Is Waste a Good Source of Energy?
Dr. Jeffrey Morris Sound Resource Management Group, Inc. Olympia, WA 98502
[email protected] Tel 360.867.1033
Earth, Wind & Fire Energy Summit -- Oct 4, 2014
Energy Savings from Recycling vs. Energy Generated from Combustion/Gasification of MSW Materials Million Btus per Ton 250
Virgin-Content Production Recycled-Content Production
200
Recycling Energy Conservation 150
WTE Electricity Generation WTE = Waste-to-Energy MSW = Municipal Solid Waste
100
50
0
Alum Cans
PET Bottles
HDPE Bottles
Newspapers
Cardboard
Tin Cans
Glass Bottles
MSW WTE Facility, Spokane, WA
MSW WTE Pollution Control Equipment
GHG Emissions (pounds CO2e) per kWh
Carbon Footprints for Electricity Generation 4.5 4.0
3.5 3.0 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0 Solar
Natural Gas
Coal
MSW WTE
Film Plastic WTE
Wood WTE
Sources: Kim, H. C.; Fthenakis, V.; Choi J-K.; Turney, D. E., 2012. Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Thin-film Photovoltaic Electricity Generation – Systematic Review and Harmonization. Journal of Industrial Ecology 16 (S1): S110-S121; Morris, J., 2010. Bury or burn North American MSW? LCAs provide answers for climate impacts & carbon neutral power potential. Environmental Science & Technology 44 (20): 79447949; Morris, J., 2014. Recycle, Bury, or Burn Wood Waste Biomass? Journal of Industrial Ecology, in peer review; and Whitaker, M. B.; Heath, G. A.; Burkhardt, III, J. J.; Turchi, C. S., 2013. Life Cycle Assessment of a Power Tower Concentrating Solar Plant and the Impacts of Key Design Alternatives. Environmental Science & Technology 47 ( ): 5896-5903.
Motivations for Life Cycle Analysis (LCA)
Provide environmental performance assessments for competing products or services
Evaluate environmental impacts that are otherwise not counted or are discounted in making choices
Provide assessments of multidimensional environmental impacts in monetary units in order to compare against the economic bottom line
Connect the dots in complex systems
Schematic of a Product’s Life Cycle Energy
Raw Materials Acquisition
Energy
Materials Manufacture
Energy
Product Manufacture
Energy
Energy
Product Use or Consumption
Recovery, Recycle, Landfill, WTE Conversion Reuse
Energy
Environmental Pollution
Environmental Pollution
Environmental Pollution
Environmental Environmental Pollution Pollution
Product Reuse
Material Recycling
WTE vs. Recycling Climate Impacts Paper & Cardboard
WTE vs. Recycling Climate Impacts Film Plastic (LDPE)
Wood Chip Piles, 49 MW Biomass Plant Anderson, CA
Source: Dr. Mary Booth, Partnership for Policy Integrity, www.pfpi.net
Life Cycle Environmental Impacts for Clean Wood Waste – Recycle, Bury or Burn Number of Std. Dev. Above/(Below) Mean
3.0
Reconstituted Wood Paper Pulp Fuel (NGas Sub) Fuel (Coal Sub) 0.0
LFGTE (75%)
LF Flare (75%) LF Vent (0%) WTE
-3.0 Climate Change
Acidification
Eutrophication
Respiratory Diseases
Non-Cancers
Cancers
Ecotoxicity
Monetized Overall Score
Monetization Estimates • Climate Change – eCO2 @ $50 per ton • Acidification – eSO2 @ $290 per ton • Eutrophication – eN @ $4 per ton • Human Health-Respiratory – ePM2.5 @ $10,000 per ton • Human Health-Non-Cancers – eToluene @ $30 per ton • Human Health-Cancers – eBenzene @ $3,030 per ton • Ecotoxicity – e2,4-D @ $3,280 per ton
Source Separated Recycling Rates (Seattle 2012) vs. Multi-Family Mixed Waste Processing Recovery Rates SingleFamily Newspaper Cardboard Mixed Paper Plastics Glass Metals Wood Yard Debris Food Waste Total
MultiCommercial Self-Haul Family
Total
Multi-Family Dirty MRF
96% 92 87 29 92 55 0 99 62
83% 80 67 14 76 22 0 56 9
79% 88 74 15 77 72 0 93 55
18 34 5 1 20 57 0 79 0
86% 86 72 16 82 62 0 94 51
35 75 35 50 30 75 ? ? ?
71%
32%
61%
11%
55%
25% + ?%
Source Separated Recycling & Composting Trends for Seattle, WA
What Do We Do with Residual Wastes as They Decline – MRBT, LFGTE or WTE? Monetized Overall Environmental Impact (Standard deviations above(+)/below(-) the average impact for all options) 3.00
2.06
2.00
1.00 0.38 0.00 -0.23 -0.50 -1.00
-1.02
-2.00 MRBT HI
MRBT LO
LFGTE 80%
Report available at ww.ecocycle.org/specialreports/leftovers
LFGTE 40%
WTE
Sources
Morris, J., 1996. Recycling versus incineration: An energy conservation analysis, Journal of Hazardous Materials, 47 (1-3 Special Issue on Energy-from-Waste): 277-293. Morris, J., 2005. Comparative LCAs for curbside recycling versus either landfilling or incineration with energy recovery. International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 10(4): 273284. Morris, J., 2010. Bury or burn North American MSW? LCAs provide answers for climate impacts & carbon neutral power potential. Environmental Science & Technology 44(20): 7944-7949. Morris, J., Matthews, H.S., Morawski, C., 2013. Review and meta-analysis of 82 studies on end-of-life management methods for source separated organics. Waste Management 33: 545-551. Morris, J., 2014. Recycle, bury or burn clean wood waste. Journal of Industrial Ecology, in peer review.
Thank you.
Dr. Jeffrey Morris Sound Resource Management Group, Inc. Olympia, WA 98502
[email protected] Tel 360.867.1033
