Overview
On October 9-10, the Waste-to-Energy Research and Technology Council hosted its 2014 Bi-Annual Meeting at Columbia University in the City of New York. There were 27 presentations and 8 posters in the meeting. In 2014, the Waste-to-Energy Research and Technology Council awarded the Republic of Korea for planning, policy and implementation of outstanding advances to recycling, composting and waste to energy during the period of 1990-2014. The Republic of Korea achieved a higher standing on the ladder of sustainable waste management than the United States, at a GDP per capita that is significantly lower. A distinguished contribution award was being given to the former COO and CTO of Covanta Energy Corp., Mr. John Klett.
Speakers & Presentations
Keynote & Opening
- Darlene Schuster, Executive Director, Institute for Sustainability, American Institute of Chemical Engineers – WTE, WTERT, and AIChE
- Prof. Nickolas Themelis, Chair, Global WTERT Council; Director, EEC-Columbia University – Introduction to Program and WTERT 2012/2014 update
- Paul Gilman, Senior Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer, Covanta Energy – Covanta’s Clean World Initiative
- James Connolly, Director of Environment Health & Safety, Wheelabrator Technologies Inc. – Wheelabrator 2010-2012 developments and vision for the future
Session 1:
- Kartik Chandran, Professor, Earth and Env’l Engineering, Director Earth Engineering Center, Columbia University – Research interfaces in managing solid and liquid wastes and protecting water resources
- Ralf Koralewska, Research Manager, Martin GmbH – E.U. advances on WTE metal recovery
- Prof. Marco Castaldi, Associate Professor, Chem. Eng., City College of New York; Director Earth Engineering Center/CCNY – Research at Earth Engineering Center, CCNY: Materials and energy recovery from waste and biomass
- Demetra Tsiamis, Research Associate, Earth Engineering Center, City College of New York – Syngas from non-recycled plastics (NRP) – The Enerkem Process
- Claudine Ellyin, R&D Manager, Sustainable Waste Power wet gasification process Systems – Overview and performance of the SWPS R&D Manager, Sustainable Waste Power wet gasification process
- Serpil Guran, Director Rutgers EcoComplex – Rutgers EcoComplex “Clean Energy Innovation Center”
- Peter Chromec, CEO, Hitachi Zosen Inova North America – Comparison of Building the Jabalpur EfW Plant in India with recent E.U. projects
Session 2:
- Christian Felske, Manager Waste Management Centre, Edmonton, Alberta – Advancing waste management in the City of Edmonton, Alberta
- John Abrashkin, Earth Engineering Center, Columbia University – A proven way to increase recycling: The Volume Based Waste Fee system
- Roland G. Weippert, LAB Geodur Zug, Cham, Switzerland – A proven way to increase recycling: The Volume Based Waste Fee system
- A.C. Bourtsalas, WTERT-UK, Imperial College London, and Earth Engineering Center, Columbia University – Innovative solutions for Waste-to-Energy bottom ash fines
- Qunxing Huang and Andres Estrada, Associate Professor, Zhejiang University; Earth Engineering Center, Columbia University Andres Estrada, EEC-Columbia – Rapid Growth of the CFB WTE technology in China
- Ljupka Arsova, Gershman, Brickner & Bratton, Inc. – Status of managing the organic wastes in the U.S.: The 2013 Columbia Survey and beyond
- Nickolas Themelis and Yoonjung Seo, Earth Engineering Center, Columbia University – The WTERT 2014 Award Winner: For advance made in Sustainable Waste Management in the 21st century
Session 3:
- Ted Michaels, President, Energy Recovery Council, U.S – Opportunities to Deploy WTE and Reduce GHG Emissions through USEPA’s Clean Power Plan
- Craig Cookson, Director, Sustainability Group, Plastics Division, American Chemistry Council – The ACC campaign for increasing energy recovery from Non-Recycled Plastics (NRP)
- Lenny van Klink, VP, Rebel Group, NL and U.S. – The dynamics of waste movement within the E.U.
- A-H. Alissa Park, Lenfest Associate Professor; Interim Director, Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy, Columbia University – Sustainable energy conversion pathways for solid wastes.
- Nickolas Themelis, Professor, Earth & Env’l Eng., Columbia University – Energy recovery from wastes in the U.S. cement industry
- Henri Dwyer, Earth Engineering Center, Columbia – Summary of study of all sources of dioxin emissions in the U.S.
- Stefano Consonni, Dept of Energy – Politecnico di Milano/MatER – Recent developments of WtE in Italy and the MatER model
Conference Photo Gallery
Poster Session
The WtERT 2014 meeting included a poster session showcasing emerging research, early-stage technologies, and academic contributions in waste-to-energy and sustainable waste management.
- Nour Awad – Use of “Engineered Fuels” in cement production
- Liubov Melnikova – Investigation of powering a gas engine by LFG and syngas fuel
- Simona Ciuta – Energy change mechanism during biomass pyrolysis
- Deepak Sharma – Technical feasibility analysis of zero waste
- Tim Sharobem – Mitigation of chloride corrosion of superheater tubes
- Vikram Raju – Sustainable use of plastic wastes in India
- Shumeng Liu – Overview of e-waste recycling in the US and the potential for application in China
- Fei Li – Characteristics of food residue according to catering means
- Estratios Kalogirou – Some of the WtERT 2012-2014 activities in Europe, Asia and Latin America
WtERT 2014 Awards
Welcome by Prof. Marco Castaldi, Chair Materials and Energy Recovery (MER) Division
Presentation of MER-ASME Distinguished Contribution Award to Mr. John M. Klett, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Technology Officer (ret.) Covanta Energy Corporation
Presentation of the WTERT 2014 Awards to the Republic of Korea (South Korea) by Prof. N.J. Themelis; Received on behalf of ROK by Prof. Tai Gyu Lee and YonChil Seo of Yonsei University, Seoul and WTERT-Korea
