ENGG1006 - Engineering for Sustainable Development

RESOURCE AND WASTE

MANAGEMENT

Dr. Kaimin Shih

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

THE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG

Office: Rm. 5-26, Haking Wong Building • Phone: 2859-1973 • E-mail: kshih@hku.hk

PROGRESS & OUTCOMES

1
Resource Consumption and
Prediction

Sustainable Development is: A pattern of resource use

that aims to meet human needs without compromising
the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Resource: A source of supply or support

…. Natural Resources

Renewable Resources
Can be reproduced easily,
such as sunlight, wind,
Non-
Non-Renewable Resources
crops, fish,…
Formed over very long
geological time, such as oil,
coal, minerals,…

2
 Accumulative Discovery and Extraction of Copper

Growth of Global Metal Extraction Rates

E = E0e-kt
Current time

Current extraction rate

Growth of extraction rate
Initial extraction rate

“td“ is the “doubling time”, when E = 2E0.

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 4.2 billion tons/year !

„ World Reserve: 900 billion tons

¾ Constant consumption rate (7 billion
tons/year) ⇒ 132 years
¾ Current k = 2.5% ⇒ 56 years

Country Reserve Production Reserve Life*

(Billion tons) (Billion tons/year) (Years)
China 114 2.38 48
USA 247 1.05 235
India 92 0.45 204
Australia 79 0.37 214
Russia 157 0.30 523
S. Africa 49 0.26 188
Germany 6.7 0.20 34
Global Coal Use Indonesia 5.0 0.20 25
Poland 14 0.16 88
* Not considering the growth of production rate.

World Oil Consumption

In 1000 barrels per day

„ Transportation is the largest sector (55% worldwide and 69% in US) and
is also the sector with largest growth in recent decades
„ Growth in demand: average 1.76% from 1994-2006

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 World Energy Consumption

Energy Crossroads: A Burning Need to Change Course (2007)

[2:35]

As fossil fuels power every facet of our

economy, how can we avoid an energy crisis
and a possible collapse of our economy?
This documentary exposes the problems
associated with our energy consumption, and
features experts and scientists at the forefront
of their field bringing legitimacy and
expertise to the core message of the piece.

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 Reserves vs. Resources

Not recoverable
under present technology
& economic conditions

„ Oil Depletion Prediction

¾ In 1970, reserves = 550 billion barrels & production = 17 billion
barrels per year, ⇒ should be depleted in 32 years.
¾ Well, we are surely still producing oil TODAY !
¾ In 2005, reserves = 1300 billion barrels & production = 30.7
billion barrels per year, ⇒ depletion in another 42 years !

What do they
A sense of thehave
futurein common?
is essential
in influencing many decisions we make today…

德国汤若望（Johann Adam Schall von Bell）顺治皇帝钦天监

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„ A local power generation facility:
¾ Predict the local population growth rate over next decays

„ A local ecosystem:
¾ Predict the growth rate of an endangered species

„ Scientist and policy maker:

¾ Estimate deforestation & reforestation rates due to global warming

“ We cannot expect to make accurate predictions of the future. ”

But, we can use simple mathematic models to

develop very useful “what if“ scenarios.

Symmetrical Curve for Resource Prediction

„ Assume resource cycle by M. King Hubbert (1969):

¾ Begin with exponential growth of production when the

resource is relative abundant and cheap

¾ Eventually the high price, due to depletion and likely

substitutes, will decline the production precipitously back
to close to zero.

¾ This production rate cycle resembles a symmetrical and

bell-shaped curve, same as the normal (or Gaussian)
function used in probability theory.

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 Normal (or Gaussian) Distribution

P = production rate
Pm = maximum production rate
tm = time when Pm occurs
σ = standard deviation
exp {} = exponential function
Will be 95% if within ±2σ

* This part is not within our course learning outcomes.

P = Pm exp { (-1/2) [(t – tm) / σ]2 }

Management of World Oil Production

„ Two possible scenarios (based on 2000 billion barrels in total):
¾ Gaussian curve by historical production record:
Oil production will peak just before year 2000
¾ Enforce conservation policy:
Supplies will last until year 2040 before the decline

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 Generation of Waste

All creatures, humans included, constantly make decisions

about what to use and what to throw away…

Extract energy
from C-C & C-H
bonds

Chimpanzee & banana

Paramecium & organic molecules

You and your soft drink

Waste is a consequence of material consumption.

