IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i5p4006-d1076961.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Composting Heat Recovery for Residential Consumption: An Assessment of Viability

Author

Listed:
  • Vittorio Sessa

    (Institute for Technology and Resources Management in the Tropics and Subtropics, TH Köln (University of Applied Sciences), Betzdorfer Strasse 2, 50679 Cologne, Germany)

  • Ramchandra Bhandari

    (Institute for Technology and Resources Management in the Tropics and Subtropics, TH Köln (University of Applied Sciences), Betzdorfer Strasse 2, 50679 Cologne, Germany)

Abstract

The European heating sector is currently heavily dominated by fossil fuels. Composting is a naturally occurring process in which heat is liberated from the composting substrate at a higher rate than the process needs to support itself. This difference could be harnessed for low-heat applications such as residential consumption, alleviating some of the impacts fossil fuel emissions represent. In this study, the composting heat recovery reported in the literature was compared to the energy demand for space and water heating in four European countries. A review of potential heat production from the waste representative of the residential sector was performed. We found that the theoretically recoverable composting heat does not significantly reduce the need for district heating. However, it can significantly reduce the energy demand for water heating, being able to supply countries such as Greece with between 36% and 100% of the yearly hot water demand, or 12% to 53% of the yearly hot water of countries such as Switzerland, depending on the efficiency of heat recovery.

