Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona

The rapid growth in the world’s population, rising living standards and technological advances are leading to a steady increase in the generation of municipal solid waste (MSW). Current global MSW production amounts to approximately 2 billion tonnes per year and is estimated to reach 3.4 billion tonnes by 2050. Specifically, 225 million tonnes were generated in the EU in 2020, of which 52 million tonnes were sent for final disposal. Landfill has long been the most common treatment system for unsegregated MSW due to its low operating and capital costs. However, implementation of EU regulations (Directive 31/1999, Directive 62/1994) and efforts to achieve near zero landfill led to a drop in the EU landfill rate from 61% in 1995 to 23% in 2020, and this is expected to decrease further.

While treating municipal waste, mechanical-biological treatment (MBT) plants can generate a wide range of chemical emissions, mainly volatile organic compounds (VOCs), ammonia and hydrogen sulphide. The main cause of emissions is the degradation of organic matter due to the action of micro-organisms. 

Waste treatment, like many other anthropogenic activities, generates VOCs, carbon-based chemicals (hydrocarbons, alcohols, ethers, ketones and terpenes, among others) that evaporate at room temperature. Typical VOC concentrations in such facilities are estimated at between 3 and 21 mg/Nm³, resulting in high odour concentrations, so these air streams require treatment before release into the atmosphere. 

In addition to VOCs, carbon dioxide (CO₂) is another gaseous component emitted by TMB plants. This anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) accounts for approximately 82% of total global GHG emissions and is expected to increase in the coming years. Recent recommendations from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) make strong calls for a 55% reduction in CO₂ emissions by 2030 to limit global warming and achieve climate neutrality (zero emissions) by 2050 in Europe. In the specific case of the waste management sector, 2.92 billion tonnes of CO₂ were emitted in 2020.

Currently, the most commonly used technologies to treat VOC emissions from these facilities are thermal processes (regenerative thermal oxidators, RTOs) and biological processes (biofilters, BFs), which can be combined with scrubbing, cryogenic condensation, adsorption or catalytic oxidation. Although these are efficient technologies, they are also very expensive and energy intensive and generate a large carbon footprint when treating large air flows.
 

This is the context out of which the LIFE ABATE project arose, coordinated by the University of Valladolid, in close collaboration with the AMB (who provided the idea) and four national organisations: Aeris Tecnologías Ambientales, SL; Kalfrisa, SAU; Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya-BarcelonaTech and FCC Medio Ambiente. The project aims to demonstrate the feasibility of an innovative system for highly efficient and sustainable treatment of air from MBT plants.

The project is expected to last four years and will have a total budget of €3,246,062, of which 55% will be co-funded by the European Commission through the LIFE programme, €605,209 of which will be managed directly by the AMB.