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 Material Consumption
„ Function of solid materials in society
¾ Food
¾ Energy (fossil fuels)
¾ Buildings and construction
¾ Consumer goods, capital goods
(machinery, transport equipment)

„ Life time (retention) of goods

¾ Long life: years, e.g. appliances,
structures (durables, capital goods) (1937- )

¾ Medium life: weeks, months, e.g.

newspaper, shoes, clothes
¾ Short life: days, e.g. food, packaging
(non-durables, consumer goods)

(now - ?)

Definition of Solid Waste

™ Solid waste is any solid material rejected by society

because it is unwanted or useless.

™ It has a significant angle of repose.

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 Solid Waste in History

When humans abandoned nomadic life ~10,000 BC, they began to live
in communities, resulting in the production of solid waste.

„ The Indus Valley civilization (started ~6000BC):

¾ The city of Harappa (3300-2000BC): had toilets and drains.
¾ The city of Mohenjo-daro (2600 -1900BC) had houses with
rubbish chutes and probably collection systems.
„ By 2100BC, cities on the Island of Crete had trunk
sewers connecting homes.

„ Sanitary Laws written by Moses in 1600BC

„ By 800BC, Old Jerusalem had sewers and a primitive

water supply.

„ By 200BC (Han Dynasty), cities in China had “Sanitary

Police” to enforce waste disposal laws.

„ In Athens in 500BC, a law was passed to require all waste to be

deposited more than 1 mile away from the town…

A
T
H
1 mile
away E
N
S

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 A
T
H
E
N
S

A
T
H
E
N
S

But for the most part people in cities lived among waste and squalor.
Only when the social discards became dangerous for defense was
action taken…

„ In Athens in 500BC, a law was passed to require all waste to be

deposited more than 1 mile away from the town.

Because the piled rubbish next to city walls helped invaders

to scale up and over the walls

„ Rome had similar problem and eventually developed a waste

collection program in 1400AD.

„ Cities in the Middle Ages in Europe – unimaginable filth (animals

roamed the streets; wastewater dumped out windows,..).

As a result, the Black Death in 1300AD reduced cities

population and alleviate waste problem until mid-1800s.

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 „ England during Industrial Revolution:

¾ Working poor (on average one toilet per 200 people in Manchester).

¾ Great Sanitary Awakening (1840s) spearheaded by a lawyer Edwin

Chadwick, who argued connection between disease and filth.

¾ Physician John Snow – stop cholera epidemic (1854) by removing

pump handle on Board Street in London.

Charles Dickens (1812-70) Sir Edwin Chadwick (1800-90) Dr. John Snow (1813-58)

„ In 1676, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, a

Dutch Microscopist who was the first
person to observe bacteria using a
microscope, and published his findings in
letters to Royal Society of London after
1684. (later commonly known as the Father of
Microbiology)

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (1632-

1723), the first microbiologist

„ Identification of disease-causing bacteria

of Bacillus anthracis (1877),
Tuberculosis bacillus (1882) and Vibrio
cholera (1883). In 1881, he urged the
sterilization of surgical instruments using
heat. (Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1905 due to
the finding of tuberculosis bacillus )
Robert Koch (1843-1910), a
German physician

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Solid Waste Engineering and
Management

Main Engineering Processes

„ Collection

„ Volume Reduction

„ Separation (Sorting)

„ Recycling

„ Composting & Digestion

„ Thermal Treatment

„ Final Disposal (Landfill)

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 Collection
Waste Management, Inc.
A waste management and environmental services company in North America
- The largest trucking fleet in the waste industry (22,000
collection/transfer vehicles)
- 413 collection operations (network systems), 370 transfer stations,
283 active landfill disposal sites, 17 waste-to-energy plants, 131
recycling plants, 95 beneficial-use landfill gas projects and 6
independent power production plants.
- Serving nearly 21 million residential, industrial, municipal and
commercial customers

Employees:
~50,000

Revenue (2006):
$13.36 billion USD

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 Simple Routing Cost Analysis
Solid waste generation, transportation and disposal costs are:
A
Source Generation Transportation Cost ($/ton)
(tons/wk) Site A Site B 1
1 100 5 12
2 150 7 5
2
Disposal Site Capacity (tons/wk) Cost($/ton)
A 50 4
B 200 5
B
Assume depose X tons of from source 1 to A per week.
Assume depose Y tons of from source 2 to A per week.
What is the objective function for minimizing disposal cost?

[5X+12(100-X)+4X+5(100-X)]+[7Y+5(150-Y)+4Y+5(150-Y)]min = (3200-8X+Y) min

------ cost of source 1 ------ ---- cost of source 2 ----
Constraints: X+Y =50
Solved Results: X=50, Y=0. Objective function minimized to $2800/wk
Decision:
Source 1 - Dispose 50 tons/wk to Site A; 50 tons/wk to Site B
Source 2 - Dispose 150 tons/wk to Site B
Minimized Total Disposal Cost will be $2800/wk

Routing Cost Analysis

A

8 transportation costs (xijcij), 2 disposal

rates (Fi). 1
2
Minimize objective function:
[x11c11+ x21c21+ x31c31+ x41c41+ x12c12+ x22c22+
x32c32+ x42c42+ F1(x11+ x21+ x31+ x41)+ F2(x12+
x22+ x32+ x42)]

Subject to the following constraints (site 3

capacity, Bi, and source amount, Wi): 4
x11+ x21+ x31+ x41 ≤ B1
x12+ x22+ x32+ x42 ≤ B2
x11+ x21+ x31+ x41 = W1
x12+ x22+ x32+ x42 = W2
xij ≥ 0 B
* This part is not within our course learning outcomes.

The equations can be solved using any linear programming algorithm. The
transportation algorithm is particularly useful for such applications.

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 Volume Reduction (at Refuse Transfer Station)
Into compactor and compacted

Refuse conveyed by live floor system

Compacted refuse Container with compacted refuse

(HKEPD, 2005)

Terminology
• Bulk density:
Solids + Water + Porosity (air)
Vw, Ww
Dw= Ww / Vw ≅ 1000kg/m3
• Compactible, non- Water
compactible waste fraction
V s, Ws
D s= Ws / V s
• Density before and after Solids
compaction
V p , Wp ( ≅ 0 )
D p = Wp / V p ( ≅ 0 )
Compaction decreases: Porosity
- Vp
- some Ww, Vw Bulk volume (Vbulk) = Vw + Vs + Vp
Bulk weight (Wbulk) = Ww + Ws + Wp ≅ Ww + Ws
Bulk density (Dbulk) = Wbulk / Vbulk
= (Ww + Ws) / (Vw + Vs + Vp )

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 Separation (Sorting)

Recyclable paper separation

Recyclable electronics separation

(from plastic waste)

Recyclables separation at landfill

Trommel screens can sort multiple sizes, and are excellent primary screens for
commingled waste. Robust, no wear parts, but requiring more floor space.

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 Horizontal Air Knife

FEED

Conveyor

Ai
r
Light Medium Heavy
(e.g. plastic, paper) (e.g. aluminum) (e.g. glass, stone)
Fan

Recycling

Waste Hierarchy

• The waste hierarchy refers to the “4 Rs" waste

management strategies in order of importance :

- Reduction

- Reuse

- Recycling

- Recovery

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Reduction Example: Pay As You Throw (PAYT)

USEPA (1920~, 1993~)

A usage pricing model for disposing of waste, sometimes

referred to as unit pricing or variable rate pricing.

• Users pay a variable rate based on how much waste for

collection

• Recyclable waste is usually collected free of charge

• Implementation models: containers, binbags, waste stickers,

prepaid packaging (refunded & non-refunded)…

Pros:
Incentive for waste
reduction / recycling Cons:
Encourage illegal disposal

Example: Process of Paper recycling

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Metal (aluminium, steel) cans recycling

• Steel (iron, tin)

- Recycling by magnetic separation and melting
- Can accept both steel or aluminium cans (due
to magnetic separation process)
- Save energy (m.p. of metal: 1538oC; of oxide
ore: 1565-1600oC)

• Aluminium
- Recycling by shredded into pieces and melted
- Accept only aluminium can
- Save significant energy (m.p. of metal: 660oC;
of oxide ore: ~900oC)

~~ Both Without "Downgrading" Quality ~~

Composting & Digestion

Purposes: Reduction and stabilisation of (biodegradable) organic
matter by biochemical processes to soil-like matters or gases.

• Aerobic process (composting):

[Complex Organics] + O2 Æ CO2 + H2O + NO3- + SO4-2 +
stabilized products* + heat

• Anaerobic process (digestion):

[Complex Organics] + heat Æ CO2 + CH4 + H2S + NH4+

* Can be used for fertilizer.

21
 Sha Ling Livestock Waste Composting Plant (SLCP)

Collect livestock waste from Shredded wooden pallets Mixing of wooden pallets
leak proof bins (provided) as bulking agents and waste (Height: ~2.5m)

Compost at fermentation boxes (blowing air, ~ 6-8 weeks) Compost at Maturation Shed

(HKEPD, 2005)

The DRANCO (Anaerobic Digestion) Process

• Owner: Organic Waste Systems (Belgium)
• Digester loading: 10 to 20 kg carbon/m³-reactor per day
• Temperature range:
- Thermophilic: 48 - 57°C
- Mesophilic: 35 - 40°C
• Retention time in the digester: 15 to 30 days
• Biogas production: 100 to 200 Nm³ of biogas per ton of waste*
• Electricity production: 220 to 440 kWh per ton of waste

* “N” means “normal” temperature (20oC) and pressure (1 atm) condition.

22
Sewage sludge decomposed in 35oC
anaerobic digester at Glenwood Springs,
Colorado (USA) . The digester is heated
by methane, one of the bi-products of
anaerobic digester.

UC Davis (California, USA) experimental

anaerobic digester processes 8 tons of food
scraps weekly for energy

Thermal Treatment

(HKEPD, “A policy framework for the management of municipal solid waste (2005-2014)”, 2005)

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 Moving Grate Incinerator

Moving
Grate
System

Stoichiometry (simplified for combustibles)

Ca(H2O)mHbClcFdSeNf + [ a + b/4 - (c+d)/2 + e + f/2 ] O2

a CO2 + [ (b-c-d)/2 + m ] H2O + c HCl + d HF + e SO2 + f NO

Note:
- HCl, HF, SO2, and NO are air pollutants
- Combustion may be incomplete
- Additional reactions may take place, volatilization, dust formation, etc.

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 Dioxin
• A combination of many members of an organic compound family
“Polychlorinated Dibezodioxins (PCDDs)”.
• Dioxin occurs as an contaminant in organic (chlorinated) chemicals or a
byproduct of combustion.
• Major emission source in US (1994): Hospital waste combustion (55.4%) and
Municipal waste combustion (32.6%).
• The formation mechanism from combustion is uncertain so far.
Used to be assumed by burning chlorinated plastics, recombination formation in
cooled flue gas etc., but also with many negative evidences.
• Extremely toxic to animals, but questionable as expected to humans.
• Direct measurement in operation is difficult. Hasselriis (1987) proposed:
PCDDs = (CO / A)2 , where “CO” is “carbon monoxide” and “A” is a constant
subject to operation system.
(particularly toxic)

Parent compound of “dibenzo-p(or 1,4)-dioxin” 2,3,7,8- tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin

* Now mostly removed by flue gas filter bag (adsorption) or adsorber columns

Final Disposal (Landfill)

Final disposal at..... Where?

[Result]:
Not economical

In 1970s, USEPA did

feasibility studies of
[Result]:
sending wastes to: Eventually will come
back to earth surface

• Two reminding locations:

n Large bodies of water, such as oceans
o On or in land

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 Landfill in operation

(1) Collection vehicle is weighed (2) On the way to the tipping

at weighbridge on arrival face

(3) Waste truck unloads at

the tipping face

(5) Vehicle is weighed at (4) Vehicle passes the vehicle-

weighbridge on departure wash system after unloading

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 Reactor Landfill Feathers

• Biological and chemical reactions

- Anaerobic reactions with gas production
- Leachate production causing possible contamination
of atmosphere, soil, and groundwater

• Mass and water balances for prediction of mass/volume

changes and leachate generation

• Velocity and duration of reactions difficult to predict over

long-term

Gas generated
in landfill
Typical constituents of MSW landfill gas

Component % by volume North East New Territories (NENT) Landfill,

Hong Kong
Methane 45 - 60
4.5
G a s p ro d u c e d (1 0 6 × m 3 )

Carbon dioxide 40 - 60 4.0

3.5
3.0
Nitrogen 2-5 2.5
2.0
1.5
Oxygen 0.1 - 1.0
1.0
0.5
Ammonia 0.1 - 1.0 0.0
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21

