Module III

Waste Processing Techniques & Material Recovery

• Waste Processing Techniques: Purpose
• Mechanical volume and size reduction
• Component separation techniques
• Material recovery and recycling
• Objectives, recycling program elements
• Commonly recycled materials and processes
• Energy recovery from solid waste
Introduction:
• Environmentally sound management of increasing amounts of difficult-to-treat or
organic wastes is among the topics of major concern today in most cities.
• The logical starting point for solid waste management is to reduce the amounts
of waste that must be managed, that is, collected and disposed of as nuisances
and hazards.
• Agenda 21, the agreement reached among participating nations at the United
Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992,
emphasized, in Chapter 21, that reducing wastes and maximizing
environmentally sound waste reuse and recycling should be the first steps in
waste management.
• The environmental, social, and economic benefits of integrating practices of
waste reduction into municipal solid waste are the bases for an emerging
worldwide agenda for solid waste management.
Separation and processing of solid wastes:
• Source separation refers to keeping different categories of recyclables
and organics separate at source, i.e., at the point of generation, to
facilitate reuse, recycling, and composting.
• In the affluent countries, the main motivations for waste reduction
are frequently related to the high cost and scarcity of sites for
landfills, and the environmental degradation caused by toxic materials
in the deposited wastes.
Key concepts in municipal waste processing:
a) Waste reduction:
b) Source reduction:
c) Recycling:
d) Redemption center:
e) Producer responsibility:
f) Resource recovery
a) Waste reduction:

• All means of reducing the amounts of waste that must be collected

and disposed of by solid waste authorities.
• Ranges from legislation and agreements at the national level for
packaging and product redesign to local programs to prevent
recyclables and compostable organics from entering final waste
streams.
b) Source reduction:
Any procedure to reduce wastes at the point of generation, in contrast to sorting
out recyclable components after they have been mixed together for collection.
The following are all methods of initiating source reduction:
• Do not purchase as much, or reduce use.
• Purchase products with reduced toxics.
• Purchase environmentally preferred products.
• Purchase products with less packaging.
• Buy multiple use products.
• Do not replace for style.
• Purchase more durable products.
• Maintain properly and repair instead of replace.
• Purchase reusable products and then reuse or donate to charity.
• Purchase more efficient products, or use products more efficiently.
c) Recycling: the process of transforming materials into secondary
resources for manufacturing new products.

d) Redemption center: waste trading enterprise that buys recyclable

materials and sells to brokers. Sometimes also called "buy-back
center".

e) Producer responsibility: Producers of products or services accept a

degree of responsibility for the wastes that result from the
products/services they market, by reducing materials used in
production, making repairable/recyclable goods, and/or reducing
packaging.
f) Resource recovery:
Resource recovery means the obtaining of some economic benefit from
material that someone has regarded as waste. It includes;
• reuse - being used for the same purpose again (such as refilling a soft
drinks bottle);
• recycling - processing material so that it can be used again as the same
material, such as the processing of waste paper to make pulp and then new
paper;
• conversion - processing the material to make something different (such as
producing padding for clothing and sleeping bags from plastic bottles, or
producing compost from food waste).
• energy recovery - usually referring to the burning of waste so that the heat
can be used (for example, for heating swimming pools). Another method of
energy recovery is to collect the gas that is produced in very large sanitary
landfills and use it as a fuel or to generate electricity.
Processing of waste:

• A solid waste processing facility is an operation that changes the

chemical, physical, or biological properties of solid waste to make it
easier to dispose of, recover a resource, or transfer solid waste
material, excluding the transportation of solid waste.
I) Waste Processing Techniques: Purpose:

(i) Improving efficiency of SWM system:

(ii) Recovering material for reuse:
(iii) Recovering conversion products and energy:
i) Improving efficiency of SWM system:

Various processing techniques are available to improve the efficiency of

SWM system
• For example, before waste papers are reused, they are usually baled to
reduce transporting and storage volume requirements.
• In some cases, wastes are baled to reduce the haul costs at disposal site,
where solid wastes are compacted to use the available land effectively.
• If solid wastes are to be transported hydraulically and pneumatically, some
form of shredding is also required.
• Shredding is also used to improve the efficiency of the disposal site.
ii) Recovering material for reuse:

• Usually, materials having a market, when present in wastes in

sufficient quantity to justify their separation, are most amenable to
recovery and recycling.
• Materials that can be recovered from solid wastes include paper,
cardboard, plastic, glass, ferrous metal, aluminium and other residual
metals.
iii) Recovering conversion products and
energy:
• Combustible organic materials can be converted to intermediate
products and ultimately to usable energy.
• This can be done either through incineration, pyrolysis, composting or
bio-digestion.
• Initially, the combustible organic matter is separated from the other
solid waste components.
• Once separated, further processing like shredding and drying is
necessary before the waste material can be used for power
generation.
II) Mechanical volume and size reduction:
• Mechanical volume and size reduction is an important factor in the
development and operation of any SWM system.
• The main purpose is to reduce the volume (amount) and size of
waste, as compared to its original form, and produce waste of
uniform size.
a) Volume reduction:
• Volume reduction is a type of waste processing where the nature of the
waste is altered physically.
• It is one of the essential steps in waste management system. Proper waste
processing will improve the efficiency of solid waste management, facilitate
recovery of resources and energy conversion.
• Volume reduction is defined as handling or processing of waste materials
to reduce the volume of the waste. Volume reduction can be achieved by
three means. They include;
i. Mechanical volume reduction:
ii. Thermal Volume reduction:
iii. Chemical Volume reduction:
Mechanical volume reduction: By this process the density of the waste
is increased through compaction. They are achieved by compaction
process.

Thermal Volume reduction: It is a process by which the waste volume

is reduced through thermal methods or temperature changes. The solid
waste is converted into gas, liquid or inert solid residue. Eg.
Incineration, Combustion and Gasification.

Chemical Volume reduction: It is done by altering the chemical nature

of the waste through the addition of chemicals or temperature
changes. E.g. Pyrolysis, hydrolysis and chemical conversions.
• The word pyrolysis is coined from the Greek words "pyro" which
means fire and "lysis" which means separating.
• Pyrolysis is a process of chemically decomposing organic materials at
elevated temperatures in the absence of oxygen.
• The process typically occurs at temperatures above 430°C (800°F) and
under pressure.
• It simultaneously involves the change of physical phase and chemical
composition, and is an irreversible process.
Volume reduction or compaction:
Volume reduction or compaction refers to densifying wastes in order to
reduce their volume.
Some of the advantages of compaction include:
• reduction in the quantity of materials to be handled at the disposal site;
• improved efficiency of collection and disposal of wastes;
• increased life of landfills;
• economically viable waste management system.
However, note the following disadvantages associated with compaction:
• poor quality of recyclable materials sorted out of compaction vehicle;
• difficulty in segregation or sorting (since the various recyclable materials
are mixed and compressed in lumps);
• Bio-degradable materials (e.g., leftover food, fruits and vegetables) destroy
the value of paper and plastic material.
Selection of compaction equipment:
To ensure effective processing, we need to consider the following factors,
while selecting compaction equipment:
• Characteristics such as size, composition, moisture content, and bulk
density of the waste to be compacted.
• Method of transferring and feeding wastes to the compactor, and handling.
• Potential uses of compacted waste materials.
• Design characteristics such as the size of loading chamber, compaction
pressure, compaction ratio, etc.
• Operational characteristics such as energy requirements, routine and
specialised maintenance requirement, simplicity of operation, reliability,
noise output and air and water pollution control requirement.
• Site consideration, including space and height, access, noise and related
environmental limitations.
Equipment used for compaction:

i) Stationary equipment:
ii) Movable equipment:
i) Stationary equipment:

