Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, American University of Beirut, Lebanon Bliss Street, Riad El-Solh, 1107 2020 Beirut, Lebanon.
Sci Total Environ. 2020 Apr 20;714:136736. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.136736. Epub 2020 Jan 16.
A novel model/software that assesses emissions from integrated solid waste and wastewater, SWW, management systems is presented. The main objective of SWW is to optimize emissions and carbon credit of complex systems. Besides its general applicability, the software covers the lack of available tools applicable in the context of developing economies. It uses carbon credit as a measure of environmental valuation and provides a user-friendly platform supported with several tools for technical, economic, and policy analysis as well as optimization towards minimal total emissions or costs. Finally, it encompasses a sensitivity analysis with a built-in Monte Carlo simulation to check on the variability in emissions by varying key parameters. The model/software interface was tested in the context of developed and developing economies. The results showed that best practices through material recycling, biological treatment, food waste diverted and/or energy recovery can lead to substantial savings in emissions reaching 96% (under a developing economy) and 93% (under a developed economy), with cost savings (including carbon credit) reaching 26% (under a developing economy) and 4% (under a developed economy), depending on the system. In closure, the results demonstrated the model applicability as a credible decision-making tool to define economically viable management alternatives with minimal environmental externalities and optimal carbon credit.
提出了一种评估综合固体废物和废水（SWW）管理系统排放的新型模型/软件。SWW 的主要目标是优化复杂系统的排放和碳信用。除了其普遍适用性外，该软件还弥补了发展中经济体中缺乏可用工具的空白。它使用碳信用作为环境评估的衡量标准，并提供了一个用户友好的平台，支持多种技术、经济和政策分析工具以及针对最小总排放或成本的优化。最后，它包括带有内置蒙特卡罗模拟的敏感性分析，以检查通过改变关键参数来检查排放的可变性。模型/软件界面在发达和发展中经济体的背景下进行了测试。结果表明，通过物质回收、生物处理、食物垃圾转移和/或能源回收等最佳实践，可以在排放方面实现大量节省，达到 96%（在发展中经济体下）和 93%（在发达经济体下），同时节省成本（包括碳信用）达到 26%（在发展中经济体下）和 4%（在发达经济体下），具体取决于系统。总之，结果表明该模型具有作为一种可靠的决策工具的适用性，可以定义具有最小环境外部性和最佳碳信用的经济可行的管理方案。