Hydrogen 0 - 0.2 Year since opened

Landfill gas production vs. time

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 Ranges of parameters in leachate
Ehrig Oasim and Florida landfills National
Parameter 1989 Chiang 1994 Grosh,1996 Database
(mean value) (mean value)
BOD (mg/L) 20-40000 80-28000 0.3-4660(149) 0-100000(3761)

COD (mg/L) 500-60000 400-40000 7-9300(912) 11-84000(3505)

Iron (mg/L) 3-2100 0.6-325 ----- 4-2200

Ammonia (mg/L) 30-3000 56-482 BDL-5020(257) 0.01-2900(276)

Chloride (mg/L) 100-5000 70-1330 BDL-5480(732) 6.2-67000(3691)

Zinc (mg/L) 0.03-120 0.1-30 BDL-3.02(0.158) 0.005-846(0.23)

Total P (mg/L) 0.1-30 8-35 ------ 0.02-7(3.2)

pH 4.5-9 5.2-6.4 3.93-9.6 6.7-8.2

Lead (mg/L) 0.008-1.020 0.5-1.0 (29.2±114) 0-2.55(0.13)

Cadmium (mg/L) <0.05-0.140 <0.05 (7.52±23.9) 0-0.564(0.0235)

BDL-Blow Detection Limit

Engineer’s TOOLBOX…

for our Sustainable Development…

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 Darcy’s Law

h1 h1

h2 h2
Henry Darcy (1803-1858), a
French hydraulics engineer.

0 (arbitrary)
Q [L3/T] K = Hydraulic Conductivity
K ↑, more permeable for water/fluid
Q/A = Flux ∝ (h1-h2) /L In dimension of [L/T], such as:
cm/s, m/s, ft/s, m/hr,…
Flux (J) = K (Δh / L) in [L/T], Δh = h1 – h2

For 3D: J = K (dh/dL) = Kx(∂h/∂x) + Ky(∂h/∂y) +Kz(∂h/∂z)

* This part is not within our course learning outcomes.

K = Hydraulic Conductivity
K ↑, more permeable for water/fluid
In dimension of [L/T], such as:
cm/s, m/s, ft/s, m/hr,…

Gravel (> 2.5 cm diameter)

Coarse sand (K = 0.1 cm/s)

Fine sand (K = 0.001 cm/s)

Silt (K = 10-6 cm/s)

Clay (K = 10-9 cm/s)

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Leachate Flow Rate through Clay Liner
Q: Clay liner in landfill may be still subject to minor seepage of leachate. That is why your
company Sure-Catch Co. Ltd. invented the double catch system to collect the leachate both
before (pump system 1) and after (pump system 2) passing through the clay liner. Because
the pump heads have to be submerged in the water all the time, certain heights of water
tables will always be maintained in both pump systems. You are asked to estimate the
flow rate (m3/day) of pump system 2 for the design of its treatment facility size.

Previous laboratory testing shows that the clay liner was with a hydraulic conductivity of
3×10-8 cm/s, and it was applied with a thickness of 30 cm & an area of 0.5 km2. You can
assume the gravel hydraulic conductivity is very high and the rock is impermeable.

o n
Depth
Sure-Catch® Landfill Site

Waste
100 m

160 m CLAY (thickness & area not in scale)

Rock

Leachate Flow Rate through Clay Liner

Darcy’s Law: Flux (J) = K (Δh / L) in [L/T], Δh = h1 – h2

J = 3×10-10 m/s × [ (160 m - 100 m) / 0.30 m ] = 6 ×10-8 m/s

Q = J × A = (6 × 10-8 m/s) × (0.5 × 106 m2) = 3 × 10-2 m3/s

Q = 3 × 10-2 m3/s = (3 × 10-2 m3/s) × (86400 s/day) = 2592 m3/day

o n
Depth
Sure-Catch® Landfill Site

Waste
Bye, bye!
100 m

160 m CLAY (thickness & area not in scale)

Rock

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 ENGG 1006: Engineering for Sustainable Development

Dr. Shih’s Regular Office Hours

QUESTIONS, learning HELP, or more DISCUSSION ?

(1) In person
September 7, 14, 21, 28 (Mondays) 5-7pm at Haking Wong Building
Room 5-26

(2) Via phone or e-mail

Call 2859-1973 or e-mail for appointment

Kaimin Shih
(PhD, Stanford University)

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

THE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG

Office: Rm. 5-26, Haking Wong Building • Phone: 2859-1973 • E-mail: kshih@hku.hk

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