Exergy-Based Sustainability Analysis for Tile Production From Waste Plastics in Uganda

2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paige Balcom ◽  
Van P. Carey
Keyword(s):  
Developing Country ◽  
New Products ◽  
Plastic Waste ◽  
Waste Material ◽  
Waste Plastics ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Tile Production ◽  
Open Burning ◽  
Sustainability Analysis ◽  
Environmental And Health Issues

Abstract This paper presents an exergy-based sustainability analysis of manufacturing roof tiles from plastic waste in Uganda. This work focuses specifically on the developing country context and on utilizing waste material. A summary of the current Ugandan plastic waste situation, environmental and health issues associated with plastic waste, current means of recycling plastic waste into new products, and an analysis of the Ugandan roofing market is presented. The total exergy consumed to produce one batch of 75 tiles is over 240 MJ, the potentially recoverable exergy is nearly 17 MJ (8% of consumed exergy), and the realistic recoverable exergy is over 6.4 MJ (nearly 3% of consumed exergy). Recycling plastic waste into roof tiles saves a net 188 kg of CO2 from entering the atmosphere per batch when compared with open burning. If all of Kampala’s plastic waste was converted to roofing tiles, nearly 560 tonnes of CO2 could be saved per year.

Exergy-Based Sustainability Analysis for Tile Production From Waste Plastics in Uganda

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paige Balcom ◽  
Van P. Carey
Keyword(s):  
Heat Engine ◽  
Plastic Waste ◽  
Production Costs ◽  
Industrial Processes ◽  
Waste Plastics ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Tile Production ◽  
Drying Process ◽  
Sustainability Analysis ◽  
Exergy Analyses

Abstract This paper presents an exergy-based sustainability analysis of manufacturing roof tiles from plastic waste in Uganda. Exergy analyses measure the sustainability of industrial processes. This work focuses specifically on the developing country context and on utilizing waste material. A summary of the current plastic waste situation in Uganda, the environmental and health issues associated with plastic waste, current means of recycling plastic waste into new products, and an analysis of the Ugandan roofing market are presented. The motivation for this study is to examine the resources utilized to improve overall exergy efficiency, reduce production costs, and reduce negative environmental impacts. The company, Resintile, is the only manufacturer of roof tiles from plastic waste in Uganda. Their tiles comprised mainly of sand and plastic waste are manufactured in an industrialized process involving drying, extrusion, and pressing. The exergy consumed at each stage including transportation is presented. The extruder consumes the majority of the exergy, but wrapping insulation around the barrel could save over 3 MJ, and a heat engine could provide over 7.5 MJ of usable exergy. The total exergy consumed to produce one batch of seventy-five tiles is over 122 MJ, the potentially recoverable exergy is over 5 MJ (4.3% of consumed exergy), and the realistic recoverable exergy is nearly 10.7 MJ (8.7% of consumed exergy). The realistic can be greater than the potential by adding a heat engine to the sand drying process to generate usable exergy rather than merely recover consumed exergy. Resintile’s plastic roof tiles save a net 86.3 kg of CO2 from entering the atmosphere per batch of tiles and adoption of the suggested improvements to the manufacturing process would save an additional 3.8 kg of CO2 per batch.

scholarly journals 13.D. Workshop: SDGs in the focus of environmental and health issues

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Climate Change ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Community Engagement ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
The World ◽  
Environmental And Health Issues ◽  
The Impact

