Life-Cycle Inventory of Municipal Solid Waste and Yard Waste Windrow Composting in the United States
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 130, Issue 11
Abstract
This paper presents a life-cycle inventory (LCI) for solid waste composting. Three LCIs were developed for two typical municipal solid waste (MSW) composting facilities (MSWCFs) and one typical yard waste (YW) composting facility (YWCF). Municipal solid waste was assumed to comprise three organic components, food wastes, yard wastes, and mixed paper, as well as various inorganic components. Total costs, combined precombustion, and combustion energy requirements and 29 selected material flows—also referred to as LCI coefficients—were calculated by accounting for both the processes involved in originally producing, refining and transporting a material used in the facility as well as consumption during normal facility operation. Total costs ranged from to and energy requirements from to for a YWCF and a high quality MSW composting facility, respectively. More than 90% of the overall emissions in all facilities were due to the biological decomposition of the organic substrate, while the rest was due to fossil fuel combustion.
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Information & Authors
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Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 130 • Issue 11 • November 2004
Pages: 1390 - 1400
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 ASCE.
History
Published online: Nov 1, 2004
Published in print: Nov 2004
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