INSTM and Chemistry for Technologies Laboratory, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Brescia, Via Branze, 38, 25123, Brescia, Italy.
INSTM and Chemistry for Technologies Laboratory, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Brescia, Via Branze, 38, 25123, Brescia, Italy.
J Environ Manage. 2021 Mar 15;282:111966. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.111966. Epub 2021 Jan 14.
Circular economy principles were adopted by European Commission, to support a sustainable growth. They contain general rules that should be considered in all situations. At present, during pandemic, some waste disposal practices are under evaluation to guarantee safety conditions. For example, in view of the recent results reporting the presence of SARS-CoV-2 virus in sewage sludge, the possibility that it diffuses in the environment is alarming. The situation may result critical in densely populated cities, which are the largest sources of sewage sludge. In this frame the diffused practice of reuse of this waste in agriculture is under revision. In this context, incineration may represent a valuable alternative strategy to manage sewage sludge during pandemic. Indeed, due to thermal treatment, the destruction of organic micropollutants and pathogens, eventually present in the waste, is guarantee. Moreover, it is fundamental to highlight that also if the management of sewage sludge changes, the ash resulting from its combustion may have suitable reuse opportunities, and their landfilling should be avoided. This work presents the available possibilities of sewage sludge ash recovery in building applications and shows the results obtained by the analysis of their sustainability. The approach is based on the use of embodied energy and carbon footprint values, to make a simple and fast new method able to be a suitable tool to support and promote sustainability also in critical situations (such as pandemic) and when all the information about a technology are not available, making not possible to perform a full-LCA approach. This work aims to be not only a reference paper for promotion of strategies able to increase waste management safety, but also an example showing that circular economy principles should be pursued also if boundary conditions can change.
循环经济原则得到了欧洲委员会的采纳，以支持可持续增长。它们包含了在所有情况下都应考虑的一般规则。目前，在大流行期间，一些废物处理方法正在进行评估，以保证安全条件。例如，鉴于最近有报道称 SARS-CoV-2 病毒存在于污水污泥中，它在环境中扩散的可能性令人震惊。这种情况在人口密集的城市可能会变得很严重，这些城市是污水污泥的最大来源。在这种情况下，对这种废物在农业中的再利用的普遍做法正在进行修订。在这种情况下，焚烧可能是大流行期间处理污水污泥的一种有价值的替代策略。事实上，由于热处理，废物中存在的有机微量污染物和病原体最终被破坏。此外，重要的是要强调，即使污水污泥的管理方式发生了变化，其燃烧产生的灰烬也可能有合适的再利用机会，应避免将其填埋。本文介绍了污水污泥灰在建筑应用中的回收利用的可能性，并展示了对其可持续性进行分析所获得的结果。该方法基于使用隐含能量和碳足迹值，以建立一种简单快速的新方法，能够成为支持和促进可持续性的合适工具，即使在（如大流行）等关键情况下所有关于一种技术的信息都不可用，无法进行全面的生命周期评估方法。这项工作不仅旨在成为提高废物管理安全性的策略的参考文件，也是一个例子，表明即使边界条件发生变化，也应追求循环经济原则。