Abstract This workshop is dedicated on SDGs in the focus of environmental and health issues, as very important and actual topic. One of the characteristics of today's societies is the significant availability of modern technologies. Over 5 billion (about 67%) people have a cellphone today. More than 4.5 billion people worldwide use the Internet, close to 60% of the total population. At the same time, one third of the people in the world does not have access to safe drinking water and half of the population does not have access to safe sanitation. The WHO at UN warns of severe inequalities in access to water and hygiene. Air, essential to life, is a leading risk due to ubiquitous pollution and contributes to the global disease burden (7 million deaths per year). Air pollution is a consequence of traffic and industry, but also of demographic trends and other human activities. Food availability reflects global inequality, famine eradication being one of the SDGs. The WHO warns of the urgency. As technology progresses, social inequality grows, the gap widens, and the environment continues to suffer. Furthermore, the social environment in societies is “ruffled” and does not appear to be beneficial toward well-being. New inequalities are emerging in the availability of technology, climate change, education. The achievement reports on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also point out to the need of reviewing individual indicators. According to the Sustainable Development Agenda, one of the goals is to reduce inequalities, and environmental health is faced by several specific goals. The Global Burden of Disease is the most comprehensive effort to date to measure epidemiological levels and trends worldwide. It is the product of a global research collaborative and quantifies the impact of hundreds of diseases, injuries, and risk factors in countries around the world. This workshop will also discuss Urban Health as a Complex System in the light of SDGs. Climate Change, Public Health impacts and the role of the new digital technologies is also important topic which is contributing to SDG3, improving health, to SDG4, allowing to provide distance health education at relatively low cost and to SDG 13, by reducing the CO2 footprint. Community Engagement can both empower vulnerable populations (so reducing inequalities) and identify the prior environmental issues to be addressed. The aim was to search for public health programs using Community Engagement tools in healthy environment building towards achievement of SDGs. Key messages Health professionals are involved in the overall process of transformation necessary to achieve the SDGs. Health professionals should be proactive and contribute to the transformation leading to better health for the environment, and thus for the human population.

scholarly journals Plastics waste management: A review of pyrolysis technology

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-69
Author(s):  
Wilson Uzochukwu Eze ◽  
◽  
Reginald Umunakwe ◽  
Henry Chinedu Obasi ◽  
Michael Ifeanyichukwu Ugbaja ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Process ◽  
Liquid Fuel ◽  
Closed Loop ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Chemical Processes ◽  
Plastic Waste ◽  
Waste Plastics ◽  
The World ◽  
Pyrolysis Liquid ◽  
Life Options

<abstract> <p>The world is today faced with the problem of plastic waste pollution more than ever before. Global plastic production continues to accelerate, despite the fact that recycling rates are comparatively low, with only about 15% of the 400 million tonnes of plastic currently produced annually being recycled. Although recycling rates have been steadily growing over the last 30 years, the rate of global plastic production far outweighs this, meaning that more and more plastic is ending up in dump sites, landfills and finally into the environment, where it damages the ecosystem. Better end-of-life options for plastic waste are needed to help support current recycling efforts and turn the tide on plastic waste. A promising emerging technology is plastic pyrolysis; a chemical process that breaks plastics down into their raw materials. Key products are liquid resembling crude oil, which can be burned as fuel and other feedstock which can be used for so many new chemical processes, enabling a closed-loop process. The experimental results on the pyrolysis of thermoplastic polymers are discussed in this review with emphasis on single and mixed waste plastics pyrolysis liquid fuel.</p> </abstract>

scholarly journals PENCEMARAN PLASTIK DI LAUT

OSEANA ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 21-30
Author(s):  
Muhammad Reza Cordova
Keyword(s):  
Solid Waste ◽  
Waste Disposal ◽  
Marine Organisms ◽  
Plastic Waste ◽  
Waste Plastics ◽  
Global Impact

PLASTICS POLLUTION IN THE SEA. Indonesia is considered as the second biggest plastic waste producer in the sea. Information on waste pollution and its impact on marine organisms in Indonesia is still limited. Waste disposal and solid waste (plastics) into the sea are continuously occuring; elevating the thoughts of global impact of plastic waste contamination. Increased use of plastic is a consequence of the development of technologies, industries and also the population. This paper is expected to provide knowledge and information of plastics that exist in the sea, especially Indonesian Sea.

