Seasonal characterisation of municipal solid waste from Astana city, Kazakhstan: Composition and thermal properties of combustible fraction

Abstract

This study presents the results of a seasonal municipal solid waste composition campaign, that took place over the period of September 2017 to June 2018 in the capital city of Kazakhstan, Astana. Four sampling campaigns were conducted in order to identify the seasonal variation of municipal solid waste composition, recyclables and energy potential materials, such as combustible fraction, useful for the evaluation of waste-to-energy potential. The combustible fraction was analysed for thermal fuel properties, such as proximate and elemental analyses and gross calorific value. The results over the four different seasons showed that the average recyclable fraction of municipal solid waste on a wet basis of 33.3 wt.% and combustibles fraction was 8.3 wt.%. The largest fraction was the organics (47.2 wt.%), followed by plastic (15.4 wt.%) and paper (12.5 wt.%). Small seasonal variations were observed for organics, paper, plastic and glass fractions. The highest values were found in summer for the organic waste, in spring for paper and plastic and autumn for glass. The recyclables fraction showed an absolute seasonal variation of 5.7% with a peak in the winter season (35.4%) and the combustibles fraction showed a seasonal variation between 8.3 wt.% to 9.4 wt.%. Finally, the average calorific value of the combustible fraction was estimated to be 21.6 MJ kg-1 on a dry basis.

Thermogravimetric Study of Refuse Derived Fuel Produced from Municipal Solid Waste of Kazakhstan

“…Mixed and non-mixed solid RDF fractions were collected from the MSW landfill of Nur-Sultan city during the sampling campaigns performed in 2018 and 2019. The sampling procedure was similar to those reported by Abylkhani et al [10]. During the first step sorting, recyclables and organics are separated, followed by second step sorting.…”

“…RDF samples in this work were taken from the second step sorting and consisted of mixed paper 37.8%, mixed plastic 53.3%, textile 8.9%, and traces of wood, Figure 2. Considering its insignificant amount in the MSW, wood was eliminated from this study [10]. The collected fraction of mixed paper, plastic, and textile fractions were further treated in garden shredder and in a knife mill for size reduction, to obtain homogenized fine powders with particle sizes between 200 and 400 µm.…”

“…Comparable compounds of RDF were also reported by Cozzani et al (1995). According to the Abylkhani et al, [10] the potential share of solid RDF in MSW of Nur-Sultan city was around 10% and has calorific values of around 20 to 23 MJ/kg. In comparison, the RDF investigated in Turkey consisted of 17% of papers, 17% of all types of plastic and remaining 66% were textile fraction [11].…”

Survey on Household Solid Waste Sorting at Source in Developing Economies: A Case Study of Nur-Sultan City in Kazakhstan

“…After the primary recycling process, the HSW stream is then briquetted and transported to the sanitary landfill for disposal. Table 3 presents the average annual HSW composition of Nur-Sultan city [36] for the year 2018. The average annual composition of HSW showed roughly an amount 50% to be organic waste, a major part of which was food residuals.…”

“…The average annual composition of HSW showed roughly an amount 50% to be organic waste, a major part of which was food residuals. It is then followed by recyclable plastic 15% and paper 12%, while the remaining is combustible and fine fractions [36]. Because of the increase of materials suitable for recycling, the municipality of Nur-Sultan city launched a sorting at source project in August 2018 by placing around 6200 containers for HSW separation near selected residential buildings [37].…”