The fundamentals of pyrolysis, its latest developments, the different conditions of the process and its residues are of great importance in evaluating the applicability of the pyrolysis process within the waste management sector and in waste treatment. In particular the types of residue and their further use or treatment is of extreme interest as they could become the source of secondary raw materials or be used for energy generation in waste treatments. The main area of focus of this paper is the investigation of the link between the pyrolysis conditions, the chemical and mineralogical composition of their products and the benefits of pyrolysis in the waste management sector. More specifically the paper covers the fast, intermediate and slow pyrolysis of organic waste and mixtures of inorganic and organic waste from households. The influence of catalysts during fast pyrolysis on the product yield and composition is not being considered in this review.

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Potential of pyrolysis processes in the waste management sector

Anaerobic bioconversion of food waste into energy: A critical review.

Wastewater treatment plants in many countries use anaerobic digesters for biosolids management and biogas generation. Opportunities exist to utilise the spare capacity of these digesters to co-digest food waste and sludge for energy recovery and a range of other economic and environmental benefits. This paper provides a critical perspective for full-scale implementation of co-digestion of food waste and wastewater sludge. Data compiled from full-scale facilities and the peer-reviewed literature revealed several key bottlenecks hindering full-scale implementation of co-digestion. Indeed, co-digestion applications remain concentrated mostly in countries or regions with favourable energy and waste management policies. Not all environmental benefits from waste diversion and resource recovery can be readily monetarised into revenue to support co-digestion projects. Our field surveys also revealed the important issue of inert impurities in food waste with significant implication to the planning, design, and operation of food waste processing and co-digestion plants. Other pertinent issues include regulatory uncertainty regarding gate fee, the lack of viable options for biogas utilisation, food waste collection and processing, impacts of co-digestion on biosolids reuse and downstream biogas utilisation, and lack of design and operation experience. Effort to address these bottlenecks and promote co-digestion requires a multi-disciplinary approach.

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Full scale co-digestion of wastewater sludge and food waste: Bottlenecks and possibilities

Volatile fatty acids production from food wastes for biorefinery platforms: A review.

An overview of the recent trends on the waste valorization techniques for food wastes

Food waste generation and industrial uses: A review.

Effect of aerobic pre-treatment on hydrogen and methane production in a two-stage anaerobic digestion process using food waste with different compositions

Coffee is the world’s second most traded commodity and the most renowned drink worldwide. The increasing production of coffee has been accompanied by a rise in consumption, and consequent increment in the amount of spent coffee grounds (SCGs) remaining as a solid residue from coffee brewing. In view of the high content of biodegradable compounds, if disposed, SCGs will certainly need to be biostabilized, although they should preferably be exploited in a biorefinery chain scheme. A wide range of alternative options is available for use in recycling SCGs as a valuable resource: food additives, pharmaceutical components, bio-sorbents, bio-fuels, and bio-products. The option of producing biogas from SCGs was tested and lab-scale bio-methane potential experiments were performed using different substrate to inoculum (S/I) ratios, namely 0.5, 1, and 2. A S/I ratio of 2 was found to be the optimal condition, resulting in a methane yield of 0.36 m3CH4/kgVS.

The broad spectrum of possibilities for spent coffee grounds valorisation

Two-stage anaerobic digestion of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste – Effects of process conditions during batch tests

Acidogenic fermentation of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste and cheese whey for bio-plastic precursors recovery – Effects of process conditions during batch tests

Francesca Girotto

Papers

Food waste generation and industrial uses: A review.

Effect of aerobic pre-treatment on hydrogen and methane production in a two-stage anaerobic digestion process using food waste with different compositions

The broad spectrum of possibilities for spent coffee grounds valorisation

Two-stage anaerobic digestion of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste – Effects of process conditions during batch tests

Acidogenic fermentation of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste and cheese whey for bio-plastic precursors recovery – Effects of process conditions during batch tests