Informal Recycling In Developing Nations

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Hart
Keyword(s):  
Life Span ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Developing Nations ◽  
Profit Margin ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Informal Recycling ◽  
Pig Farms ◽  
Environmental And Health Issues ◽  
Cost Of Production ◽  
The Cost

The topic of my research is informal recycling with a focus on developing nations. Scavengers are considered people who sort through garbage but not through an organization. There is a negative stigma that is associated with this type of lifestyle. The discussion will explore the benefits of organized informal recycling programs in countries such as Brazil and Nigeria. When informal recycling becomes organized jobs are created allowing for more residents to become employed. Some of the benefits of informal recycling include reducing the volume of waste, the life span of disposal sites is increased as well it helps reduce the amount of methane produced. These programs also allow for certain materials to be discovered which can easily be reused. For example, there are metals that can be sorted through and ultimately sold to companies. Another example would be the organics from the garbage are used in order to support pig farms. This decreases the cost of production for the pig farmers, which allows them a larger profit margin. Also, social, economic, environmental and health issues will be discussed in further detail. Finally, terms will be defined to allow a better understanding of the informal recycling world and how it operates.

Plastic waste as a significant threat to environment – a systematic literature review

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 383-406 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Ilyas ◽  
Waqas Ahmad ◽  
Hizbullah Khan ◽  
Saeeda Yousaf ◽  
Kifayatullah Khan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Systematic Literature Review ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Quality Criteria ◽  
Plastic Waste ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Waste Plastics ◽  
Plastic Materials ◽  
Literature Reviews ◽  
Review Protocol

Abstract Context Materials which exceed the balance of their production and destruction lead to the deterioration in the environment. Plastic is one such material which poses a big threat to the environment. A huge amount of plastic is produced and dumped into the environment which does not readily degrade naturally. In this paper, we address the organization of a large body of literature published on the management of waste plastics being the most challenging issue of the modern world. Objectives To address the issue of the management of waste plastics, there is a dire need to organize the literature published in this field. This paper presents a systematic literature review on plastic waste, its fate and biodegradation in the environment. The objective is to make conclusions on possible practical techniques to lessen the effects of plastic waste on the environment. Method A systematic literature review protocol was followed for conducting the present study [Kitchenham B, Brereton OP, Budgen D, Turner M, Bailey J, Linkman S. Systematic literature reviews in software engineering – A systematic literature review. Inf Softw Technol 2009;51(1):7–15.]. A predefined set of book sections, conference proceedings and high-quality journal publications during the years 1999 to September 2017 were used for data collection. Results One hundred and fifty-three primary studies are selected, based on predefined exclusion, inclusion and quality criteria. These studies will help to identify the fate of different waste plastics, their impact and management and the disposal techniques frequently used. The study also identifies a number of significant techniques and measures for the conversion of waste plastic materials into useful products. Conclusion Five fundamental strategies are used for the handling of plastic waste. These strategies include: recycling, depositing in landfill, incineration, microbial degradation and conversion into useful materials. All of these methods have their own limitations, due to which there is need to explore the studies for optimum solutions of the management of plastics waste.

A Framework for Conversion of Plastic Waste into Fuels and Chemicals: A Review of the Waste Current Situation in Libya

2014 ◽  
Vol 664 ◽  
pp. 80-86
Author(s):  
Abdalla I. Alajail ◽  
Ahmed I. Seedahmed ◽  
Babiker K. Abdalla ◽  
Omer A. Shaneb
Keyword(s):  
Waste Recycling ◽  
Plastic Waste ◽  
Waste Minimization ◽  
Waste Plastics ◽  
Future Production ◽  
Fuels And Chemicals ◽  
Plastic Industry ◽  
Waste Rate ◽  
Plastic Waste Recycling ◽  
Plastics Waste

Pyrolysis of waste plastics is one of the routes used for waste minimization, which has been gaining interest in recent years as a feedstock method.In this work, the two universal problems: plastics waste and fuel shortage have been addressed simultaneously. The process of converting PP and PE plastics waste in Libya into fuel and chemicals was overviewed. Data concerning Plastic Industry in Libya was collected to which some projection of the future production rate and waste rate has been estimated.Keywords: Plastic waste; recycling of polymers; waste management.

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