Title: A pilot machine for municipal solid waste separation

Authors: Adel R. Awad; Hana Salman; Yung-Tse Hung

Addresses: Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Tishreen University, P.O. Box 1385, Lattakia, Syria; Department of Environmental Engineering, Cleveland State University, USA ' Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Tishreen University, P.O. Box 1385, Lattakia, Syria; Department of Environmental Engineering, Cleveland State University, USA ' Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Tishreen University, P.O. Box 1385, Lattakia, Syria; Department of Environmental Engineering, Cleveland State University, USA

Abstract: The research has developed an innovated pilot machine for separating the recyclable materials of the municipal solid waste. It utilises a rotary screen drum with a length three times its diameter. This drum is divided into two parts, the first part is one metre long, consists of a screen having meshes graduated from 8 to 20 mm to separate the fine refuse. The second part is 3 metre long, consists of a screen having meshes graduated from 20 to 200 mm to separate coarser refuse. The results of treating 30 tons/day of solid waste by separation came with the following rates: metals 10.7%, paper 17.7%, plastics 4.0%, glass 2.0% and textiles 1.3%. In addition, the percentage of organic compostable materials was 58% out of the total solid wastes. Such a pilot machine can be generalised to be applied in similar cities elsewhere.

Keywords: municipal solid waste; MSW; rotary screen drums; compost units; landfill units; recycling process; solid waste separation; solid waste management; recyclable materials; organic materials; compostable materials.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEE.2015.074940

International Journal of Environmental Engineering, 2015 Vol.7 No.3/4, pp.297 - 309

Accepted: 21 Jul 2015
Published online: 24 Feb 2016 *

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