Promoting Cleantech in Emerging Markets: Business Model for Waste Pre-treatment Equipment in China

Waste incineration is becoming increasingly widespread method of waste disposal in China. Incineration plants mostly use grate and circular fluidized bed (CFB) technology. Waste combustion in cement production is also beginning to gradually increase. However, Chinese waste composition is causing problems for the energy utilization. Mechanical waste pre-treatment optimizes the combustion process and facilitates the energy recovery. The objective of this study is to identify how Western waste pre-treatment manufacturer could operate in Chinese markets. Chinese waste management industry is reviewed via PESTEL analysis. The current state and future predictions of grate and CFB incineration as well as cement manufacturing are monitored. Grate combustion, which requires lesser waste pre-treatment, is becoming more common at the expense of CFB incineration in China. The most promising future for waste treatment is in cement production industry. Waste treatment equipment manufacturer should try to create pilot projects with biggest cement producers with a view of growing co-operation in the future.

Etelä-Karjalan alueen yritysten jätevirrat ja jätteenkäsittelyn kannattavuus alueella

Diplomityön tavoitteena oli selvittää Etelä-Karjalan alueen yritysten jätevirtoja ja sekalaisen rakennusjätteen koostumusta. Jätevirtojen selvityksessä keskityttiin metsäteollisuuden, rakennusteollisuuden ja kaupan alan jätevirtoihin. Tarkoituksena oli selvittää mahdollisessa jätteenkäsittelylaitoksessa hyödynnettävien jätejakeiden määrät. Selvitettyjen tietojen perusteella arvioitiin erilaisten jätteenkäsittelyvaihtoehtojen kannattavuutta yritysnäkökul-masta Etelä-Karjalan alueella. Rakennusjätteen koostumusta tutkittiin lajittelemalla ja pun-nitsemalla sekalaisia rakennusjätekuormia jätejakeittain. Etelä-Karjalan alueen jätevirtoja selvitettiin muun muassa yrityshaastatteluin ja hyödyntämällä Lassila & Tikanoja Oyj:n tietokantaa. Sekalaisen rakennusjätteen lajittelututkimuksessa selvisi, että sekalaisissa rakennusjäte-kuormissa on lähes 50 m-% hyödynnettävissä olevia jätejakeita. Energiajaetta kuormissa oli yhteensä noin 34 m-% ja kaatopaikkajätettä noin 52 m-%. Kaupan alalta syntyy pää-sääntöisesti paljon pakkausmateriaaleista koostuvaa energiajaetta, kun taas metsäteollisuu-desta syntyy paljon erilaisia prosessijätteitä, joita ei voida hyödyntää työssä tutkituilla me-netelmillä. Lappeenrannan ja Imatran alueilla arvioidaan syntyvän energiajaetta metsäteol-lisuudesta, kaupan alalta ja rakennusteollisuudesta yhteensä noin 4 300 t, puujätettä noin 5 000 t ja sekalaista rakennusjätettä noin 11 700 t. Metsäteollisuuden, rakennusteollisuuden ja kaupan alan jätevirrat Etelä-Karjalassa eivät ole riittävät taloudellisesti kannattavan jätteenkäsittelylaitoksen perustamiseksi. Arvioinnissa huomioitiin laitoksen investointikustannukset sekä muut aiheutuvat kustannukset. Energiajakeen siirtokuormausasema todettiin kannattavaksi tilanteessa, jossa energiajae toimitettaisiin Etelä-Karjalan sijasta Lahteen tai Kouvolaan.