Equipment in which wastes are brought to and loaded into either manually or
mechanically.
The compaction mechanism used to compress waste in a collection vehicle, is a
stationary compactor.
According to their application, stationary compactors can be described as light duty
(e.g., those used for residential areas), commercial or light industrial, heavy
industrial and transfer station compactors.
Usually, large stationary compactors are necessary, when wastes are to be
compressed into:
• steel containers that can be subsequently moved manually or mechanically;
• chambers where they are compressed into a block and then released and hauled
away untied;
• transport vehicles directly.
ii) Movable equipment:
This represents the wheeled and tracked equipment used to place and
compact solid wastes, as in a sanitary landfill.
Compactors:
According to their compaction pressure, we can divide the compactors
used at transfer stations as follows:
(i) Low-pressure (less than 7 kg/cm2) compactors:
(ii) High-pressure (more than 7kg/cm2) compactors:
(i) Low-pressure (less than 7 kg/cm2)
compactors:
• This includes those used at apartments and commercial
establishments, bailing equipment used for waste papers and
cardboards and stationary compactors used at transfer stations.
• In low-pressure compaction, wastes are compacted in large
containers.
• Note that portable stationary compactors are being used increasingly
by a number of industries in conjunction with material recovery
options, especially for waste paper and cardboard.
(i) High-pressure (more than 7 kg/cm2)
compactors:
• Compact systems with a capacity up to 351.5 kg/cm2 or 5000 lb/in2
come under this category.
• In such systems, specialised compaction equipment are used to
compress solid wastes into blocks or bales of various sizes.
• In some cases, pulverised wastes are extruded after compaction in
the form of logs.
• The volume reduction achieved with these high-pressure compaction
systems varies with the characteristics of the waste.
• Typically, the reduction ranges from about 3 to 1 through 8 to 1.
b) Size reduction or shredding:
Definition:
Size reduction is the process in which the particle size of a substance is
reduced to a finer state (smaller particles to crude particles or to fine
particles) of desired shape and size by using external forces.
• Size reduction process is also known as comminution and grinding.
• Size reduction is the term applied to the conversion of solid wastes as they
are collected into smaller pieces.
• The objective of size reduction is to obtain final product that is reasonably
uniform and considerably reduced in size in comparison to its original form.
• It is important to note that size reduction does not necessarily imply
volume reduction.
• In some situations, the total volume of the material after size reduction
may be greater than that of the original volume.
• In practice, the terms shredding, grinding, and milling are used
interchangeably to describe mechanical size-reduction operations.
• Wastes are shredded before they are baled. The disposal of shredded
wastes in landfills without the use of daily cover is another important
application of size reduction.
In the overall process of waste treatment and disposal, size reduction is
implemented ahead of:
• land filling to provide a more homogeneous product. This may require less
cover material and less frequent covering than that without shredding. This
can be of economic importance, where cover material is scarce or needs to
be brought to the landfill site from some distance.
• Recovering materials from the waste stream for recycling.
• baling the wastes – a process sometimes used ahead of long distance
transport of solid wastes – to achieve a greater density.
• making the waste a better fuel for incineration waste energy recovery
facilities. (The size reduction techniques, coupled with separation techniques
such as screening, result in a more homogeneous mixture of relatively
uniform size, moisture content and heating value, and thereby improving the
steps of incineration and energy recovery.
• reducing moisture, i.e., drying and dewatering of wastes
Factors affecting size reduction:
The various factors that affect size reduction are
• hardness,
• robustness,
• abrasiveness,
• glueyness,
• softening temperature,
• particle nature,
• moisture level,
• purity requirement,
• ratio of feed size to product ratio,
• bulk density and
• physical effect
1 Hardness:
• The surface property of a material is hardness.
• Moh’s scale is considered as a random scale of hardness.
• The hardness number ranges between 1 and 10 for a number of mineral substances (for
instance from graphite to diamond).
• Materials with hardness number ranging between 1-3 are called as soft and could be
spotted with a fingernail. Materials with hardness number beyond 7 are hard and could
not be spotted with a blade. The materials having hardness number ranging between 4-6
are designated as intermediate.
• Normally, when the material is harder, then it is complicated to reduce the size of the
material.
2 Robustness:
• Robustness of a material is also an important factor that affects size reduction. In some
instance, it is considered as more important than hardness of a material.
• A soft and tough material may lead to many problems in size reduction when compared
to hard and delicate material. For instance, it is harder to fracture rubber than a
blackboard chalk.
• Toughness creates difficulty in many materials, particularly in fibrous materials and is
often connected with moisture content of a material.
3 Abrasiveness:
• Abrasiveness is an important property of hard materials (principally
those of mineral origin) and could limit the efficiency of equipment
that could be employed.
4 Glueyness:
• Stickiness of a material is another property that leads to substantial
complexity in size reduction of a material.
• The sticky substance may stick to the milling plane, or on the lattice of
the screen could turn to be choked.
• If heat is produced during any size reduction process, then the sticky
and resin like materials may cause problems to the entire process.
5 Softening temperature:
• In size reduction process, heat is produced occasionally. The produced heat
may lead to softening of some substances.
• The temperature at which the heat generating process happens is very
essential.
• Waxy substances, such as stearic acid, and oils or fats containing
substances are some of the substances that may be influenced by this
temperature.
6 Particles nature:
• Some of the materials are homogenous in nature.
• However, many materials possess various unique structure, for instance,
mineral substances found to be weak in nature and these substances crack
to produce flake-like elements, while other substances such as vegetable
wastes being cellular nature have fibrous like structure.
7 Moisture level:
• Moisture level is considered as an essential parameter that posses some major
characteristics which can affect size reduction, for instance, hard nature, robustness or
glueyness.
• Normally substances must be dried out or damp. Substances that possess less than 5
percent of moisture content are considered to be appropriate for dry grinding process.
Greater than 5 percent of moisture content leads to agglomeration or pasting.
• In the same way, substances that have more than 50 percent of moisture content are
considered to be appropriate for wet grinding process. In case of low moisture content
materials, coarse and intermediate size reduction process is suitable. In case of high
moisture content particle, greater than 50 percent, fine size reduction process is
applicable.
8 Purity requirement:
• Some of the size reduction equipment make the crushing or milling surfaces to worn and
those processes must be avoided in case of high purified product requirement.
• Likewise, some equipment is considered to be inappropriate if the cleaning of various
materials is complicated.
9 Ratio of feed size to product ratio:
• It is the ratio of feed to particle size (diameter) of product. Equipments that are
used for producing very small sized particles could be essential to perform the
size reduction process in various phases with the help of diverse machines, for
instance, primary process such as crushing. Subsequently the crushed materials
are subjected to coarse grinding process and finally subjected to fine grinding. For
coarse size reduction process, the reduction ratio should be between 3 to 7. For
grinding mill, the reduction ratio should be greater than 100.
10 Bulk density:
• The potency of many batch mill processes relies on volume. These processes
normally require solid substances on the basis of weight. Therefore, all the
parameters are kept equal and the substances that are produced from the
equipments after the completion of process is connected with the bulk density of
the materials.
11 Physical effect:
• Some of the materials are very effective and powerful. Minute quantities of dust
particles can influence the operators. To eliminate these drawbacks, milling
equipments must be covered. Systems that can extort air are attractive and
beneficial. Wet grinding is appropriate as it eliminates this issue completely.
Classification of size reduction:
i) Coarse size reduction
ii) Intermediate size reduction
iii) Fine size reduction
i) Coarse size reduction:
• Coarse size reduction is mainly employed for reducing the size of rigid and
unevenly formed solid substances to about 2 – 96 inches or higher.
• The equipment used for coarse size reduction are jaw crusher, gyratory crusher,
toothed roll crusher, hammer mill.

ii) Intermediate size reduction:

• Intermediate size reduction is mainly employed for reducing the size of rigid and
unevenly formed solid substances to about 1 – 3 inches.
• The equipment used for intermediate size reduction are cone crusher, crushing
rolls, stamp hill, disintegrator.

iii) Fine size reduction:

