Biomass municipal solid waste

General Atomics is developing Supercritical Water Partial Oxidation (SWPO) for the efficient and environmentally advantageous gasification of and hydrogen production from low-grade fuels such as biomass, municipal/solid waste (MSW) and high-sulfur coal. 

Includes hydioelectiic, geothernial, wood, wood waste, municipal solid waste, other biomass, and solar and wind power. 

At the low end is the United States, where biomass energy accounted for only about 3 percent (2.7 quadrillion Btus) of the total energy consumption in 1997. However, biomass use had been rising over the previous five years at an average rate of about 1 to 2 percent per year, but fell in 1997 due to a warmer-than-average heating season. Bioenergy produced in the United States is primarily from wood and wood waste and municipal solid waste. 

In the United States about 3 percent of all electricity produced comes from renewable sources of this a little more than half comes from biomass. Most biomass energy generation comes from the lumber and paper industries from their conversion of mill residues to in-house energy. Municipal solid waste also is an important fuel for electricity production approximately 16 percent ot all municipal solid waste is disposed of by combustion. Converting industrial and municipal waste into bioenergy also decreases the necessity for landfdl space. 

Use of some biomass feedstocks can increase potential environmental risks. Municipal solid waste can contain toxic materials that can produce dioxins and other poisons in the flue gas, and these should not be burned without special emission controls. Demolition wood can contain lead from paint, other heavy metals, creosote, and halides used in presen a-tive treatments. Sewage sludge has a high amount of sulfur, and sulfur dioxide emission can increase if sewage sludge is used as a feedstock. 

Economics for generating electricity from biogas can be favorable. Landfill gas from municipal solid waste can supply about 4 percent of the energy consumed in the United States. In 1997, a total of 90 trillion Btus were generated by landfill gas, about 3 percent of total biomass energy consumption. 

Municipal solid waste (MSW), 25 864 as biomass, 3 684 cadmium in, 4 489-490 characteristics of leachates in, 25 867t characterizing, 25 866-869 collection of, 25 869-870 composition analysis for, 27 365t ferrous scrap in, 27 411 incineration of, 25 872-873 mixed, 27 367-369 preparation of, 27 367-369 processing, 27 364-371 quantity and composition of, 27 362-364 recovery rates for, 27 364, 366-367t recycled, 27 360, 362-371 toxic chemicals in, 25 875-876 Municipal waste sludge, as biomass, 3 684 Municipal water, for aquaculture, 3 198 Municipal water softening methods,... 

Biomass can be a renewable feedstock for methane. Biomass feedstocks for methane production include crop residues, municipal solid waste (MSW), and wood resources. Biomass resources for the production of alcohol fuels are estimated at about 5 million dry tons per day which could provide 500 million gallons of methanol per day. 

Both in the USA and the EU, the introduction of renewable fuels standards is likely to increase considerably the consumption of bioethanol. Lignocelluloses from agricultural and forest industry residues and/or the carbohydrate fraction of municipal solid waste (MSW) will be the future source of biomass, but starch-rich sources such as corn grain (the major raw material for ethanol in USA) and sugar cane (in Brazil) are currently used. Although land devoted to fuel could reduce land available for food production, this is at present not a serious problem, but could become progressively more important with increasing use of bioethanol. For this reason, it is important to utilize other crops that could be cultivated in unused land (an important social factor to preserve rural populations) and, especially, start to use cellulose-based feedstocks and waste materials as raw material. 

Gort R., On the Propagation of a Reaction Front in a Packed Bed - Thermal conversion of municipal solid waste and biomass, PhD Thesis, University Twente in Enschede, Dept of Environmental Sciences, Energy Research, and Process Innovation of TNO, the Netherlands, (1995). 

One of the most commonly used parameters in soil biology is microbial biomass. The level of microbial biomass is used for assessment of the effects of contaminants in sewage sludge or compost of municipal solid waste in short-term or long-term experiments [56-59,63-69]. 

The attractiveness of production of liquid fuels from biomass lies in the renewable characteristics of biomass. As a consequence, the costs of an industry based on biomass conversion would be more or less predictable by inflation forecasting, and essentially independent of external political factors. With the incorporation of municipal solid waste as a biomass feedstock, such an industry also presents the opportunity of developing improved methods of recycling and waste disposal. 

This paper is concerned with the potential for production of liquid fuels from biomass in Canada. To this end, the availability and cost of wood wastes, surplus roundwood, bush residues, energy plantation trees, and municipal solid wastes (mostly cellulosic) are assessed and promising thermal, chemical and biochemical conversion processes reviewed. 

Municipal solid waste differs from wood biomass in that it has a negative cost. In urban centres of Canada, waste is land-filled at a cost of about 6 to 8 per tonne. While valuable inorganics such as glass and aluminum can be recovered, the costs of separation are high, and technologies are still developing. 

Ash Characteristics. The elemental ash composition of biomass waste and municipal solid waste differs dramatically from that of coal (qv). ... 

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