Challenges in packaging waste management: A case study in the fast food industry

The main research problem of this thesis is to find out the means of promoting the recovery of packaging waste generated in thefast food industry. The recovery of packaging waste generated in the fast food industry is demanded by the packaging waste legislation and expected by the public. The means are revealed by the general factors influencing the recovery of packaging waste, analysed by a multidisciplinary literature review and a case study focusing on the packaging waste managementof McDonald's Oy operating in Finland. The existing solid waste infrastructure does not promote the recovery ofpackaging waste generated in the fast food industry. The theoretical recovery rate of the packaging waste is high, 93 %, while the actual recovery rate is only 29 % consisting of secondary packaging manufactured from cardboard. The total recovery potential of packaging waste is 64 %, resulting in 1 230 tonnes ofrecoverable packaging waste. The achievable recovery potential of 33 %, equalling 647 tonnes of packaging waste could be recovered, but is not recovered mainly because of non-working waste management practises. The theoretical recovery potential of 31 %, equalling 583 tonnes of packaging waste can not be recovered by the existing solid waste infrastructure because of the obscure status of commecial waste, the improper operation ofproducer organisations, and the municipal autonomy. The sorting experiment indicated that it is possible to reach the achievable recovery potential inthe existing solid waste infrastructure. The achievement is promoted by waste producer -oriented waste management practises. The theoretical recovery potential can be reached by increasing the consistency of the solid waste infrastructure through governmental action.

Public-private partnership in marine litter waste management

Marine litter is an international environmental problem that causes considerable costs to coastal communities and the fishing industry. Several international and national treaties and regulations have provisions to marine litter and forbid disposal of waste into the sea. However, none of these regulations state a responsibility for public authorities to recover marine litter from the sea, like they do for marine litter that washes up on public beaches. In a financial evaluation of a value chain for marine litter incineration it was found out that the total costs of waste incineration are approximately 100 ─ 200 % higher than waste fees offered by waste contractors of ports. The high costs of incineration are derived from the high calorific value of marine litter and therefore a high incineration cost for the waste, and long distances between ports that are taking part in a project for marine litter recovery from the sea and an Energy-from-Waste (EfW) facility. This study provides a possible solution to diverting marine litter from landfills to more environmentally sustainable EfW use by using a public-private partnership (PPP) framework. PPP would seem to fit as a suitable cooperative approach for answering problems of current marine litter disposal in theory. In the end it is up to the potential partners of this proposed PPP to decide whether the benefits of cooperation justify the required efforts.

Biodegradable packaging materials in 2013 and their feasibility in chocolate industry

The development of biopolymers has been rapid in recent years and the range of available bioplastics is increasing continuously, driven by a growing demand for sustainable solutions. There are several key drivers behind this growth. The oil reservoirs are decreasing which is causing a price increase for the traditional plastic materials and therefore the gap to bioplastics’ price is getting smaller. In addition, other environmental topics, such as waste disposal and green production, have become more and more important factors for institutes, companies and consumers. Legislation and directives have to be taken into account as well in decision making concerning different packaging materials. The new environmental law with waste disposal responsibility will also have an effect on the packaging business. Therefore a need has risen to study closer the current offering closer of bio-based materials that could be used in chocolate packaging. In this Master’s Thesis the bioplastics’, and especially biodegradable materials’ technical properties and their development, availability, possible existing products in the markets, waste disposal possibilities and consumers attitude towards environmental friendly packaging is studied. This is a case study where the offering of biodegradable materials was investigated during March 2013 for Fazer Confectionary.

Importance of considering food waste in the development of sustainable food packaging systems

