| 1. |
- Ibrahim, Muhammad Asim, et al.
(författare)
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Characterization of municipal solid waste temporary storage sites : Risks posed to surrounding areas as a consequence of fire incidents
- 2013
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Ingår i: Waste Management. - : Elsevier. - 0956-053X .- 1879-2456. ; 33:11, s. 2296-2306
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this study temporary storage sites of municipal solid waste were characterized based on their potential social, health and environmental impacts as a consequence of spontaneous fires, by employing Boolean as well as weighted-linear-combination approaches in connection with various fuzzy set functions of population density around the storage sites. Sweden was used as the case study and data from 105 storage sites were analysed; of these, 38 were identified to be posing high risk for downwind residing population. Furthermore, during the past 10 years, the fire frequency and the average population residing within a radius of 1, 2, and 3 km were found to be comparatively higher for storage sites owned by private ompanies than for those owned by municipalities. The study provided first-cut information of poorly sited temporary storage sites and can help in formalizing the comprehensive risk analysis in the future.
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| 2. |
- Ibrahim, Muhammad Asim, et al.
(författare)
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Organizing preliminary storage sites of organic material, waste fuels and recyclables and their separating distance from populated areas
- 2014
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Ingår i: Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1438-4957 .- 1611-8227. ; 16:2, s. 270-281
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- European Union directives have urged member countries to enhance the recycling and separation of waste fractions, and this has increased the number of temporary storage sites of recyclables and waste fuels. Spontaneous fires at temporary storage sites have become common and pose social/health/environmental risks. Storage sites should be sited sufficiently far from populated regions, so that the concentration of released pollutants from open fires falls below the critical air quality index before the plume reach the downwind population. In this study, the open-burn/ open-detonation model developed by the US Environmental Protection Agency was employed, and 540 simulations were performed for nine scenarios of open burning of household waste to estimate suitable sizes of storage heaps and adequate distances between storage sites and populated regions. Furthermore, sensitivity analysis was performed for 1,080 additional simulations to determine the effects of variations in the burn rate, storage dimension and volume of the waste heap on the model output. The resulting chart can be directly employed by waste operators/ environmental agencies to organize storage sites to minimize externalities due to open fires. Furthermore, using ArcGIS software, first-cut information of the total Swedish population facing the risk of hazards due to spontaneous fires was provided.
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| 3. |
- Ferrans, Laura
(författare)
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Sustainable management of dredged sediments : potential recovery of valuable compounds
- 2022
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Dredging of sediments occurs worldwide to increase water depth in harbours, bays, lakes and rivers, as well as to recover aquatic ecosystems. Landfilling and open-ocean discharge are traditional disposal routes for dredged material. However, the methods are restricted by environmental and legal concerns. Using dredged sediments for beneficial uses can contribute to implementing circular economies and avoiding traditional disposal methods. This thesis aimed to contribute to the sustainable management of dredged sediments by increasing the knowledge of the beneficial use of the material. The work focused on Malmfjärden bay, located in Kalmar, Sweden, which is currently shallow and presents a high concentration of nutrients. The LIFE SURE project aimed to dredge the bay and use the dredged material for beneficial purposes.The results from the thesis showed a high potential to use Malmfjärden sediments for beneficial uses. The first step involved the characterisation of sediments, which showed a medium-high content of N and P was also present. The main pollution concerns were As, Pb and Cd, since their contents overpassed the Swedish limits for sensitive uses. The speciation and extraction of elements were also performed to assess their risk of pollution. The results showed that the most labile elements were Zn and Pb, and both presented the highest extraction rates using EDTA and EDDS. The results showed that the chemical extraction of metals could contribute to treating metal-polluted sediments and become a mining technique. Further studies focused on the recovery of nutrients from the sediments. They were mixed with compost, and lettuce grew in different substrates. However, the plants prematurely stopped growing, possibly due to the lack of available forms of N. Moreover, the harvested lettuces overpassed permissible contents for Cd, slightly threatening human health. It was shown that dredging could provide nutrients to soils, but the risk of metal pollution should be assessed. Finally, a life cycle assessment was calculated to assess the environmental impacts associated with landfilling Malmfjärden sediments or using the material in soil conditioning. Both scenarios presented negative impacts on global warming, eutrophication and toxicity categories. However, soil conditioning showed the most positive score due to the environmental savings of avoiding the production and use of fertilisers.The thesis concludes by encouraging the performance of more interdisciplinary projects. This could combine the knowledge from several sectors to enhance the implementation of the beneficial use of dredged sediments.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Ibrahim, Muhammad Asim, et al.
(författare)
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Building smart cities: security against risk for spontaneous fires at temporary storage sites of waste fuels and recyclables
- 2013
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Ingår i: CPEXPO community protection.