Suggested Citation

  • Vittorio Sessa & Ramchandra Bhandari, 2023. "Composting Heat Recovery for Residential Consumption: An Assessment of Viability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-17, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:5:p:4006-:d:1076961
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/5/4006/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/5/4006/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Smith, Matthew M. & Aber, John D., 2018. "Energy recovery from commercial-scale composting as a novel waste management strategy," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 194-199.
    2. Jaroslav Bajko & Jan Fišer & Miroslav Jícha, 2019. "Condenser-Type Heat Exchanger for Compost Heat Recovery Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-16, April.
    3. Carvalho, Anabela Duarte & Mendrinos, Dimitris & De Almeida, Anibal T., 2015. "Ground source heat pump carbon emissions and primary energy reduction potential for heating in buildings in Europe—results of a case study in Portugal," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 755-768.
    4. Jan Polcyn & Yana Us & Oleksii Lyulyov & Tetyana Pimonenko & Aleksy Kwilinski, 2021. "Factors Influencing the Renewable Energy Consumption in Selected European Countries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-27, December.
    5. Eriksson, Ola & Finnveden, Goran & Ekvall, Tomas & Bjorklund, Anna, 2007. "Life cycle assessment of fuels for district heating: A comparison of waste incineration, biomass- and natural gas combustion," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 1346-1362, February.
    6. Di Maria, Francesco & Micale, Caterina & Sordi, Alessio, 2014. "Electrical energy production from the integrated aerobic-anaerobic treatment of organic waste by ORC," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 461-467.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Piotr Sołowiej & Patrycja Pochwatka & Agnieszka Wawrzyniak & Krzysztof Łapiński & Andrzej Lewicki & Jacek Dach, 2021. "The Effect of Heat Removal during Thermophilic Phase on Energetic Aspects of Biowaste Composting Process," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-14, February.
    2. Shirzad, Mohammad & Kazemi Shariat Panahi, Hamed & Dashti, Behrouz B. & Rajaeifar, Mohammad Ali & Aghbashlo, Mortaza & Tabatabaei, Meisam, 2019. "A comprehensive review on electricity generation and GHG emission reduction potentials through anaerobic digestion of agricultural and livestock/slaughterhouse wastes in Iran," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 571-594.
    3. Sayegh, M.A. & Danielewicz, J. & Nannou, T. & Miniewicz, M. & Jadwiszczak, P. & Piekarska, K. & Jouhara, H., 2017. "Trends of European research and development in district heating technologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 68(P2), pages 1183-1192.
    4. Riza Radmehr & Samira Shayanmehr & Ernest Baba Ali & Elvis Kwame Ofori & Elżbieta Jasińska & Michał Jasiński, 2022. "Exploring the Nexus of Renewable Energy, Ecological Footprint, and Economic Growth through Globalization and Human Capital in G7 Economics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-19, September.
    5. Ali Mohammadi & G. Venkatesh & Maria Sandberg & Samieh Eskandari & Stephen Joseph & Karin Granström, 2020. "A Comprehensive Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of the Use of Hydrochar Pellets in Combined Heat and Power Plants," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-15, October.
    6. Aleksy Kwilinski & Oleksii Lyulyov & Tetyana Pimonenko, 2023. "Inclusive Economic Growth: Relationship between Energy and Governance Efficiency," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-16, March.
    7. Sadi, M. & Arabkoohsar, A., 2019. "Exergoeconomic analysis of a combined solar-waste driven power plant," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 883-893.
    8. Hao, Xiaoli & Yang, Hongxing & Zhang, Guoqiang, 2008. "Trigeneration: A new way for landfill gas utilization and its feasibility in Hong Kong," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(10), pages 3662-3673, October.
    9. Cambero, Claudia & Sowlati, Taraneh, 2014. "Assessment and optimization of forest biomass supply chains from economic, social and environmental perspectives – A review of literature," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 62-73.
    10. Jean Nepomuscene Ntihuga & Thomas Senn & Peter Gschwind & Reinhard Kohlus, 2013. "Estimating Energy- and Eco-Balances for Continuous Bio-Ethanol Production Using a Blenke Cascade System," Energies, MDPI, vol. 6(4), pages 1-19, April.
    11. Grażyna Żukowska & Jakub Mazurkiewicz & Magdalena Myszura & Wojciech Czekała, 2019. "Heat Energy and Gas Emissions during Composting of Sewage Sludge," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-13, December.
    12. Hossein Nami & Amjad Anvari-Moghaddam & Ahmad Arabkoohsar & Amir Reza Razmi, 2020. "4E Analyses of a Hybrid Waste-Driven CHP–ORC Plant with Flue Gas Condensation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-21, November.
    13. Dandres, Thomas & Gaudreault, Caroline & Tirado-Seco, Pablo & Samson, Réjean, 2011. "Assessing non-marginal variations with consequential LCA: Application to European energy sector," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(6), pages 3121-3132, August.
    14. Sommerfeldt, Nelson & Pearce, Joshua M., 2023. "Can grid-tied solar photovoltaics lead to residential heating electrification? A techno-economic case study in the midwestern U.S," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 336(C).
    15. Colmenar-Santos, Antonio & Rosales-Asensio, Enrique & Borge-Diez, David & Collado-Fernández, Eduardo, 2016. "Evaluation of the cost of using power plant reject heat in low-temperature district heating and cooling networks," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 892-907.
    16. Budzianowski, Wojciech M., 2016. "A review of potential innovations for production, conditioning and utilization of biogas with multiple-criteria assessment," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 1148-1171.
    17. Broberg, Thomas & Dijkgraaf, Elbert & Meens-Eriksson, Sef, 2022. "Burn or let them bury? The net social cost of producing district heating from imported waste," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    18. Golmohamadi, Hessam & Larsen, Kim Guldstrand & Jensen, Peter Gjøl & Hasrat, Imran Riaz, 2022. "Integration of flexibility potentials of district heating systems into electricity markets: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    19. Ekmekci, Ece & Ozturk, Z. Fatih & Sisman, Altug, 2023. "Collective behavior of boreholes and its optimization to maximize BTES performance," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 343(C).
    20. Busch, Jonathan & Roelich, Katy & Bale, Catherine S.E. & Knoeri, Christof, 2017. "Scaling up local energy infrastructure; An agent-based model of the emergence of district heating networks," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 170-180.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    household; compost; heat; recovery; MSW; CO 2;
    All these keywords.

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:5:p:4006-:d:1076961. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.