Environmentally-Beneficial Smouldering for Converting Organic Wastes and Pollutants to Energy and Resources

将有机废物和污染物转化为能源和资源的环保闷烧

• 批准号: RGPIN-2018-06464
• 负责人: Gerhard, Jason
• 金额: $ 3.79万
• 依托单位: University of Western Ontario
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2020-01-01 至 2021-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=713340
• 关键词: Environmentally; Beneficial; Smouldering; Converting; Organic

Each Canadian produces 850 kg of waste annually, of which three-quarters is landfilled. As a result, Canada buries 25 billion kg of waste - equal to filling 70,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools - each year. Much of this is organic waste (textiles, sludge, paper and wood waste, agricultural waste) and the majority is from industry. This practice is not sustainable: it produces greenhouse gases, consumes energy, pollutes the environment, impairs our health, and costs the economy. Furthermore, it buries badly needed resources such as metals and soil nutrients. Of the world's developed countries, Canada ranks last for effective waste management. A sustainable future requires moving from a “throwaway” society to a “circular” economy, where the residue from one process becomes the raw materials of another. To achieve this we need to discover innovative ways to convert waste into energy and resources. This research explores an entirely new waste conversion idea. Smouldering is the process that slowly converts charcoal in your barbeque into heat. Since uncontrolled smouldering can lead to fires, it is usually considered a process to be avoided. However, Dr. Gerhard has led the world in developing intentional, controlled smouldering as an engineering technology to solve environmental problems. Dr. Gerhard's Canadian industry partners are now cleaning up polluted sites around the world using smouldering to destroy toxic chemicals industry has left in the ground. This research explores intentional smouldering in a whole new way: as a method to convert waste to energy and resources. Smouldering has the potential to be a very efficient and cheap process for generating energy from waste, since it generates much more energy than it uses. In addition, it has the ability to make resources (e.g., metals and fertilizer) available for recovery. Moreover, smouldering is expected to destroy pollutants in the waste that makes it hazardous, thereby eliminating the toxicity and enabling its safe reuse. This research is expected to generate an entirely new waste management process, one that could be of tremendous benefit for achieving a sustainable, circular economy. The outcomes will provide enormous environmental benefit by diverting waste from landfills, reducing the gases that contribute to global warming, recovering needed energy and resources, and eliminating toxic pollutants that otherwise leach into our water, soil, and air. Moreover, they will generate major economic benefits. Waste conversion and reuse produces ten times as many jobs as waste burial while the energy and resources recovered have high market value. Furthermore, as with polluted site cleanup, Canadian companies would lead the worldwide delivery of a new technology that uniquely fills a large market, creating jobs and growth at home while solving environmental challenges worldwide.

每个加拿大人每年产生 850 公斤废物，其中四分之三被填埋，因此，加拿大每年掩埋 250 亿公斤废物，相当于填满 70,000 个奥林匹克规模的游泳池，其中大部分是有机废物（纺织品）。 、污泥、纸张和木材废物、农业废物），并且大多数来自工业，这种做法是不可持续的：它会产生温室气体，消耗能源，污染环境，损害我们的健康，并且此外，它埋藏了急需的资源，例如金属和土壤养分，在有效的废物管理方面，加拿大排名垫底。可持续的未来需要从“一次性”社会转向“循环”经济。为了实现这一目标，我们需要找到将废物转化为能源和资源的创新方法。 这项研究探索了一种全新的废物转化理念，即将烧烤中的木炭缓慢转化为热量的过程，因为不受控制的阴燃可能会导致火灾，因此通常被认为是一个应该避免的过程。格哈德博士的加拿大工业合作伙伴正在开发有意的、受控阴燃的工程技术来解决环境问题，现在正在利用阴燃来摧毁有毒化学品工业来清理世界各地的污染场地。这项研究以一种全新的方式探索了有意闷烧：作为一种将废物转化为能源和资源的方法，闷烧有可能成为一种非常有效且廉价的从废物中产生能源的过程，因为它会产生更多的能量。此外，它还能够回收资源（例如金属和化肥）。此外，阴燃有望消除废物中的污染物，消除其毒性并使其成为可能。其安全重复使用。 这项研究预计将产生一种全新的废物管理流程，该流程可能对实现可持续的循环经济产生巨大的好处，其结果将通过转移垃圾填埋场的废物、减少导致全球变暖的气体来提供巨大的环境效益。回收所需的能源和资源，并消除渗入水、土壤和空气中的有毒污染物，此外，在回收能源和资源的同时，废物转化和再利用所产生的就业机会是废物掩埋的十倍。此外，具有较高的市场价值。污染场地清理，加拿大公司将引领在全球范围内提供一项新技术，该技术独特地填补了巨大的市场，在国内创造就业机会和增长，同时解决全球环境挑战。