Browsing by Author "Dhar, H."

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    Application of life cycle assessment in municipal solid waste management: A worldwide critical review
    (Elsevier Ltd, 2019) Khandelwal, H.; Dhar, H.; Thalla, A.K.; Kumar, S.
    The whopping increase in solid waste generation all over the world calls for the development of waste management strategies for a sustainable environment. By the quantification of environmental impacts, life cycle assessment (LCA) tool can help in answering the call. It evaluates the environmental performance of municipal solid waste management (MSWM) system which helps decision-maker in selecting the best management strategy with minimum impacts on the environment. But, up to what extent the LCA methodology can be applied to MSWM systems? To address this question, the present study analyzed the 153 LCA studies published till date since 2013 all over the world. The present study analyzed the time evolution, geographical distribution, and methodology applied in LCA studies. It summarized the use of the functional unit, LCA model, Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) method, MSWM options, and the critical findings of the selected LCAs, along with MSW composition, income group, and the gaps in the application of the studies. For evaluating the dependence of publication of studies and country's economic condition, the countries in which LCA studies were conducted are classified into four groups on the basis of income level viz., lower income, lower middle income, upper middle income, and higher income countries. In terms of technological coverage, 1 ton of MSW was the most used functional unit. SimaPro was the majorly used LCA model while 56 of the total studies didn't mention about the use of LCA model, only 66 of the total studies included sensitivity analysis in the assessment. Integrated solid waste management was found to be the most preferred waste management option. Also, a very limited number of studies have included life cycle costing and social aspects of MSWM system. The results indicated that the majority of the LCA studies are based in Europe and Asia. Shockingly, 178 out of the total countries in the world have not published a single LCA study on MSWM since 2013. Also, it was found that the effect of increasing Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on the publication of LCA studies is irrelevant, possible reasons being the lack of data, time and economic constraints. Establishment of environment-friendly policies and initiatives by the Government along with the participation of public, non-government and private organizations through training courses and seminars might help in improving the LCA applicability in the field of MSWM. © 2018 Elsevier Ltd
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    Application of life cycle assessment in municipal solid waste management: A worldwide critical review
    (Elsevier Ltd, 2019) Khandelwal, H.; Dhar, H.; Thalla, A.K.; Kumar, S.
    The whopping increase in solid waste generation all over the world calls for the development of waste management strategies for a sustainable environment. By the quantification of environmental impacts, life cycle assessment (LCA) tool can help in answering the call. It evaluates the environmental performance of municipal solid waste management (MSWM) system which helps decision-maker in selecting the best management strategy with minimum impacts on the environment. But, up to what extent the LCA methodology can be applied to MSWM systems? To address this question, the present study analyzed the 153 LCA studies published till date since 2013 all over the world. The present study analyzed the time evolution, geographical distribution, and methodology applied in LCA studies. It summarized the use of the functional unit, LCA model, Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) method, MSWM options, and the critical findings of the selected LCAs, along with MSW composition, income group, and the gaps in the application of the studies. For evaluating the dependence of publication of studies and country's economic condition, the countries in which LCA studies were conducted are classified into four groups on the basis of income level viz., lower income, lower middle income, upper middle income, and higher income countries. In terms of technological coverage, 1 ton of MSW was the most used functional unit. SimaPro was the majorly used LCA model while 56 of the total studies didn't mention about the use of LCA model, only 66 of the total studies included sensitivity analysis in the assessment. Integrated solid waste management was found to be the most preferred waste management option. Also, a very limited number of studies have included life cycle costing and social aspects of MSWM system. The results indicated that the majority of the LCA studies are based in Europe and Asia. Shockingly, 178 out of the total countries in the world have not published a single LCA study on MSWM since 2013. Also, it was found that the effect of increasing Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on the publication of LCA studies is irrelevant, possible reasons being the lack of data, time and economic constraints. Establishment of environment-friendly policies and initiatives by the Government along with the participation of public, non-government and private organizations through training courses and seminars might help in improving the LCA applicability in the field of MSWM. © 2018 Elsevier Ltd
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    Artificial neural network based modeling to evaluate methane yield from biogas in a laboratory-scale anaerobic bioreactor
    (2016) Nair, V.V.; Dhar, H.; Kumar, S.; Thalla, A.K.; Mukherjee, S.; Wong, J.W.C.
    The performance of a laboratory-scale anaerobic bioreactor was investigated in the present study to determine methane (CH4) content in biogas yield from digestion of organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW). OFMSW consists of food waste, vegetable waste and yard trimming. An organic loading between 40 and 120 kg VS/m3 was applied in different runs of the bioreactor. The study was aimed to focus on the effects of various factors, such as pH, moisture content (MC), total volatile solids (TVS), volatile fatty acids (VFAs), and CH4 fraction on biogas production. OFMSW witnessed high CH4 yield as 346.65 L CH4/kg VS added. A target of 60 70% of CH4 fraction in biogas was set as an optimized condition. The experimental results were statistically optimized by application of ANN model using free forward back propagation in MATLAB environment. 2016 Elsevier Ltd
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    Artificial neural network based modeling to evaluate methane yield from biogas in a laboratory-scale anaerobic bioreactor
    (Elsevier Ltd, 2016) Nair, V.V.; Dhar, H.; Kumar, S.; Thalla, A.K.; Mukherjee, S.; Wong, J.W.C.
    The performance of a laboratory-scale anaerobic bioreactor was investigated in the present study to determine methane (CH4) content in biogas yield from digestion of organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW). OFMSW consists of food waste, vegetable waste and yard trimming. An organic loading between 40 and 120 kg VS/m3 was applied in different runs of the bioreactor. The study was aimed to focus on the effects of various factors, such as pH, moisture content (MC), total volatile solids (TVS), volatile fatty acids (VFAs), and CH4 fraction on biogas production. OFMSW witnessed high CH4 yield as 346.65 L CH4/kg VS added. A target of 60–70% of CH4 fraction in biogas was set as an optimized condition. The experimental results were statistically optimized by application of ANN model using free forward back propagation in MATLAB environment. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd