Life cycle assessment of the management of residual waste from material recovery facilities by
landfill, incineration and gasification-pyrolysis in Victoria
A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering
Alexis Sophia Demetrious
Bachelor of Engineering (Honours), RMIT University
School of Engineering
College of Science, Engineering and Health
RMIT University
March, 2018
Thesis for Master of Engineering ii
Candidate Declaration
20 March 2018
I certify that except where due acknowledgement has been made, the work is that of the author alone; the work
has not been submitted previously, in whole or in part, to qualify for any other academic award; the content of
the thesis is the result of work which has been carried out since the official commencement date of the approved
research program; any editorial work, paid or unpaid, carried out by a third party is acknowledged; and, ethics
procedures and guidelines have been followed.
I acknowledge the support I have received for my research through the provision of an Australian Government
Research Training Program Scholarship.
Thesis for Master of Engineering iii
Acknowledgements
I am grateful to the many people who, directly and indirectly, have helped me to develop this work. In particular,
thanks to my supervisory team; Dr Enda Crossin, Dr Peter Stasinopoulos and Associate Professor Karli Verghese
for their guidance and enthusiasm for the research.
Thesis for Master of Engineering iv
Table of Contents
List of Figures ...................................................................................................................................................... viii
List of Tables ......................................................................................................................................................... ix
List of Equations .................................................................................................................................................. xiii
Glossary of Terms ............................................................................................................................................... xiv
Shortened Forms: Abbreviations, Contractions, Acronyms, Initialisms and Symbols ........................................ xvi
Abstract................................................................................................................................................................... 1
1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................................... 2
1.1 Background ........................................................................................................................................... 2
1.2 Rationale ............................................................................................................................................... 3
1.3 Research Questions ............................................................................................................................... 4
1.4 Goal and Objectives .............................................................................................................................. 4
1.5 Approach ............................................................................................................................................... 4
1.6 Scope of Thesis ..................................................................................................................................... 4
1.7 Thesis Layout ........................................................................................................................................ 6
2. Literature Review .......................................................................................................................................... 7
2.1 Waste Management Hierarchy .............................................................................................................. 7
2.2 Waste Management in Victoria ............................................................................................................. 8
Thermal Treatment in Victoria ....................................................................................................... 10
State Container Deposit Scheme & MSW in relation to Victoria ................................................... 11
Recyclate Recovery in Australia ..................................................................................................... 11
Virgin Competition ......................................................................................................................... 12
2.3 Waste Management Systems ............................................................................................................... 12
Landfill ........................................................................................................................................... 12
Incineration ..................................................................................................................................... 13
Gasification-Pyrolysis ..................................................................................................................... 14
2.4 Thermal Treatment in Australia .......................................................................................................... 16
2.5 Life Cycle Assessment ........................................................................................................................ 18
Background ..................................................................................................................................... 18
Attributional and Consequential Modelling .................................................................................... 20
Scenario Development .................................................................................................................... 20
System Boundaries ......................................................................................................................... 20
Allocation and Waste Burdens........................................................................................................ 20
Impact Assessments ........................................................................................................................ 21
Interpretation................................................................................................................................... 22
2.6 Waste Management LCA Research .................................................................................................... 23
Victoria ........................................................................................................................................... 23
International .................................................................................................................................... 26
Thesis for Master of Engineering v
2.7 MRF Residual Waste .......................................................................................................................... 28
2.8 Landfill LCI ........................................................................................................................................ 31
Landfill Decay Modelling ............................................................................................................... 31
Accounting of Fossil, Biogenic and Atmospheric Carbon .............................................................. 32
Carbon Sequestration ...................................................................................................................... 32
Leachate Emissions......................................................................................................................... 33
2.9 Incineration LCI .................................................................................................................................. 34
Source Data for Ecoinvent Waste Incineration ............................................................................... 34
Input Output for Waste Incineration ............................................................................................... 35
Transformation of Waste Material .................................................................................................. 35
2.10 Gasification-Pyrolysis LCI .................................................................................................................. 36
Thermoselect Process Description.............................................................................................. 37
Thermoselect for LCA Inventory ............................................................................................... 39
2.11 Electricity Credits ............................................................................................................................... 39
Background ................................................................................................................................ 39
Avoided Electricity Grid in LCA ............................................................................................... 40
Allocation of Electricity and Thermal Energy in Co-Production ............................................... 41
2.12 Greenhouse Gas Accounting ............................................................................................................... 41
2.13 Literature Review Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 42
3. Methodology ................................................................................................................................................ 44
3.1 LCA Outline ........................................................................................................................................ 44
3.2 LCA Goal and Scope .......................................................................................................................... 44
LCA Goal ....................................................................................................................................... 44
Target Audience and Intended Use ................................................................................................. 45
Functional Unit ............................................................................................................................... 45
System Boundary ............................................................................................................................ 47
Allocation of Burdens ..................................................................................................................... 49
3.3 Life cycle inventory ............................................................................................................................ 49
Waste material LCI ......................................................................................................................... 49
Shared Process LCI ......................................................................................................................... 50
Electricity Grid LCI ........................................................................................................................ 50
Landfill LCI .................................................................................................................................... 50
Landfill Biomass Degradation ........................................................................................................ 53
Wastewater Leachate Emissions ..................................................................................................... 57
Incineration LCI .............................................................................................................................. 64
Gasification-Pyrolysis LCI ............................................................................................................. 67
3.4 Life cycle impacts assessment............................................................................................................. 73
Characterisation .............................................................................................................................. 73