Meeting the needs of both present and future generations forms the foundation of sustainable development. Concern about food demand is increasing alongside the continuously growing population. In the pursuit of food security preventing food waste is one solution avoiding the negative environmental impacts that result from producing food unnecessarily. Packages offer one answer to preventing food waste, as they 1) preserve and protect food, 2) introduce the user to the correct way to handle and use the food and package and 3) allow the user to consume the food in its entirety. This thesis aims to enhance the sustainability of food packages by giving special emphasis to preventing food waste. The focus of this thesis is to assist the packaging designer in being able to take into account the requirements for the sustainability of food packages and to be able to integrate these requirements into the product development process. In addition, life cycle methods that can be used as a tool in the packaging design process or in assessing the sustainability of finished food-packaging combinations are evaluated. The methods of life cycle costing (LCC) and life cycle working environment (LCWE) are briefly discussed. The method of life cycle assessment (LCA) is examined more thoroughly through the lens of the literature review of food-package LCA case studies published in the 21st century in three relevant journals. Based on this review and on experiences learned from conducting LCAs, recommendations are given as to how the LCA practitioner should conduct a food packaging study to make most of the results. Two case studies are presented in this thesis. The first case study relates the results of a life cycle assessment conducted for three food items (cold cut (ham), sliced dark bread (rye) and Soygurt drink) and the alternative packaging options of each. Results of this study show that the packaging constitutes only 1–12 % of the total environmental impacts of the food-packaging combination. The greatest effect is derived from the food itself and the wasted food. Even just a small percentage of wasted food causes more environmental impacts than does the packaging. The second case study presents the results of LCC and LCWE analysis done for fruit and vegetable transport packages. In this thesis, the specific results of the study itself are not the focus, but rather the study methods and scope are analysed based on how these complement the sustainability assessment of food packages. This thesis presents reasons why prevention of food waste should be more thoroughly taken into account in food packaging design. In addition, the task of the packaging designer is facilitated by the requirements of sustainable food packaging, by the methods and step-by-step guidance on how to integrate sustainability issues into the design process, and by the recommendations on how to assess the sustainability of food packages. The intention of this thesis is to express the issues that are important in the field of the food packaging industry. Having recognised and implemented these issues, businesses can better manage the risks that could follow from neglecting these sustainability aspects.

Industrial-Scale hydrothermal carbonization of waste sludge materials for fuel production

Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) is a thermochemical process used in the production of charred matter similar in composition to coal. It involves the use of wet, carbohydrate feedstock, a relatively low temperature environment (180 °C-350 °C) and high autogenous pressure (up to 2,4 MPa) in a closed system. Various applications of the solid char product exist, opening the way for a range of biomass feedstock materials to be exploited that have so far proven to be troublesome due to high water content or other factors. Sludge materials are investigated as candidates for industrial-scale HTC treatment in fuel production. In general, HTC treatment of pulp and paper industry sludge (PPS) and anaerobically digested municipal sewage sludge (ADS) using existing technology is competitive with traditional treatment options, which range in price from EUR 30-80 per ton of wet sludge. PPS and ADS can be treated by HTC for less than EUR 13 and 33, respectively. Opportunities and challenges related to HTC exist, as this relatively new technology moves from laboratory and pilot-scale production to an industrial scale. Feedstock materials, end-products, process conditions and local markets ultimately determine the feasibility of a given HTC operation. However, there is potential for sludge materials to be converted to sustainable bio-coal fuel in a Finnish context.

Utilization of steelmaking waste materials for production of calcium carbonate (CaCO3)