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Konferensbidrag (populärvet., debatt m.m.)abstract
- Now a days there is high emphasis on the reuse and recycling of waste which reflects that waste management industry is flourishing all over the word. The environmental and economic benefits connected with increased recycling and reuse of materials is usually considered as paradigm of sustainability societies. However, in past few years, an increased risk of spontaneous fires at temporary storage sites of organic materials, waste fuels and recyclables have been observed which lead to a shift in this paradigm (Ibrahim et al, 2013, Li et al, 2006, Fu et al, 2006). According to an estimate, such spontaneous fires have cost more than 49 million SEK during year 2000 to 2010 to Swedish waste industry (Ibrahim et al, 2013). In past unavailability of data regarding environmental damages and associated social costs of such fires lead to underestimation of hazards posed by such fires. However now there is a growing concern that waste management and recycling industry can pose serious threats to our cities and fire incidents can involve serious social, health and economic implications.Previous research has showed that conventional invasive techniques (gas detectors, thermocouples) are proven to be insufficient to provide protection against risk for spontaneous fires. There is vast opportunity to do research and to investigate the use of non-invasive techniques (Infra-red Cameras) and advanced invasive techniques (Optical fibre cables) to generate early warning signals and continuous monitoring of temporary storage of waste. In our on-going research project regarding monitoring of real waste heaps using IR Thermal cameras, the preliminary data have provided us the opportunity to quantify the uncertainties associated with use of IR thermal cameras. In future we are intended to investigate different aspects regarding the use of IR cameras, such as; angle of orientation of IR camera in reference to heap, separation distance between IR camera and the surface of waste heaps and quantifying the potential of IR camera to detect hot spots inside the waste heaps. In future it is expected that there will be a growing market for such non-invasive probes that can protect our cities from the noxious emissions release from temporary storage sites of waste fuels and recyclables.
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| 6. |
- Ibrahim, Muhammad Asim, et al.
(författare)
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Fires at storage sites of organic materials, waste fuels and recyclables
- 2013
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Ingår i: Waste Management & Research. - : Sage Publications. - 0734-242X .- 1096-3669. ; 31:9, s. 937-945
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- During the last decade, the European Union has enforced the diversion of organic wastes and recyclables to waste management companies operating incineration plants, composting plants and recycling units instead of landfills. The temporary storage sites have been established as a buffer against fluctuations in energy demand throughout the year. Materials also need to be stored at temporary storage sites before recovery and recycling. However, regulations governing waste fuel storage and handling have not yet been developed, and, as a result, companies have engaged in risky practices that have resulted in a high number of fire incidents. In this study, a questionnaire survey was distributed to 249 of the 400 members of Avfall Sverige (Swedish Waste Management Association), which represents the waste management of 95% of the Swedish population. Information regarding 122 storage facilities owned by 69 companies was obtained; these facilities were responsible for the storage of 47% of the total treated waste (incineration + digestion + composting) in 2010 in Sweden. To identify factors related to fire frequency, the questionnaire covered the amounts of material handled and burnt per year, financial losses due to fires, storage duration, storage method and types of waste. The results show that 217 fire incidents corresponded to 170 kilotonnes of material burnt and cumulative losses of 49 million SEK (€4.3 million). Fire frequency and amount of material burnt per fire was found to be dependent upon type of management group (waste operator). Moreover, a correlation was found between fire frequency and material recycled during past years. Further investigations of financial aspects and externalities of fire incidents are recommended.
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| 7. |
- Ibrahim, Muhammad Asim, et al.
(författare)
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Perception of fire-risk at temporary storage sites of organic materials, waste fuels and recyclables
- 2014
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Ingår i: International Journal of Environment and Waste Management. - : InderScience Publishers. - 1478-9876 .- 1478-9868. ; :2, s. 165-180
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The risk of fires at municipal solid waste (MSW) storage sites is of great concern because such fires not only result in material losses worth millions of Euros annually but also have deleterious effects on both human health and the environment. Keeping in view that management decisions addressing risk of fires cannot be divorced from human psychology regarding safety, a questionnaire survey was designed for which 187 respondents gave a response rate of 33%. Survey results showed that three types of biases; optimism, attribution and availability bias, prevail among managers of waste management companies. Furthermore, biased respondents had experienced higher frequency of fire incidents and preferred low cost risk averting technologies. It is concluded that there is a need to acknowledge the existence of biases and to improve the decision making skills of managers with the help of risk awareness programmes and implementation of government steering tools to reduce risk of spontaneous fires.