• Fine size reduction is mainly employed for reducing the size of rigid and unevenly
formed solid substances to about 0.25 – 0.5 inches.
• The equipment used for fine size reduction are ball mill, tube mill and rollers mill
Basic Mechanism of size reduction:
• During size reduction process, smaller
particles are produced from larger particles of
the same material. Size reduction leads to the
formation of crack in the larger particles.
• The basic three mechanisms involved in size
reduction are cracking, crushing and grinding
of solid particles (Figure 1).
• The particles are fractured through external
shear forces (mechanical energy).
• Then the particles are crushed into smaller
coarse particles.
• Finally, the crushed particles are grinded
through grinders. During this process, by the
application of mechanical energy the particles
are distorted, loosened and cracked.
Different mechanisms of size reduction:
(i) Impact: Impact is a mechanism which occurs
when a solid particle (almost immobile) is
beaten by a highly accelerated moving
substance or when a moving substance hits an
immobile surface.
(ii) Compression: Compression is a mechanism
which occurs when a solid particle is disrupted
by two rigid surfaces.
(iii) Shear: Shear is a mechanism which occurs
when a solid particle is compressed between
rollers through mechanical pressure.
(iv) Attrition: Attrition is a mechanism which
occurs when the materials are subjected to
force similar to shear but the surfaces scrapped
with one another. As a result, shear forces are
generated which shatter the materials.
Equipment used for size reduction:
Size reduction equipments:
1 Shredders:
• Shredders are the equipments used to shred the feed materials with the
help of rotating shaft or sharp knives.
• These equipments are mainly used to reduce the size of municipal solid
wastes.
• Examples of shredding equipments include: hammer mill, flail mill, shear
shredder, cutting mills, cage disintegrators, roller mills and hydro pulpers.
• The hammer mill is the most commonly used shredding device.
2 Glass crushers:
Glass crushers are the devices employed to mash glass vessels and other
glass materials present in municipal solid wastes.
3 Wood grinders:
In general, most of the wood grinders are wood chippers and are used to
grate large wooden logs into chips.
1 Hammer mill:
• Hammer mill is a type of shredding device
that works under the principle of collision
between the fastly moving hammer located
on a rotor and the solid material.
• During operation, the hammers of hammer
mill which is fitted to a rotary component, hit
the solid materials that is introduced into the
device and shred it.
• In hammer mills, the rotor rotates at a speed
of 8000 -15000 rpm.
• Once the waste material is shredded, they are
pulled via the exit of the device.
• The exit section (discharge unit) may or may
not consist of bottom grates.
• The hammer mills are of two types namely,
One-way type (Figure 4) and reversible type.
In one-way type hammer mills, the breaker
plates are replaceable. In reversible type, the
breaker plates are reversible (adjustable).
2 Flail mill:
The flail mills are solitary pass shredding equipment works similar to the hammer mill, however
afford only coarse tearing of materials, since the hammers are spaced further apart. During
operation, the waste materials stay in the hammer till it moves via the hole in the bottom grate.
They are often utilized as bag breakers.
3 Shear shredders:
Shear shredders are the equipments in which the shredding of waste materials is take place by the
application of shear forces. The shear shredder consists of two analogous counter rotary shafts with
a sequence of discs located vertically which serve as shears. The solid particle to be shattered is
moved to the middle of the counter rotary shafts. The magnitude of the solid particle is reduced by
the shear action of the shattering discs. The shredded particles is forced via the outer exit section.
Shear shredders are also used as bag breakers.
4 Hydropulpers:
Hydropulper is also a type of shredding device mainly used for reducing the size of municipal solid
wastes. During operation, the municipal solid waste material and water to be shredded are moved
to the device. The fastly revolving shaft part slices and transfers the solid content into pulpable
finish products. The resulting pulpable end products consist of 2.5 to 3.5 percent of solid particles.
The non-pulpable substances are collected from the side tank of hydropulper unit. The remaining
slurry is discharged through the base of the unit with the help of a pump and subjected to further
processes. The waste effluent substances are settled down in the base of unit by gravity with bucket
elevator.
2 Glass crushers:
• Glass crushers are the devices employed to
mash glass vessels and other glass materials
present in municipal solid wastes. The glass
crushers are works under the principle of
compression by the application of stress
forces. The stress forces are applied by
rotator wheels or rollers. The glass crushers
consist of two rollers, front and back roller. A
compression spring in the unit provides stress
forces.
• During operation, the rollers are allowed to
rotate. The materials to be compressed are
introduced through the gap between the
rollers. Through the application of high
pressure, the materials are trampled. Glass is
always compressed once it is segregated to
minimize the cost incurred towards storage
and shipping. In some mechanical segregation
process, glass is trampled, subsequent to
several segregation phases, to influence its
elimination by screening. Crushed glass can
be removed optically based on colour.
3 Wood grinders:
• In general, most of the wood grinders
are wood chippers and are used to
grate large wooden logs into chips.
This could be utilized as a fuel and fine
substances. The finer material in turn
can be composted easily.
• Wood grinders consist of a rotating
apex part (rotating arm), and a
immobile base part holding a hammer
mill. The wooden pieces to be grinded
are fed through a hopper and the
rotating force of the rotating arm
makes certain that the substances run
incessantly to the hammer mill. The
incessant flow of grinded substances
is pulled speedily from the grinder
through a conveyor at the bottom.
Selection of size reduction equipment:
The factors that decide the selection of size reduction equipment include the
following:
• The properties of materials before and after shredding.
• Size requirements for shredded material by component.
• Method of feeding shredders, provision of adequate shredder hood capacity (to
avoid bridging) and clearance requirement between feed and transfer conveyors
and shredders.
• Types of operation (continuous or intermittent).
• Operational characteristics including energy requirements, routine and
specialised maintenance requirement, simplicity of operation, reliability, noise
output, and air and water pollution control requirements.
• Site considerations, including space and height, access, noise and environmental
limitations.
• Metal storage after size reduction for the next operation.
Component separation techniques:
• Prior to size or volume reduction, component separation is necessary to
avoid the problem of segregating or sorting recyclable materials from the
mixed and compressed lumps of wastes and the poor quality of recyclable
materials sorted out of compaction vehicles.
• Component separation is a necessary operation in which the waste
components are identified and sorted either manually or mechanically to
aid further processing.
This is required for the:
• recovery of valuable materials for recycling;
• preparation of solid wastes by removing certain components prior to
incineration, energy recovery, composting and biogas production
• The most effective way of separation is manual sorting in households prior
to collection.
• In many cities (e.g., Bangalore, Chennai, etc., in India), such systems are
now routinely used.
• The municipality generally provides separate, easily identifiable containers
into which the householder deposits segregated recyclable materials such
as paper, glass, metals, etc.
• Usually, separate collections are carried out for the recyclable material.
• At curbside, separate areas are set aside for each of the recyclable
materials for householders to deliver material – when there is no municipal
collection system.
• In case the separation is not done prior to collection, it could be sorted out
through mechanical techniques such as air separation, magnetic
separation, etc., to recover the wastes.
The most effective way of separation is manual hand sorting:
A. At the source where solid waste are generated
B. At a transfer station
C. At a centralized processing station
D. At the disposal site
Component Separation Technique:
In case the separation is not done prior to collection, it could be sorted out
through mechanical techniques:
• Air separation,
• Magnetic separation, etc., to recover the wastes
• Screening .
Other separation techniques (other than mechanical techniques):
• Hand-sorting or previewing
• Inertial separation
• Flotation
• Optical sorting
Air separation:
• This technique has been in use for a number of years in industrial
operations for segregating various components from dry mixture.
• Air separation is primarily used to separate lighter materials (usually
organic) from heavier (usually inorganic) ones.
• The lighter material may include plastics, paper and paper products and
other organic materials.
• Generally, there is also a need to separate the light fraction of organic
material from the conveying air streams, which is usually done in a cyclone
separator. In this technique, the heavy fraction is removed from the air
classifier (i.e., equipment used for air separation) to the recycling stage or
to land disposal, as appropriate. The light fraction may be used, with or
without further size reduction, as fuel for incinerators or as compost
material.
There are various types of air classifiers commonly used, some of which
are listed below:
(i) Conventional chute type
(ii) Zigzag air classifier
(iii) Open inlet vibrator type
(i) Conventional chute type:
• Conventional chute type is one of the
simplest types of air classifiers.
• In this type, when the processed solid
wastes are dropped into the vertical
chute, the lighter material is carried
by the airflow to the top while the
heavier materials fall to the bottom of
the chute.
• The control of the percentage split
between the light and heavy fraction
is accomplished by varying the waste
loading rate, airflow rate and the cross
section of chute.
• A rotary air lock feed mechanism is
required to introduce the shredded
wastes into the classifier.
(ii) Zigzag air classifier:
• Zigzag air classifier consists of a
continuous vertical column with internal
zigzag deflectors through which air is
drawn at a high rate.
• Shredded wastes are introduced at the
top of the column at a controlled rate,
and air is introduced at the bottom of the
column.
• As the wastes drop into the air stream,
the lighter fraction is fluidised and moves
upward and out of column, while the
heavy fraction falls to the bottom.
• Best separation can be achieved through
proper design of the separation chamber,
airflow rate and influent feed rate.
(iii) Open inlet vibrator type:
In this type of air classifier, the separation is accomplished by a
combination of the following actions:
Vibration:
This helps to stratify the material fed to the separator into heavy
and light components. Due to this agitation, the heavier
particles tend to settle at the bottom as the shredded waste is
conveyed down the length of the separator.
Inertial force: In this action, the air pulled in through the feed
inlet imparts an initial acceleration to the lighter particle, while
the wastes travel down the separator as they are being agitated.
Air pressure:
This action refers to the injection of fluidising air in two or more
high velocity and low mass flow curtains across the bed. A final
stripping of light particles is accomplished at the point where
the heavy fraction discharges from the elutriators. It has been
reported that the resulting separation is less sensitive to particle
size than a conventional vertical air classifier, be it of straight or
zigzag design. An advantage of this classifier is that an air lock
feed mechanism is not required and wastes are fed by gravity
directly into the separator inlet.
Selection of air separation equipment:
The factors that are to be considered for selecting air separation equipment include
the following:
• Characteristics of the material produced by shredding equipment including
particle size, shape, moisture content and fibre content.
• Material specification for light fraction.
• Methods of transferring wastes from the shredders to the air separation units and
feeding wastes into the air separator.
• Characteristics of separator design including solids-to-air ratio, fluidising
velocities, unit capacity, total airflow and pressure drop.
• Operational characteristics including energy requirement, maintenance
requirement, simplicity of operation, proved performance and reliability, noise
output, and air and water pollution control requirements.
• Site considerations including space and height access, noise and environmental
limitations.
Magnetic Separation:
• The most common method of recovering ferrous scrap from shredded solid
wastes involves the use of magnetic recovery systems.
• Ferrous materials are usually recovered either after shredding or before air
classification.
• When wastes are mass-fired in incinerators, the magnetic separator is used
to remove the ferrous material from the incinerator residue.
• Magnetic recovery systems have also been used at landfill disposal sites.
• It is also used for the reduction of wear and tear on processing and
separation equipment, degree of product purity achieved and the required
recovery efficiency.
(i) Suspended magnet:
• In this type of separator, a
permanent magnet is used to
attract the ferrous metal from the
waste stream.
• When the attracted metal reaches
the area, where there is no
magnetism, it falls away freely.
• This ferrous metal is then collected
in a container.
• This type of separation device is
suitable for processing raw refuse,
where separators can remove large
pieces of ferrous metal easily from
the waste stream.
(ii) Magnetic pulley:
• This consists of a drum type
device containing permanent
magnets or electromagnets over
which a conveyor or a similar
transfer mechanism carries the
waste stream.
• The conveyor belt conforms to
the rounded shape of the
magnetic drum and the
magnetic force pulls the ferrous
material away from the falling
stream of solid waste.
Selection of magnetic separation equipment:
• Characteristics of waste from which ferrous materials are to be separated
(i.e., the amount of ferrous material, the tendency of the wastes to stick to
each other, size, moisture content, etc.) Equipment used for feeding wastes
to separator and removing the separated waste streams.
• Characteristics of the separator system engineering design, including
loading rate, magnet strength, conveyor speed, material of construction, etc.
• Operational characteristics, including energy requirements, routine and
