable hours of waste talk during the last four years, but also proofread and corrected the manuscripts of my papers and this thesis. iii iv Summary Waste treatment technologies develop over time, and so do background conditions on which waste management systems rely. During the last and expectedly also the coming decades, political developments have and will, thus, significantly change the framework conditions for optimizing waste management. The dominating future background conditions have been found to be defined especially by the development within three policy areas. Firstly, by increased efforts to ensure a proper management of material resources, providing stepping stones towards a “circular economy”, including enhanced targets for material recovery and recycling. Secondly, an increased integration of renewable energy in energy systems, motivated by objectives both to ensure energy supply security and to mitigate adverse impacts of global warming. Thirdly, by waste management policies themselves, including regulations like banning landfilling, schemes on taxes, fees and subsidies and last but not least, the liberalization and development of an international market for waste management services. With regard to materials recovery for recycling from municipal solid waste (MSW), current European waste policy prioritizes source separation and separate collection. However, there are noticeable economic and social limitations with this approach, which motivate a search for innovative solutions. Within the likely (and politically targeted) development of background energy production, the current “one size fits all” approach towards waste-to-energy (WtE), through continuous waste incineration, is likely to see its current climate benefits compromised

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