A first-order kinetic model for simulating the aerobic degradation of municipal solid waste

Xia-Yu Sun; Hui Xu; Bin-Hai Wu; Si-Liang Shen; Liang-Tong Zhan

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.117093

A first-order kinetic model for simulating the aerobic degradation of municipal solid waste

J Environ Manage. 2023 Mar 1:329:117093. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.117093. Epub 2022 Dec 20.

Authors

Xia-Yu Sun¹, Hui Xu², Bin-Hai Wu¹, Si-Liang Shen¹, Liang-Tong Zhan³

Affiliations

¹ School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, 310018, China.
² School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, 310018, China. Electronic address: xuhui@zstu.edu.cn.
³ MOE Key Laboratory of Soft Soils and Geoenvironmental Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China.

PMID: 36549064
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.117093

Abstract

Aerobic degradation models are important tools for investigating the aerobic degradation behavior of municipal solid waste (MSW). In this paper, a first-order kinetic model for aerobic degradation of MSW was developed. The model comprehensively considers the aerobic degradation of five substrates, i.e., holocellulose, non-cellulosic sugars, proteins, lipids and lignin. The proportion ranges of the five substrates are summarized with the recommended values given. The effects of temperature, moisture content, oxygen concentration and free air space (FAS) on the reaction rates are considered, and the effect of settlement is accounted for in the FAS correction function. The reliability of the model was verified by comparing simulations of the aerobic degradation of low food waste content (LFWC-) and high food waste content (HFWC-) MSWs to the literature. Afterwards, a sensitivity analysis was carried out to establish the relative importance of aeration rate (AR), volumetric moisture content (VMC), and temperature. VMC had the greatest influence on the aerobic degradation of LFWC-MSW, followed by temperature and then AR; for HFWC-MSW, temperature was the most important factor, then VMC and last was AR. The degradation ratio of LFWC-MSW can reach 98.0% after 100 days degradation under its optimal conditions (i.e., temperature: 55 °C, VMC: 40%, AR: 0.16 L min^-1 kg^-1 DM), while it is slightly higher as 99.5% for HFWC-MSW under its optimal conditions (i.e., temperature: 55 °C, VMC: 40%, AR: 0.20 L min^-1 kg^-1 DM).

Keywords: Aeration rate; Free air space; Landfill; Oxygen concentration; Temperature; Volumetric moisture content.

MeSH terms

Food
Refuse Disposal*
Reproducibility of Results
Solid Waste* / analysis
Waste Disposal Facilities

Substances

Solid Waste