specialised maintenance requirements, simplicity of operation, reliability,
noise output, and air and water pollution control requirements.
• Locations where ferrous materials are to be recovered from solid wastes.
• Site consideration, including space and height, access, noise and
environmental limitations.
Screening:
• Screening is the most common form of separating solid wastes, depending
on their size by the use of one or more screening surfaces.
• Screening has a number of applications in solid waste resource and energy
recovery systems.
• Screens can be used before or after shredding and after air separation of
wastes in various applications dealing with both light and heavy fraction
materials.
• The most commonly used screens are rotary drum screens and various
forms of vibrating screens.
• Note that rotating wire screens with relatively large openings are used for
separation of cardboard and paper products, while vibrating screens and
rotating drum screens are typically used for the removal of glass and
related materials from the shredded solid wastes.
Selection of screening equipment:
• Material specification for screened component.
• Location where screening is to be applied and characteristics of waste
material to be screened, including particle size, shape, bulk, density and
moisture content.
• Separation and overall efficiency.
• Characteristics screen design, including materials of construction, size of
screen openings, total surface screening area, oscillating rate for vibrating
screens, speed for rotary drum screens, loading rates and length.
• Operational characteristics, including energy requirements, maintenance
requirements, simplicity of operation, reliability, noise output and air and
water pollution control requirements.
• Site considerations such as space and height access, noise and related
environmental limitations.
Other separation techniques:
(i) Hand-sorting or previewing:
• Previewing of the waste stream and manual removal of large sized
materials is necessary, prior to most types of separation or size reduction
techniques.
• This is done to prevent damage or stoppage of equipment such as
shredders or screens, due to items such as rugs, pillows, mattresses, large
metallic or plastic objects, wood or other construction materials, paint
cans, etc.
(ii) Inertial separation:
Inertial methods rely on ballistic or gravity separation principles to separate
shredded solid wastes into light (i.e., organic) and heavy (i.e., inorganic)
particles.
(iii) Flotation:
• In the flotation process, glass-rich feedstock, which is produced by screening the heavy
fraction of the air-classified wastes after ferrous metal separation, is immersed in water
in a soluble tank.
• Glass chips, rocks, bricks, bones and dense plastic materials that sink to the bottom are
removed with belt scrappers for further processing.
• Light organic and other materials that float are skimmed from the surface. These
materials are taken to landfill sites or to incinerators for energy recovery. Chemical
adhesives (flocculants) are also used to improve the capture of light organic and fine
inorganic materials.
(iv) Optical sorting:
• Optical sorting is used mostly to separate glass from the waste stream, and this can be
accomplished by identification of the transparent properties of glass to sort it from
opaque materials (e.g., stones, ceramics, bottle caps, corks, etc.) in the waste stream.
• Optical sorting involves a compressed air blast that removes or separates the glasses –
plain or coloured.
• An optical sorting machinery is, however, complex and expensive.
Drying and Dewatering:
• Component separation through air classifiers, magnetic separators, screens and hand
sorting, flotation, optical sorting and inertial separators.
• In case, however, the waste consists of moisture, we need to remove it for efficient
management.
• It is in this regard that drying and dewatering are considered the most appropriate
means of removal of moisture.
• Drying and dewatering operations are used primarily for incineration systems, with or
without energy recovery systems.
• These are also used for drying of sludges in wastewater treatment plants, prior to their
incineration or transport to land disposal.
• The purpose of drying and dewatering operation is to remove moisture from wastes and
thereby make it a better fuel.
• Sometimes, the light fraction is pelletised after drying to make the fuel easier to
transport and store, prior to use in an incinerator or energy recovery facility.
Drying:
The following three methods are used to apply the heat required for
drying the wastes:
(i) Convection drying: In this method, hot air is in direct contact with
the wet solid waste stream.
(ii) Conduction drying: In this method, the wet solid waste stream is in
contact with a heated surface.
(iii) Radiation drying: In this method, heat is transmitted directly to the
wet solid waste stream by radiation from the heated body.
Of these three methods, convection drying is used most commonly.
Dewatering:
Dewatering is more applicable to the problem of sludge disposal from wastewater
treatment of plants, but may also be applicable in some cases to
municipal/industrial waste problems.
When drying beds, lagoons or spreading on land are not feasible, other mechanical
means of dewatering are used. The emphasis in the dewatering operation is often
on reducing the liquid volume.
Once dewatered, the sludge can be mixed with other solid waste, and the resulting
mixture can be:
• incinerated to reduce volume;
• used for the production of recoverable by-products;
• used for production of compost;
• buried in a landfill.
Centrifugation and filtration are the two common methods for the dewatering of
sludge. Sludges with solid content of a few percent can be thickened to about 10 –
15% in centrifugation and about 20 – 30% in pressure filtration or vacuum filtration.
Source reduction:
• Source reduction, also known as waste prevention, is an approach that
precedes waste management and addresses how products are
manufactured and, purchased.
• Put differently, this refers to the activities that reduce the amount of waste
generated at source as well as activities that involve any change in the
design, manufacture, purchase or usage of materials/products to reduce
their volume and/or toxicity, before they become part of the solid waste
stream (EPA, 1989 and 1995).
• Reducing waste before it is generated is a logical way to save costs and
natural resources, and preserve the local environment.
• For instance, waste reduction cuts the municipal and commercial costs
involved in waste collection and disposal, and improves the productivity by
targeting wasteful processes and products.
Source reduction purposes:
(i) Product reuse: Using reusable products, instead of their disposal equivalents, reduce the amount of
materials that are to be managed as wastes.
An example of product reuse is the reusable shopping bag.
(ii) Material volume reduction: Reducing the volume of material used changes the amount of waste entering
the waste stream. This helps in controlling the waste generated and its disposal.
For example, buying in bulk or using large food containers reduces the amount of packaging waste generated.
(iii) Toxicity reduction: Source reduction reduces the amount of toxic constituents in products entering the
waste stream and reduces the adverse environmental impacts of recycling or other waste management
activities.
For example, substitution of lead and cadmium in inks (solvent-based to water based) and paints is a source
reduction activity.
(iv) Increased product lifetime: Source reduction facilitates the use of products with longer lifetime over short-
lived alternatives that are designed to be discarded at the end of their useful lives. Put differently, it
encourages a product design that allows for repair and continued use rather than disposal.
Manufacturing long-life tyres is a good example of increasing product lifetime.
(v) Decreased consumption: This refers to the reduced consumption of materials that are not reusable (e.g.,
using a reusable shopping bag instead of picking up plastic bags from the store). Consumer education about
the materials that are difficult to dispose of or are harmful to the environment is essential.
Buying practices can thus be altered (e.g., buying in bulk) to reflect environmental consciousness.
Material recovery and recycling:
• A material recovery strategy is introduced to reduce fresh resources
and discharge waste materials through reuse, regeneration, and
recycling.
• Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new
materials and objects. This concept often includes the recovery of
energy from waste materials.
Typical materials that are recycled include iron and steel scrap,
aluminum cans, glass bottles, paper, wood, and plastics.
Material recovery and recycling: Objectives:
• The primary objective of recycling is to reduce waste and conserve
resources:
[Link] Conservation:
[Link] Reduction:
[Link] Protection:
[Link] of Space:
[Link] of Sustainable Practices: Recycling promotes a circular
economy where materials are reused and recycled, reducing the
linear "take-make-dispose" model of resource consumption.
Resource recovery:
• Whenever waste backfills or replaces another material, this is
recovery. This includes energy generation such as gasification and
pyrolysis.
• Acid or base regeneration and reclaiming metals for re-use. This is the
recovery of waste without any pre-processing.
• For example, waste oils that cannot be refined for reuse in vehicles
can be burnt for energy recovery. Recovering the energy from waste
oil reduces our dependence on coal and imported oil.
Resource recovery:
Resource recovery means the obtaining of some economic benefit from material
that someone has regarded as waste. It includes
• reuse - being used for the same purpose again (such as refilling a soft drinks
bottle);
• recycling - processing material so that it can be used again as the same material,
such as the processing of waste paper to make pulp and then new paper;
• conversion - processing the material to make something different (such as
producing padding for clothing and sleeping bags from plastic bottles, or producing
compost from food waste)
• energy recovery - usually referring to the burning of waste so that the heat can
be used (for example, for heating swimming pools).
Another method of energy recovery is to collect the gas that is produced in very
large sanitary landfills and use it as a fuel or to generate electricity.
Stages of Material Recovery:
• The SWM Rules, 2016 defines “Materials Recovery Facility” (MRF) means a
facility where non-compostable solid waste can be temporarily stored by
the local body or any other entity mentioned in rule 2.
• Material recovery starts at the primary level, by households who segregate
recyclables like newspapers, cardboard, plastics, bottles, etc. from waste to
sell such material to local recyclers, scrap dealers or haulers.
• The item that cannot be sold to the kabaddi system is discarded and
becomes part of the MSW.
• Waste pickers pick up parts of this waste to earn their living. Well-
segregated recyclables can directly be transferred to a processing site or to
the recyclable market depending on local conditions.
Material Recovery Facility (MRF):
Material Recovery Facility (MRF) is also known as Material Reclamation
Facility or Material Recycling Facility. An MRF is a place where waste
collected from the doorstep in a segregated manner is further
segregated and various components of recyclable waste recovered
from it for recycle or resale.
Types of Material Recovery Facility:
Depending on the scale of operations and the level of mechanisation in
the facility, MRFs may be classified as
• manual or
• mechanised.
Recycling:
• Solid Waste Management (SWM) Rules, 2016 defines recycling as “the process of transforming
segregated solid waste into a new product or a raw material for producing new products.”
• Further, it also states that “arrangement shall be made to provide segregated recyclable material
to the recycling industry through waste pickers or any other agency engaged or authorised by the
urban local body for the purpose.”
• According to the ISWM hierarchy, recycling is a preferred waste management strategy after
source reduction and reuse. Recycling systems should be adopted before planning for any waste
processing or treatment facilities.
• Recycling is a process that utilises waste materials and applies various technologies to change the
material into useful feed stocks for industrial or manufacturing processes.
• Recycling is further down the hierarchy due to the higher costs involved in collection, transport
and reprocessing.
• The recycling industry can sometimes be volatile, with market fluctuations creating uncertainty
within the industry.
• Recycled materials are usually competing against virgin products, which are often relatively
cheap.
• Virgin materials do not have the environmental cost of their product built into the price, making it
difficult for recycled resources to compete.
Types of Recycling:
Recycling can be classified into three
types. They are;
• primary,
• secondary and
• tertiary recycling.
Tertiary recycling is further sub
classified into
• internal and
• external recycling.
Figure 1 shows the schematic view of
the types of recycling.
1. Primary Recycling:
The reusing and recovering of the material without any changes in their
originality after recycling is said to be primary recycling. It can be
defined as the second-hand use – reusing. The purpose of material
usage will remain unchanged. Example: Giving donation to a friend,
family member or to charity organisation, selling etc.
2. Secondary Recycling:
This type of recycling involves some sensible alteration of the material
or product without the use of chemical processes. Example: Cutting
and reshaping of various products to make arts and crafts, Cutting
envelopes into smaller pieces to use them as scrap paper etc.
3. Tertiary Recycling:
This type of recycling involves the reprocessing of materials or products
by a chemical process or heat. Example: melting metals, chemically
treating old paper and crushing plastics bottles to make brand new
products.
a. External Recycling:
The Tertiary recycling is said to be external recycling if the materials or
products are recovered and reprocessed with public participation i.e.,
sorting waste and putting it in recycle bins to be collected and
transferred to reprocessing facilities.
b. Internal Recycling:
The Tertiary recycling is said to be internal recycling if the materials or
products are recovered without public participation i.e., within the
factories and manufacturing facilities.
Steps involved in Recycling process:
Advantages of Recycling:
• Recycling diverts a significant fraction of municipal, institutional and bulk waste from
being dumped or disposed in landfills.
• This results in saving of scarce resources as well as reducing environmental impacts and
the burden of waste management on public authorities.
• If appropriate market mechanisms are established, recycling can generate revenues,
contributing to the overall cost recovery for municipal solid waste service provision.

