Global NEST Journal

This paper presents the results of an experimental study carried out in field-scale test cells in order to determine the effect of aeration and leachate recirculation on waste decomposition rate, solid waste characteristics, landfill gas composition and settlement in the landfill body. Four landfill test cells with the dimensions of 20 m x 40 m x 5 m were constructed in Komurcuoda Sanitary Landfill, Istanbul. Solid wastes representing Istanbul Asian side waste characteristics were landfilled in the test cells and they were operated simulating anaerobic (AN1), leachate recirculated anaerobic (AN2), semi-aerobic (A1) and aerobic landfilling (A2) methods. Alternative landfilling methods for accelerating solid waste stabilization in landfills were investigated by means of solid waste characteristics (elemental analysis, pH, moisture content, TOC, TKN, C/N ratio, volatile solid content (VS), biochemical methane potential (BMP), and stability index (SI) analysis), landfill gas components (CH4, CO2, O2, and H2S), temperature variations in landfill body, and landfill settlement. The study indicated that aeration and leachate recirculation accelerate biodegradation rate. Higher rates of MSW biodegradation eventually provide reduction in the contaminant life span of the landfill by achieving a high waste volume reduction in a relatively short duration than anaerobic test cells, decrease the cost of long term monitoring incurred with post-closure of landfill sites. In case of impossibility of aerobic landfilling based on the results of the cost benefit analysis, it was stated out that semi-aerobic landfilling technology is also a viable method in shortening the stabilization time and accelerating the landfill gas production.

The part of industrial ecology known as industrial symbiosis engages traditionally separate industries in a collective approach to competitive advantage involving physical exchange of materials, energy, water and by-products (Dounavis et al. 2015, Dounavis et al. 2016, Ravindran and Jaiswal 2016, Kourmentza et al. 2018, Keskisaari and Kärki 2018, Ayadi et al. 2018). The keys to industrial symbiosis are collaboration and the synergistic possibilities offered by geographic proximity. Industrial symbiosis includes initiatives in which two or more industrial entities develop both beneficial relationships and the circular economy (Chowdhury et al. 2018). Since, the symbiosis encourages the sustainable development and promotes the economy growth (de Jesus et al. 2018). This paper presents an online industrial symbiosis and circular economy platform created by a LIFE project (still ongoing) which aims to demonstrate the usefulness of a digital on-line platform at European level for the cataloguing, use and exploitation of industrial waste produced in a local area in order to improve the overall performance of industrial processes and circular economy in a local level. All this will happen both through the increased use of waste within the area itself and by the less dependence on the disposal of waste to be disposed of, taking into account the reduction of used raw materials and the reduction of waste itself. The platform will be created through the European LIFE M3P Project (Material Match Making Platform for the promotion of the use of industrial waste in local networks) which is still on-going and ends at the end of September 2019.

Diplocyclos Palmatus biomass activated carbon (DPAC) was used in this work to remove lead (II) ion from the synthetic wastewater. The DPAC was characterized for structural, surface morphology by SEM, functional group was analyzed by FT-IR and XRD analysis. Removal of Pb2+ was studied by batch method and various experimental parameters namely effect of Pb2+ concentration, contact time, effect of temperature; pH and effect of matrix were also studied. Kinetic modelling studies showed that the adsorption of Pb2+ ion follows pseudo second order mechanism and Langmuir isotherm model was found to fit better for this study. Thermodynamic study shows a negative value for ΔG indicating the process is spontaneous. Box Behnken Design using response surface methodology as DOE was carried out in this work. RSM modelling was found to be successful in predicting the removal efficiency with R2 greater than 0.95.

The objective of this work was to determine the composition and production rate of cytostatic pharmaceutical waste produced by Theagenion Cancer Treatment Hospital (TCTH) in Thessaloniki, Greece. This information is necessary for the design and costing of management systems for cytostatic pharmaceutical waste, for assessing their environmental impact and for health and safety considerations. A total of 826 kg cytostatic pharmaceutical waste was collected, manually separated and weighed over a period of ten working weeks. Total cytostatic pharmaceutical waste was classified in three categories, vial waste comprising 38.3%, syringe waste with 4.5% and intravenous therapy (IV) waste with 57.2% of the total. Vial waste only was classified according to the active ingredients in alkylating agents, antimetabolites, cytotoxic antibiotics, Vinca alkaloids and “other” antineoplastic drugs. The overall cytostatic waste production by the hospital was 22900(6955) g/d, with numbers in parenthesis representing standard deviations. The average unit production rates of total cytostatic pharmaceutical waste were 140(64) g/patient/d and 201(61) g/bed/d. The respective unit production rates were: (1) for vial waste 41(11) g/patient/d and 77(46) g/bed/d, (2) for syringe waste 5(1.5) g/patient/d and 9(5) g/bed/d and (3) for IV waste 94(63) g/patient/d and 115(43) g/bed/d.