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| 8. |
- Ibrahim, Muhammad Asim, 1980-
(författare)
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Risk of spontaneous fires at temporary storages sites for organic material, waste fuels and recyclables: Quantification and mitigation
- 2014
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Economic and environmental constraints have created increasing demand for (material and energy recovery) and recycling of waste generated from households, commercial and industrial activities. A wide variety of materials waiting for sorting, recovery, recycling and disposal are stored at temporary storage sites (TSS) where physical, biotic and abiotic processes can lead the stored material to spontaneous ignition. Spontaneous fires at TSS are associated with severe social health economic and environmental implications.The objective of the present thesis was to access, quantify and mitigate the risk of spontaneous fires at temporary storage sites. It was found that during the period from 2000 to 2010, spontaneous fires have caused losses of about 49 million SEK (about 5 million Euros) to the Swedish waste and recycling industry. A comparison of two groups of waste operators (non-seasonal storage sites at private companies and seasonal storage sites at municipality owned companies) showed that the number of fire incidents per storage site was higher for the former one.Furthermore, it was found that there is a need to improve the behavior of environmental managers related to safety issues as a group of managers was found to be under the influence of optimism, attribution and availability biases. The managers under the influence of optimism bias preferred to follow low cost risk averting strategies and fire incidents were more frequently reported at their storage sites.The ArcGIS spatial analysis using Boolean and Weighted Linear Combination approach and open burn/open detonation model was used to provide the screening level guidelines for siting new storage sites with a due consideration given to potential off-site consequences of spontaneous fires on downwind population. Furthermore, experiments were conducted to investigate the combustion characteristics of MSW bales. The data suggested that the unwrapped bales might pose higher hazards for adjacently stored material to catch fire than bales wrapped with low density polyethylene (LDPE) plastic sheets. For future, interdisciplinary research with focus on technical solutions (e.g. development of performance based design using fire simulations and methods for early detection and extinction of fires) and economic, political and organizational solutions that ensure risk of spontaneous fires not to be trivialized is recommended.Keywords: temporary storage, risk of fires, spontaneous ignition, biofuels, recyclables, waste fuels
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| 9. |
- Ibrahim, Muhammad Asim, 1980-, et al.
(författare)
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Safety at waste and recycling industry : Detection and mitigation of waste fire accidents
- 2022
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Ingår i: Waste Management. - : Elsevier. - 0956-053X .- 1879-2456. ; 141, s. 271-281
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this study, NASA’s VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) fire hotspots and data of the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB), collected between 2012 and 2018, was integrated to characterize waste fire incidents that were detected by VIIRS and reported to MSB (DaR), detected by VIIRS but not reported to MSB (DbNR) and that are reported to MSB but not detected by VIIRS (RbND). Results show that the average number of open waste fire incidents per million capita per year (AFIPMC) in Sweden, for the period 2012–2018, ranges from 2.4 to 4.7. Although a weak correlation exists (r = 0.44, P = 0.1563, one tailed) between years and number of fire incidents (MSB + VIIRS fires), a continuous increase in number of fire incidents was recorded between 2014 and 2018. It is concluded that the use of satellite data of fire anomalies, in-combination with the use of incident reports, will help in formalizing more reliable and comprehensive waste fire statistics. Another focus area of the article is to consolidate the recommendations and routines for safe storage of waste and biofuels and to present the lessons that can be learnt from past fire incidents. The article also discusses the technical, political, economic, social, and practical aspects of waste fires and provide a baseline for future research and experimentation.
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| 10. |
- Mutavchi, Viacheslav (published under the name Moutavtchi, Viatcheslav), 1973-, et al.
(författare)
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Solid waste management by application of the WAMED model
- 2010
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Ingår i: Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management. - : Springer Science+Business Media B.V.. - 1438-4957 .- 1611-8227. ; 12:2, s. 169-183
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article aims to develop a general model for the evaluation of ecological–economic efficiency that will serve as an information support tool for decision making at the corporate, municipal, and regional levels. It encompasses cost–benefi t analysis in solid waste management by applying a sustainability promoting approach that is explicitly related to monetary measures. A waste managements’efficient decision (WAMED) model based on cost–benefit analysis is proposed and developed to evaluate the ecological–economic efficiency of solid waste management schemes. The employment of common business administration methodology tools is featured. A classification of competing waste management models is introduced to facilitate evaluation of the relevance of the previously introduced WAMED model. Suggestions are made for how to combine the previously introduced EUROPE model, based on the equality principle, with the WAMED model to create economic incentives to reduce solid waste management-related emissions. A fictive case study presents the practical application of the proposed cost–benefit analysis-based theory to the landfilling concept. It is concluded that the presented methodology reflects an integrated approach to decreasing negative impacts on the environment and on the health of the population, while increasing economic benefits through the implementation of solid waste management projects.
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