Mechanical and thermal treatments of municipal solid waste organic fraction in small dehydration units

Landfilling, composting and incineration represent the most common processes used for the disposal of organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW). The evaluation of the best available technology used for the exploitation of these processes has to take into account the environmental impact of the technology itself and of the connected activities in addition to peculiar local aspects related to lands availability, legal constrains and climatic conditions of the specific country. Different technological solutions and management strategies have been proposed aimed to reduction of Green House Gas (GHG) emissions and leachate release as well as to increase energy recovery efficiency of existing disposal plants. The aim of the present study is to identify a feasible OFMSW disposal processing chain at apartment or condominium scale capable to perform a proper dehydration and volume reduction of the organic waste thus producing a material directly available for Waste to Energy processes. Four sub-processes have been identified: mechanical treatment, separation of the aqueous phase, drying and effluent gas treatment. The first three sub-processes have optimized on the basis of characteristic times, energy consumption and adaptability to domestic scale.