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Solid Waste Conversion to Energy. Current European and U.S. Practice
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It was noted that there is in this text an emphasis on manure digestion and various industrial waste applications. As a result a large portion of the text is on the detailed engineering problems associated with operation of these standard dilute wastes in somewhat standard anaerobic digesters. A paper on methane from municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills would have been of interest. In the United States more energy from MSW is being recovered from landfills than from any other technique .- this is simply a high organic solids anaerobic digestion system. A further consideration could have been the potential for organic chemical production, such as acetic acid, via suppressed methane fermentation. Also, attention could have been given to newer work on gaseous methane fermentation, namely, the methane fermentation of CO/CO, and H2 to fuel gas and/or organic chemicals. Perhaps because of the very specialized interest of the conference attendees, question-answers from the conference floor and included at the end of each paper were quite specific and detailed. It would be interesting to learn the response of these experts to broader more searching questions as to the direction and potential of methane fermentation. It might be best to hold further conferences on this topical area as part of an over-all major biotechnology conference. A number of people interested in the entire biotechnology field could then take the time to attend presentations in this special topical area. In this way those interested persons outside the somewhat cloistered field of anaerobic digestion waste treatment may participate by critiquing the presentors. In summary, the text is a very welcome addition to the field and will be extremely valuable to those investigating the potential of methane fermentation. DONALD L. WISE Dynatech R/D Company, Cambridge, MA 02139, U.S.A.
Solid Waste Conversion to Energy. Current European and U.S. Practice, by Harvey Alter and J.J. Dunn, Jr., Marcel Dekker Inc, 1980, vii + 168 pp. cloth $24.75. There is now a wealth - a superabundance, it might even be said - of published data relating to operating experience with installations designed to recover worthwhile materials or energy from waste. This book is a concise and valuable summary of the relevant economic, political and technical factors in the choice of technology for the conversion of refuse, or municipal solid waste (MSW), to energy as practiced in Europe and, particularly, the United States. Although the title concerns itself with energy, the authors have rightly perceived that the overall economics of refuse treatment are inextricably
79
linked with revenues from recovered materials. Hence the early chapters largely concentrate on materials reclamation and Chapters 8 and 9 on product specifications and markets, the vital importance of which has too often been overlooked. In a swiftly changing field, any summary of the current status of resource recovery technology is obsolete almost before it is published and the authors have, probably wisely, not attempted to produce one, desirable and useful as it would undoubtably have been to many. Emphasis tends to lie on North American practice and on incineration; this reviewer notes with relief that, except for isolated cases, the unambiguous tonne (metric ton) of 1,000 kg is used instead of the frequently unspecified ton, which can be of 2,000 or 2,240 pounds. The book is a credible and useful concise compendium of much of the current thought on the theory and practice of energy and materials recovery from refuse. Not its least attractive feature is an attempt to define the more commonly used terms. Estimates and economic data are realistic and err only, if at all, on the side of caution. The work states what is too often forgotten, i.e., that garbage is unsaleable and that markets come first; Chapter 8, which deals with these aspects, is arguably the most significant of the book and should be taken to heart by every city engineer who plans a recovery plant. Two minor quibbles: first, this reviewer feels that the term “solid waste” tout court to signify, specifically, the contents of household dustbins (trash cans) when it ought, logically, to cover any waste in the solid state, whether rice hulls or derelict ships, introduces an element of jargon. Second, it is now generally agreed that the incandescent lamp was developed simultaneously, but separately, by Edison in the United States and by Swann in England, not by the former alone. These, however, in no way detract from the overall worth of this timely book. MICHAEL E. HENSTOCK University of Nottingham, England
It was noted that there is in this text an emphasis on manure digestion and various industrial waste applications. As a result a large portion of the text is on the detailed engineering problems associated with operation of these standard dilute wastes in somewhat standard anaerobic digesters. A paper on methane from municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills would have been of interest. In the United States more energy from MSW is being recovered from landfills than from any other technique .- this is simply a high organic solids anaerobic digestion system. A further consideration could have been the potential for organic chemical production, such as acetic acid, via suppressed methane fermentation. Also, attention could have been given to newer work on gaseous methane fermentation, namely, the methane fermentation of CO/CO, and H2 to fuel gas and/or organic chemicals. Perhaps because of the very specialized interest of the conference attendees, question-answers from the conference floor and included at the end of each paper were quite specific and detailed. It would be interesting to learn the response of these experts to broader more searching questions as to the direction and potential of methane fermentation. It might be best to hold further conferences on this topical area as part of an over-all major biotechnology conference. A number of people interested in the entire biotechnology field could then take the time to attend presentations in this special topical area. In this way those interested persons outside the somewhat cloistered field of anaerobic digestion waste treatment may participate by critiquing the presentors. In summary, the text is a very welcome addition to the field and will be extremely valuable to those investigating the potential of methane fermentation. DONALD L. WISE Dynatech R/D Company, Cambridge, MA 02139, U.S.A.
Solid Waste Conversion to Energy. Current European and U.S. Practice, by Harvey Alter and J.J. Dunn, Jr., Marcel Dekker Inc, 1980, vii + 168 pp. cloth $24.75. There is now a wealth - a superabundance, it might even be said - of published data relating to operating experience with installations designed to recover worthwhile materials or energy from waste. This book is a concise and valuable summary of the relevant economic, political and technical factors in the choice of technology for the conversion of refuse, or municipal solid waste (MSW), to energy as practiced in Europe and, particularly, the United States. Although the title concerns itself with energy, the authors have rightly perceived that the overall economics of refuse treatment are inextricably
79
linked with revenues from recovered materials. Hence the early chapters largely concentrate on materials reclamation and Chapters 8 and 9 on product specifications and markets, the vital importance of which has too often been overlooked. In a swiftly changing field, any summary of the current status of resource recovery technology is obsolete almost before it is published and the authors have, probably wisely, not attempted to produce one, desirable and useful as it would undoubtably have been to many. Emphasis tends to lie on North American practice and on incineration; this reviewer notes with relief that, except for isolated cases, the unambiguous tonne (metric ton) of 1,000 kg is used instead of the frequently unspecified ton, which can be of 2,000 or 2,240 pounds. The book is a credible and useful concise compendium of much of the current thought on the theory and practice of energy and materials recovery from refuse. Not its least attractive feature is an attempt to define the more commonly used terms. Estimates and economic data are realistic and err only, if at all, on the side of caution. The work states what is too often forgotten, i.e., that garbage is unsaleable and that markets come first; Chapter 8, which deals with these aspects, is arguably the most significant of the book and should be taken to heart by every city engineer who plans a recovery plant. Two minor quibbles: first, this reviewer feels that the term “solid waste” tout court to signify, specifically, the contents of household dustbins (trash cans) when it ought, logically, to cover any waste in the solid state, whether rice hulls or derelict ships, introduces an element of jargon. Second, it is now generally agreed that the incandescent lamp was developed simultaneously, but separately, by Edison in the United States and by Swann in England, not by the former alone. These, however, in no way detract from the overall worth of this timely book. MICHAEL E. HENSTOCK University of Nottingham, England