The steel industry produces, besides steel, also solid mineral by-products or slags, while it emits large quantities of carbon dioxide (CO2). Slags consist of various silicates and oxides which are formed in chemical reactions between the iron ore and the fluxing agents during the high temperature processing at the steel plant. Currently, these materials are recycled in the ironmaking processes, used as aggregates in construction, or landfilled as waste. The utilization rate of the steel slags can be increased by selectively extracting components from the mineral matrix. As an example, aqueous solutions of ammonium salts such as ammonium acetate, chloride and nitrate extract calcium quite selectively already at ambient temperature and pressure conditions. After the residual solids have been separated from the solution, calcium carbonate can be precipitated by feeding a CO2 flow through the solution. Precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) is used in different applications as a filler material. Its largest consumer is the papermaking industry, which utilizes PCC because it enhances the optical properties of paper at a relatively low cost. Traditionally, PCC is manufactured from limestone, which is first calcined to calcium oxide, then slaked with water to calcium hydroxide and finally carbonated to PCC. This process emits large amounts of CO2, mainly because of the energy-intensive calcination step. This thesis presents research work on the scale-up of the above-mentioned ammonium salt based calcium extraction and carbonation method, named Slag2PCC. Extending the scope of the earlier studies, it is now shown that the parameters which mainly affect the calcium utilization efficiency are the solid-to-liquid ratio of steel slag and the ammonium salt solvent solution during extraction, the mean diameter of the slag particles, and the slag composition, especially the fractions of total calcium, silicon, vanadium and iron as well as the fraction of free calcium oxide. Regarding extraction kinetics, slag particle size, solid-to-liquid ratio and molar concentration of the solvent solution have the largest effect on the reaction rate. Solvent solution concentrations above 1 mol/L NH4Cl cause leaching of other elements besides calcium. Some of these such as iron and manganese result in solution coloring, which can be disadvantageous for the quality of the PCC product. Based on chemical composition analysis of the produced PCC samples, however, the product quality is mainly similar as in commercial products. Increasing the novelty of the work, other important parameters related to assessment of the PCC quality, such as particle size distribution and crystal morphology are studied as well. As in traditional PCC precipitation process, the ratio of calcium and carbonate ions controls the particle shape; a higher value for [Ca2+]/[CO32-] prefers precipitation of calcite polymorph, while vaterite forms when carbon species are present in excess. The third main polymorph, aragonite, is only formed at elevated temperatures, above 40-50 °C. In general, longer precipitation times cause transformation of vaterite to calcite or aragonite, but also result in particle agglomeration. The chemical equilibrium of ammonium and calcium ions and dissolved ammonia controlling the solution pH affects the particle sizes, too. Initial pH of 12-13 during the carbonation favors nonagglomerated particles with a diameter of 1 μm and smaller, while pH values of 9-10 generate more agglomerates of 10-20 μm. As a part of the research work, these findings are implemented in demonstrationscale experimental process setups. For the first time, the Slag2PCC technology is tested in scale of ~70 liters instead of laboratory scale only. Additionally, design of a setup of several hundreds of liters is discussed. For these purposes various process units such as inclined settlers and filters for solids separation, pumps and stirrers for material transfer and mixing as well as gas feeding equipment are dimensioned and developed. Overall emissions reduction of the current industrial processes and good product quality as the main targets, based on the performed partial life cycle assessment (LCA), it is most beneficial to utilize low concentration ammonium salt solutions for the Slag2PCC process. In this manner the post-treatment of the products does not require extensive use of washing and drying equipment, otherwise increasing the CO2 emissions of the process. The low solvent concentration Slag2PCC process causes negative CO2 emissions; thus, it can be seen as a carbon capture and utilization (CCU) method, which actually reduces the anthropogenic CO2 emissions compared to the alternative of not using the technology. Even if the amount of steel slag is too small for any substantial mitigation of global warming, the process can have both financial and environmental significance for individual steel manufacturers as a means to reduce the amounts of emitted CO2 and landfilled steel slag. Alternatively, it is possible to introduce the carbon dioxide directly into the mixture of steel slag and ammonium salt solution. The process would generate a 60-75% pure calcium carbonate mixture, the remaining 25-40% consisting of the residual steel slag. This calcium-rich material could be re-used in ironmaking as a fluxing agent instead of natural limestone. Even though this process option would require less process equipment compared to the Slag2PCC process, it still needs further studies regarding the practical usefulness of the products. Nevertheless, compared to several other CO2 emission reduction methods studied around the world, the within this thesis developed and studied processes have the advantage of existing markets for the produced materials, thus giving also a financial incentive for applying the technology in practice.

Adsorption of arsenic from ammonia containing waste water by ferrous hydroxide waste

Arsenic is a toxic substance. The amount of arsenic in waste water is a raising problem because of increasing mining industry. Arsenic is connected to cancers in areas where arsenic concentration in drinking water is higher than recommendations. The main object in this master’s thesis was to research how ferrous hydroxide waste material is adsorbed arsenic from ammonia containing waste water. In this master’s thesis there is two parts: theoretical and experimental part. In theoretical part harmful effects of arsenic, theory of adsorption, isotherms modeling of adsorption and analysis methods of arsenic are described. In experimental part adsorption capacity of ferrous hydroxide waste material and adsorption time with different concentrations of arsenic were studied. Waste material was modified with two modification methods. Based on experimental results the adsorption capacity of waste material was high. The problem with waste material was that at same time with arsenic adsorption sulfur was dissolving in solution. Waste material was purified from sulfur but purification methods were not efficient enough. Purification methods require more research.

