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Waste shipments for energy recovery as a waste treatment strategy for small islands: the case of Kinmen, Taiwan

  • SPECIAL FEATURE: ORIGINAL ARTICLE
  • The 4th International Conference on Final Sinks (4th ICFS 2017)
  • Published:
Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Waste management is more challenging in small islands due to islands’ special characteristics. For small islands where energy recovery by incineration is difficult due to smaller waste generation amount with large seasonal fluctuations, waste shipments outside of island can make energy recovery possible. This study evaluated the cost effectiveness and environmental performance of waste shipments for energy recovery in case of small islands. The results shown that the direct shipment for incineration is expensive, but the emission prevention by energy recovery can surpass the emission from waste transportation. Waste shipments in the form of refused derived fuel (RDF) can reduce the transportation and incineration cost, but the high fossil fuel consumption in RDF production process resulted in high greenhouse gas emissions. The shipping distance, RDF gate fee, and emission from RDF production process have high influence on the cost effectiveness and environmental performance of the waste treatment process. The results of this study revealed the cost effective and environmental beneficial choosing criteria of waste shipments’ destination.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the corporation of Kinmen Environmental Protection Bureau for kindly providing the information required in this study, and especially, to Mr. Ding-Yu Tsai, and Mr. Yu-Yi Li, who provided the invaluable data for this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Energy Science, Kyoto University, Yoshida-honmachi, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8501, Japan

    Hsin-Tien Lin, Keiichi N. Ishihara & Hideyuki Okumura

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Science and Engineering, Ritsumeikan University, 1-1-1 Noji-higashi, Kusatsu, Shiga, 525-8577, Japan

    Eiji Yamasue

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  1. Hsin-Tien Lin
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Correspondence to Hsin-Tien Lin.

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Lin, HT., Yamasue, E., Ishihara, K.N. et al. Waste shipments for energy recovery as a waste treatment strategy for small islands: the case of Kinmen, Taiwan. J Mater Cycles Waste Manag 21, 44–56 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10163-018-0760-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10163-018-0760-3

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