For the Urban Local Body (ULB):

–– Reduces waste volume.
–– Cost savings in collection, transportation and disposal.
–– Longer life span for landfills.
–– Reduced environmental management efforts.
Advantages of Recycling:
• For the economy:
–– Reduction of imports of raw materials, fertilisers etc. and hence
foreign currency required.
–– Livelihood opportunities for recyclers in the recycling industry.
• For the environment:
–– Sustainable use of resources
–– Reduced amount of waste going to storage sites and reduced
requirement of land.
–– Reduced environmental impacts including impacts of climate
change.
Recycling program elements:
• Recycling programmes are designed according to the needs and
priorities of the communities.
• Elements of a recycling programme include source separation,
curbside (kerbside) collection, material resource facilities and full
streamprocessing.
• Recycling, generally, has a positive impact on other municipal waste
management programmes.
• This may include a mix of strategies, ranging from simple, single
material drop-off centres to large scale, centralised processing
facilities.
1 Source separation:
• Source separation refers to the segregation of the recyclable and
reusable materials at the point of generation.
• This requires that several designated materials be separated into their
own specific containers, while other programmes use only two
containers – one for the storage of mixed recyclables and the other
for regular wastes.
• Source separation may be voluntary or mandated and is done in
conjunction with several recycling programmes.
2 Drop-off/buy-back:
• A drop-off programme requires residents to separate the recyclable
materials and bring them to a specified drop-off or collection centre.
• However, we must take into account local conditions when designing a
collection programme.
• For a community that does not provide a curbside pickup, for example,
educating and encouraging citizens to deliver materials to a drop-off site
may be all that is needed.
• A recycling centre can be established at the same location where residents
deliver waste. Mobile recycling drop-off trailers can also be used.
• Drop-off recycling, however, is less convenient than curbside pickup. If a
thorough educational and promotional effort is not made, drop-off
programme tends to have lower participation rates than curbside
collection.
Buy-back refers to a drop-off programme that provides monetary
incentives to participate. In this type of programme, the residents are
paid back for their recyclable material directly or indirectly through the
reduction in collection and disposal fees.
• Establishing a buy-back centre (i.e., a place where recyclables are
purchased) may help induce citizens to recycle. Some buy-back
centres purchase some materials and accept others, depending on
current market conditions.
• Private or public mobile buy-back operations can serve some areas,
purchasing recyclables from small communities or from
neighbourhoods of large metropolitan areas on a regular schedule.
3 Curbside programme:
• In a curbside system, source separated recyclables are collected separately from regular
refuse from the curbside, alley, or commercial facility.
• Curbside programmes vary greatly from community to community.
• Some programmes require residents to separate different materials that are stored in
their own containers and collected separately. Other programmes use only one container
to store recyclables or two containers, one for paper and the other for heavy recyclables
(e.g., glass aluminium, etc.).
4 Storage and collection of recyclables:
Collection of source-separated materials is a necessary component of recycling
programme. Establishing a collection system for source-separated materials will require
more careful planning than regular trash collection. Some principles of sound recyclables
storage and collection should be understood, while developing a programme, and these
include:
• Resident convenience:
• Collection crew convenience:
• Cost effectiveness:
• Integrity of materials:
5 Collection vehicles for recycling:
Collection vehicles that are designed specifically for collecting recyclables have several storage bins,
which can be easily loaded and often equipped with automatic container-tipping devices. Although
these modified vehicles may still be considered as options, a dedicated, closed-body collection
vehicle for recycling with sufficient capacity offers such significant advantages as easy loading and
unloading, flexible compartments and protection from weather. Of course, this warrants a
substantial initial investment.
6 Processing equipment for recycling:
Recycling involves a number of processing techniques and these processes require different
equipments, some of the special equipments used in recycling are:
Balers: Balers can be used to densify many types of materials including paper, cardboard, plastics
and cans. Balers can improve space utilisation and reduce material transportation costs.
Can densifiers: Can crushers are used to densify aluminium and steel cans prior to transport.
Glass crushers: These are used to process glass fraction separated by colour and break it into small
pieces. This crushed material is then called cullet, and can be reprocessed into new glass products.
Magnetic separators: These are used to remove ferrous material from a mixture of materials.
Wood grinders: These are chippers and are used to shred large pieces of wood into chips that can
be used as mulch or as fuel.
Scales: These are used to measure the quantity of materials recovered or sold.
7 Material recovery facilities (MRF):
MRF (pronounced ‘murf’) is a centralised facility that receives,
separates, processes and markets recyclable material. It can be
operated with both drop off and curbside programmes. The primary
advantage of MRF is that it allows materials directly from the
municipalities and processes them uniformly. It is generally designed to
handle all type of recyclables.
Implementation of MRF in a municipality depends upon a number of
factors as follows:
• Market demand:
• Separate collection:
• Number of different recyclables:
• Quantities of materials:
8 Full stream processing:
This is a high technology separation technique, which processes all components of
municipal waste. The materials recovered by this process tend to be of lower
quality than those recovered or source separated in MRF because the former is a
mix of various types of wastes. To achieve a better quality, the materials obtained
through the full stream processing must be cleaned, which is a costly process.
However, this technique remains attractive because it does not require source
separation, and it is used in the following applications:
(i) Refuse derived fuel (RDF) preparation: In this application, it is used to extract
the combustible portion of municipal waste.
(ii) Municipal waste composting: In this application, it is used to concentrate the
compostable portion of municipal solid waste. Note that this is sometimes
performed as part of RDF preparation.
(iii) Material recovery: In this application, it is used to recover and resell certain
materials, and thereby making material recovery a recycling technology as well.
In full stream processing, depending on the facility design, the materials are
separated either mechanically or by hand, and size and weight are the main
characteristics used to separate the materials
Commonly recycled materials and processes:
1 Paper and cardboard
2 Glass
3 Metals
4 Plastic
5 Batteries and tyres
1 Paper and cardboard:

• Paper and cardboard form the second biggest component of domestic

waste after organic waste, and contribute to about 13% of the total
domestic solid waste (UNCHS, 1994).
• Paper recycling is one of the most profitable activities and is practised
extensively.
• It reduces the demand for wood and energy and helps solve littering
problem in the city and around dumping site.
• It has an acceptable working condition and health risks are limited.
• Recovered paper and paper products are bought and sold through a well-
established network of local processors and vendors who typically bale
these materials for sale.
• Of late, paper mills have started buying directly from the collectors.
• The paper industry is making a significant investment in
manufacturing capacity for making paper and paper products with
recycled content.
• Recovered paper is classified as newsprint, corrugated cardboard,
mixed paper (including magazines, junk mail and cardboard), high-
grade paper (white office paper,photocopying paper), and pulp
substitute paper (usually mill scrap).
• Paper mills, the most common end users of recovered paper, use the
material as a feedstock to manufacture recycled paper and paper
products, such as newsprint, chipboard, craft linerboard, corrugating
medium, roofing felt and tissue products.
• Shredded paper is used to make animal bedding, hydro mulch,
moulded pulp products and cellulose insulation.
A typical input-output model of the paper processing technique
consists of the following:
• Material inputs: Paper/cardboard scrap, magazines, newspapers,
computer paper, wrapping paper, craft sacks, cartons, etc.
• Product outputs: Paper sheets, boxes, filter paper, mosquito mats (to
absorb chemical repellent), merchandising packets, decorative items,
etc.
And, the technology in the recycling of paper and cardboard involves
the following processes:
(i) Cardboard processing (semi-mechanical) plant
(ii) Hand-made paper
i) Cardboard processing (semi-mechanical) plant:

• In semi-mechanical plants, paper scrap is pulped in

a beater machine.
• The paper pulp is spread on a rotating sieve and
pressed mechanically.
• Cutting is done manually and after cutting and sun-
drying, the cardboard is calendered and sheared
into sheets, as illustrated in Figure 6.1 below, from
which boxes for shoes, sweets, etc., are made.
The various machineries used in the processes
include:
Beater: This consists of a masonry and concrete tank
and a mild steel beater roll, driven by an electric
motor.
Sieving screen: This separates materials of different
size.
Cardboard making unit: This is a nylon conveyor
screen driven by an electric motor.
Calendering machine: This is used to finish the
surface of paper and is electrically operated.
ii) Hand-made paper:
• In hand-operated units, pulping and beating
of paper is done manually in an open
masonry or concrete tank.
• The material is sieved in a second tank and
diluted with water to a specific consistency.
• A wooden framed screen is dipped in the tank
in order to form an even layer of the wet pulp
to a desired thickness (over the screen mat).
• The layer is skillfully removed and transferred
from the mat and the sheets are sun dried on
smooth walls or on other smooth surfaces.
• The dried sheets are then pressed and cut
into required sizes.
• The calendering is performed in an electrically
operated machine. Figure 6.2 illustrates the
processing sequence in a hand-made paper
unit.
2 Glass:

• Glass is one of the most commonly recycled materials, and the market for post
consumer glass has historically been steady. Glass generally accounts for 2.5% by
weight of the total solid waste generated (UNCHS, 1994).
• Though it does not contribute to the environmental problem, glass does cause a
serious problem of littering.
• The economic impacts are cost of waste collection and disposal, reduction in use
of natural products and energy consumption.
• Recycling of broken glass reduces the risk of diseases caused by cuts and wounds.
• Glass recycling is a labour intensive process and provides employment
opportunity.
• Glass is typically broken for size reduction or crushed and ultimatelysold to glass
manufacturers as furnace-ready cullet after metal caps, rings, labels, etc., are
removed.
• Glass manufacturers purchase glass for reprocessing into new, clear, green and
brown glass jars and bottles.
• The market for recovered glass has been strong and stable for brown and clear
containers.
• Green glass, however, is seldom used to package goods domestically, so fewer
companies produce glass of this colour.
• Alternative markets for glass include art glass, sandblasting, and industrial
windowpane glass and fibreglass insulation.
• Although the glass industry has made a commitment to increase the demand for
recovered glass, there is an important and pervasive market concern about the
quality of material being produced by collection programmes and processing
facilities.
• Recycling programme planners must address this concern for high-quality
recovered glass as well as for other commodities.
• Typically, while glass scrap is the material input, glass products are the product
outputs in the glass recycling technique which involves a semi-mechanical
process. This, we will study next.
Semi-mechanical process:
• The waste glass cullet is sorted according to colour and melted in an oven at 1400° C.
• The oven used in a small production unit is locally made from fire clay and known as pot furnace.
• To improve the unbreakability of the glass product, chemicals such as soda ash, potassium
carbonate, borax, lime, etc., are added to the cullet before melting.
• When the metal has completely melted, the temperature is raised to refine the glass.
• After refining, the temperature is lowered to carry out the moulding operation.
• After the glass takes the shape of the mould and hardens, unwanted portions are cut and
removed, and sharp edges are smoothened in a machine.
• The product is then annealed by cooling and heating for three to four hours at 600 – 900° C to
reduce the brittleness of the glass.
• After quality inspection, defective glass products are returned to the recycling process. The
approved products are packed for marketing.
Figure 6.3 depicts the processes described above:
Semi-mechanical process:
The following machinery is used in the process:
Furnace: It is used to melt the glass cullet
(broken or refuse glass usually added to new
material to facilitate melting in making glass).
The glass cullet is melted at 1400°C (locally
fabricated) and the product obtained is
annealed at 600°C (locally fabricated).
Semi-mechanical die: It is used to cast the
die. It uses both mechanically and manually
operated moulds.
Air compressor: It is used for blowing
molten glass into dies.
Printing machine: It is used for printing
trademark.
3 Metals:
• Ferrous metals like iron, steel, etc., and non-ferrous metals like aluminium, copper, zinc,
lead, silver, etc., are some of the metals, which exist in the waste stream. On an average,
metals account for 2% of total solid waste generated (UNCHS, 1994).
• Extraction of metals from natural ores depletes the mineral resources. Metals when
dumped at landfill sites produce hazardous leachate with heavy metals in solution.
• Using recycled metals substantially reduces operating costs of industries. Metal scrap is
cheap and the energy consumption is lower when products are manufactured from
scrap.
• The long-standing track record makes ferrous and non-ferrous metal market among the
most stable of all recyclable materials.
• Ferrous and non-ferrous metals can be bought and sold through processors and vendors.
• Ferrous scrap includes household appliances, equipments, cans, and other iron and steel
products.
• Non-ferrous scrap metals include aluminium, copper, lead, tin, etc.
• Both ferrous and non-ferrous metals can be prepared for sale through
some combination of processing by flattening, baling, and shredding of the
material.
• In some cases, processors melt the metal into ingots before selling it to
end-use markets.
• Several foundries and steel mills have begun or expanded recycling efforts,
and steel mini-mills also appear to be increasing their use of recovered
steel in regions, which typically lack large mills.
The typical material inputs and product outputs in this industry are the
following:
(i) Material inputs: Aluminium, brass, copper, zinc, tin, iron, steel, etc.
(ii) Product outputs: Sanitary and gas fittings, funnels, buckets and
storage bins, reinforced steel bars, hand tools, etc.
Metal processing:
• Most of the recovered metals are processed by big industries.
• Ferrous metals are processed by iron industries to produce iron bars, channels, angles,
etc.
• Local artisans process part of the ferrous metal in many cities.
• In a small-scale cottage industry, a particular kind of metal (ferrous or non-ferrous) is
melted in a crucible in the coal furnace and the molten metal is cast into the desired
mould to make ingots of required shapes and size.
• New and melted recycled metals are mixed together in a 3:1 ratio for better quality
products.
• Ingots are sold to manufacturers to obtain different products from the metal.
• Local artisans heat the iron ingots in a coal furnace and beat them into different shapes
for various kinds of tools and implements.
• Annealing hardens the cutting edges of the tools. The tools used in the process include
coal burner, furnace (coal fired), moulding gadgets, dies (pattern) and auxiliary tools.
4 Plastic:
• These days, plastic is posing serious littering problem in cities and around
collection points and dumping sites. With an average 8% by weight of the total
amount of domestic waste, plastic is one of the major constituents in waste
stream (UNCHS, 1994).
• Un-recycled plastic, when burned, contributes to green- house gases.
• The direct benefits of recycling plastic waste are reduction in the cost of raw
material and energy saving.
• Plastic recycling also helps in employment generation along with reduction of
volume transport and space requirements for dumping.
• Most plastics are densified locally by flattening, baling, or granulating, and sold
either to converters, where the resins are turned into pellets, or directly to
domestic or export end users for remanufacture into products such as bottles,
carpet and carpet backing, flower pots, and insulation material.
• Post consumer plastic-resin recycling technology has developed more rapidly
than technologies for any other recovered material in the last half century.
• Only five to ten years ago post consumer high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and
polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastics were vaguely considered recyclable.
• These two resins, especially HDPE milk jugs and bottles and clear PET plastics,
now hold a stronger place in the market.
• End uses for recycled HDPE include non-food bottles, drums, toys, pipes, sheets
and plastic pallet, and for PET include plastic fibres, injection moulding, non-food
grade containers and chemicals.
• The recyclability of other resins, such as polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride, low-
density polyethylene (LDPE), polypropylene and mixed plastic resins is making
strides but much remains to be done.
• The input materials, the output products involved in the recycling of plastics are
given below:
(i) Material input: Plastic scrap (thermoplastic and thermosetting).
(ii) Product output: Toys, boxes, slippers, shoes, pellets, buckets, cans, etc.
Plastic processing:
• In plastic processing, the primary steps are
sorting by colour and quality, and cutting and
crushing the sorted material.
• The crushed product (granules) of plastic is
melted, colour dyed and manually moulded
into a cheaper product.
• The poly vinyl chloride plastic is blended with
a specific colour dye in a mixing machine.
• The coloured material passes through an
extruder machine to produce thick plastic
strands.
• The strands are manually cut into lumps and
these are used for manufacturing items either
manually or mechanically, as shown in Figure
6.4.
• Note that in the manual process, the lumps
are further chopped into smaller pieces and
melted. The melted material is moulded into
products such as shoe soles, toys and boxes.
5 Batteries and tyres:
• Battery recycling is not only a response to market condition (i.e., price of
lead) but also is important due to concern over the toxic compound
including lead, cadmium and mercury present in many batteries.
• Like other materials, battery recycling depends largely on market
conditions and requires consistent collection and processing.
• Household batteries come in a variety of types including alkaline, carbon,
zinc, silver, nickel, cadmium, etc. Only those containing mercury and silver
are marketed to end users, who extract metals.
• Automobiles use lead acid battery, which contains lead and sulphuric acid,
both hazardous materials.
• Battery reprocessing includes breaking open the batteries, neutralising the
acid, chipping the container for recycling and smelting the lead to produce
recyclable lead.
• Tyres represent a special challenge to solid waste and recycling
programme managers.
• The use of chipped or shredded tyres as a source for fuel is growing.
Electricity-generating facilities, pulp and paper mills and cement kilns
are the most common processes using scrap tyres (EPA, 1989 and
1995).
• Discarded tires pose two particular vector health threats to a
community: rats and mosquitoes.
• Tires create an excellent breeding place for rats and mosquitoes,
which in turn carry diseases to humans.
• When tires burn in an uncontrolled environment, they are extremely
difficult to contain or extinguish.
 Table 1 Waste processing and recycling methods