Wooden packaging waste reuse and refining

The aim of the thesis was both to study wooden packaging waste reuse and refining generated in the forestry machine factory environment, and to find alternative wooden packaging waste utilization options in order to create a new operating model which would decrease the overall amount of waste produced. As environmental and waste legislation has become more rigid and companies' own environmental management systems’ requirements and control have increased, companies have had to consider their environmental aspects more carefully. Companies have to take into account alternative ways of reducing waste through an increase in reuse and recycling. A part of this waste is from different forms of packaging. In the metal industry the most heavily used packaging material is wooden packaging, as such material is heavy and the packaging has to be able to bear heavy stress. In the theoretical part of the thesis, the requirements of packaging and packaging waste legislation, as well as environmental management systems governing companies’ processing of their packaging waste, are studied. The theoretical part includes a process study of systems, which direct packaging waste and wooden packaging waste refining. In addition, methods related to the continuous improvement of these processes are introduced. This thesis concentrates on designing and creating a new operating model in relation to wooden packaging waste processing. The main target was to find an efficient model in order to decrease the total amount of wooden packaging waste and to increase refining. The empirical part introduces methods for approaches to wooden packaging waste re-utilization, as well as a description of a new operating model and its impact.

Modelling the exothermic heat and the demand of cooling in paper and pulp industry biological wastewater treatment

This master thesis presents a study on the requisite cooling of an activated sludge process in paper and pulp industry. The energy consumption of paper and pulp industry and it’s wastewater treatment plant in particular is relatively high. It is therefore useful to understand the wastewater treatment process of such industries. The activated sludge process is a biological mechanism which degrades carbonaceous compounds that are present in waste. The modified activated sludge model constructed here aims to imitate the bio-kinetics of an activated sludge process. However, due to the complicated non-linear behavior of the biological process, modelling this system is laborious and intriguing. We attempt to find a system solution first using steady-state modelling of Activated Sludge Model number 1 (ASM1), approached by Euler’s method and an ordinary differential equation solver. Furthermore, an enthalpy study of paper and pulp industry’s vital pollutants was carried out and applied to revise the temperature shift over a period of time to formulate the operation of cooling water. This finding will lead to a forecast of the plant process execution in a cost-effective manner and management of effluent efficiency. The final stage of the thesis was achieved by optimizing the steady state of ASM1.

The competitive position of the Nordic wood industry in Germany : intangible quality dimensions

Abstract

Educating Pulp and Paper Engineers for the Global Forest Industry

Vol.23, No. 5, pp. 1024-1037, 2007.

Timing of Capacity Change: Models for Capital Intensive Industry

The suitable timing of capacity investments is a remarkable issue especially in capital intensive industries. Despite its importance, fairly few studies have been published on the topic. In the present study models for the timing of capacity change in capital intensive industry are developed. The study considers mainly the optimal timing of single capacity changes. The review of earlier research describes connections between cost, capacity and timing literature, and empirical examples are used to describe the starting point of the study and to test the developed models. The study includes four models, which describe the timing question from different perspectives. The first model, which minimizes unit costs, has been built for capacity expansion and replacement situations. It is shown that the optimal timing of an investment can be presented with the capacity and cost advantage ratios. After the unit cost minimization model the view is extended to the direction of profit maximization. The second model states that early investments are preferable if the change of fixed costs is small compared to the change of the contribution margin. The third model is a numerical discounted cash flow model, which emphasizes the roles of start-up time, capacity utilization rate and value of waiting as drivers of the profitable timing of a project. The last model expands the view from project level to company level and connects the flexibility of assets and cost structures to the timing problem. The main results of the research are the solutions of the models and analysis or simulations done with the models. The relevance and applicability of the results are verified by evaluating the logic of the models and by numerical cases.