Material Method of Processing of Products made from Energy saved during

Type material into useful product Recycled materials recycling

Newspaper A chemical process separates ink • Reused as Recycling 1 ton of

from the newspaper fibres, which wrapping paper newspaper saves 3 tons
are then turned into pulp • reprocessed of wood pulp. It saves
and washed. The pulp is poured into newsprint the equivalent of
on a screen to drain, then flattened • Manufacture 3000kW h of electricity,
and dried as it passes through moulded or 23 % of the energy
steam- heated rollers. flower pots required to process a ton
of news from new
pulp
Cardboard Corrugated cardboard is pulped and • Medium: the Recycling 1 ton of
blended with new pulp from wood ribbed inner layer newspaper saves 3 tons
chips. The pulp is screened, rolled of corrugated of wood pulp. It saves
and dried into two types of cardboard. the equivalent of
cardboard called medium and • Linerboard: 3000kW h of the energy
linerboard the outer needed to process a ton
layer of of corrugated cardboard
corrugated
cardboard and from fresh pulp
brown paper bags
Aluminum Aluminium scrap is ground and shredded into • Rolled sheets of aluminium Aluminum is the biggest energy
small chips before being melted and cast into can be formed into many saver (i.e) 64300 kW h per ton of
ingots. The ingots are sent to manufacturing products such as car bodies reclaimed material is saved which
plants where they are moulded or rolled into • Aluminium is also cast or equals to 96% saving.
sheets that can be shaped into various products extrude into many useful
forms which has quality
as that of new
Steel cans Tin cans are really tin- coated steel cans. Tin and steel are separated. The Reclaiming a ton steel saves 1.5
Removing lids from cans and flattening tin is used by the chemical and ton of ore. Tin saves an estimated
them makes reprocessing easier. The pharmaceutical industries 2600 kW h per ton. Steel saves an
tin coating on steel cans is removed with average of 4300 kw h per ton or
caustic de-tinning solution by electrolysis. 47% of energy required to process
steel from
raw materials
Glass A mechanical processing system breaks the • Remanufactures into new Reclaiming 1 ton of glass saves
glass into small pieces called cullet. glass container 1.2 tons of new raw materials. It
Magnets, screens and vacuum systems • Manufactured into stain saves the equivalent of 860 kW h
remove metals, labels, bits of glass of electricity
plastic and caps. The cullet is or 18% of energy
blended with silica sand, soda ash needed to form new
and limestone. glass
Plastics
Plastics need to be sorted by type • High density Plastics are derived from
because many plastic resins are polyethylene: flower energy resources such as
used that are incompatiable in the pots, car parts, toys, coal, petroleum and
recycling process. The plastic may drainage pipe. natural gas, so any
be shredded, baled, or chipped • PET(soda bottles): material recovered is an
before it is shipped to the fiber-fill industrial, energy savings. In
reprocessing plant. Resins are strapping, carpet addition, 90% of the
melted and remoulded into new backing. manufacturing process
products. • Polystyrene energy neede to produce
(including foams): new plastics is savd by
desktop products, recycling
• Mixed plastics:
moulded products,
plastic lumber, and
pallets
Energy recovery from solid waste:
• Energy recovery from waste is the conversion of non-recyclable waste materials
into useable heat, electricity, or fuel through a variety of processes, including
combustion, gasification, pyrolization, anaerobic digestion, and landfill gas (LFG)
recovery. This process is often called waste-to-energy (WTE).
• Energy recovery from waste is part of the non-hazardous waste management
hierarchy. Converting non-recyclable waste materials into electricity and heat
generates a renewable energy source and reduces carbon emissions by offsetting
the need for energy from fossil sources and reduces methane generation from
landfills.
• Basic Techniques of Energy Recovery from Waste:
Energy can be recovered from the organic fraction of waste (biodegradable as well
as non-biodegradable) through thermal, thermo-chemical and biochemical
methods.
A brief description of the commonly applied technologies for energy generation from
waste is as follows:
• Anaerobic Digestion/Biomethanation:
In this process, the organic fraction of the waste is segregated and fed into a closed
container (biogas digester). In the digester, the segregated waste undergoes
biodegradation in presence of methanogenic bacteria and under anaerobic conditions,
producing methane-rich biogas and effluent. The biogas can be used either for
cooking/heating applications, or for generating motive power or electricity through dual-
fuel or gas engines, low-pressure gas turbines, or steam turbines. The sludge from
anaerobic digestion, after stabilization, can be used as a soil conditioner. It can even be
sold as manure depending upon its composition, which is determined mainly by the
composition of the input waste.

• Combustion/Incineration:
In this process, wastes are directly burned in presence of excess air (oxygen) at high
temperatures (about 800°C), liberating heat energy, inert gases, and ash. Combustion
results in transfer of 65%–80% of heat content of the organic matter to hot air, steam, and
hot water. The steam generated, in turn, can be used in steam turbines to generate power.
• Pyrolysis/Gasification:
Pyrolysis is a process of chemical decomposition of organic matter brought about by heat.
In this process, the organic material is heated in absence of air until the molecules
thermally break down to become a gas comprising smaller molecules (known collectively
as syngas).
Gasification can also take place as a result of partial combustion of organic matter in
presence of a restricted quantity of oxygen or air. The gas so produced is known as
producer gas. The gases produced by pyrolysis mainly comprise carbon monoxide (25%),
hydrogen and hydrocarbons (15%), and carbon dioxide and nitrogen (60%). The next step is
to ‘clean’ the syngas or producer gas. Thereafter, the gas is burned in internal combustion
(IC) engine generator sets or turbines to produce electricity.

• Landfill Gas recovery:

The waste dumped in a landfill becomes subjected, over a period of time, to anaerobic
conditions. As a result, its organic fraction slowly volatilizes and decomposes, leading to
production of ‘landfill gas’, which contains a high percentage of methane (about 50%). It
can be used as a source of energy either for direct heating/cooking applications or to
generate power through IC engines or turbines.
Basics of a WtE incineration plant:
Incineration is a widespread technology used in WtE plants all over the
world. The process flow of incineration with energy recovery (WtE) is
discussed below:
Input: The waste arrives in trucks which delivers and hurls the waste in
the bunker. An overhead crane controls the grab bucket and the waste
is released to the hopper, from where it is fed to the furnace. The
overhead crane is also used to properly mix the waste so that a uniform
incineration is achieved.
Combustion: The temperature in the furnace reaches around 1000 °C,
using just the waste as a fuel. The waste burns in the presence of air
and bottom ash falls on the bed whereas the hot flue gases rise
upward. The ash is made of metals and a mineral part. The metals can
be recycled and the mineral part can be recovered (e.g. in road
constructions) after further treatment.

Energy recovery: The heat produced inside the boiler through the
combustion is transferred to the process water that turns into steam.
An optimization of the steam parameters as temperature and pressure
is required in order to achieve a high efficiency from the process. The
superheated steam is transferred to a turbine, which generates
electricity that is fed into the network.
Thermal Technologies:

Incineration, Pyrolysis, Gasification.

Thermal Technologies:
a) Incineration:
• is one of the initial technologies developed for the waste to energy system.
• Also known as direct combustion, it was originally designed to reduce the volume
of the waste using combustion, but was later used to recover energy (electricity
and heat).
• The use of incineration has significantly reduced the usage of landfilling which
used to emit a large amount of methane, that has a Global Warming Potential
(GWP) 28 times bigger than carbon dioxide.
• Though, incineration plants are bench- mark in the energy recovery platform and
still under development for example to rise steam temperatures to 500°C to
further enhance the electricity efficiency, there are proven and emerging
technologies being used to produce energy from waste with- out direct
combustion.
b) Gasification:
• process converts carbon containing material into an energy relatively poor syngas (or synthesis
gas, is gas from non-fossil sources, produced through pyro-gasification) by partial oxidation,
mainly composed of a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen with traces of water vapour,
nitrogen and carbon dioxide.
• The technology is not developed in comparison to the incineration process for solid waste but this
technology might hold potential.
c) Pyrolysis:
• is a thermo-chemical conversion of organic material under the absence of oxygen at high
temperatures. This results in irreversible changes of the fuel.
• The resultant product can be both syngas and biooil depending on the speed of pyrolysis. Because
of the low quality of these products obtained from MSW, they are generally burned directly in a
post combustion reactor. There is still research going on in this technology so as to operate it at
large industrial size level.
d) Plasma Arc Gasification:
• uses plasma arc with the help of carbon electrodes, copper, tungsten, hafnium or zirconium to
reach gasification temperatures.
• The plasma temperature ranges from 2200- 11000 °C which creates a high value syngas. This
technology can be used to reduce waste, even hazardous and still generate energy. It produces
lower NOx, SOx and CO2 emissions due to higher temperatures and it has no odour as for
combustion.
Non – Thermal Technologies:
a) Anaerobic digestion:
• is a biological con- version process which occurs under the absence of oxygen
with anaerobic micro- organisms.
• It can handle both wet and dry feedstock. It produces energy rich biogas
composed of a mixture of methane and CO2 and digested residue.
• The biogas can be used to generate electricity and heat or to produce biofuels.
• The residue can be used as a fertilizer for soil if it is produced according to the
regulations with adapted feedstock.
• The major problem with this technology is that it needs a good process control
due to the presence of microorganisms and hence any change in conditions can
disrupt the process. Also, it requires a consistent input of homogenous waste and
hence, organic part of MSW should be used.
• Small scale digesters are pre dominant in rural areas in developing countries.
b) Landfill:
• process produces methane in a large quantity.
• An uncontrolled release of methane is harmful for the environment
because it has a higher GWP (Global-warming potential; 28 times
bigger than carbon dioxide).
• The accumulation of the gas can lead to fire safety hazard. Hence, the
gas should be safely collected in a controlled manner.
• The gas can either be used to generate electricity or it might be
converted into a liquid fuel after cleaning.
• Energy recovery from landfill gas is prevalent in developing countries.