Glossary

This glossary gives an overview on terms used in the area of biowaste utilisation and it only includes small paragraphs and definitions on the listed topics. o get more information on some of these these topics, please use the links to the articles (if given).

A

aerobic

In the presence of, or requiring, oxygen

anaerobic

In the absence of oxygen

Anaerobic digestion

B

Biocomposite processing

In Biocomposite processing bio-based materials are processed to composite materials. Normally, these materials consist of a polymeric matrix that can be fossil- or bio-based. Bio-based materials fixed in this are for example wood dust, natural fibres, straws, rice husks, nutshells and others. Best-known biocomposites are Wood-Plastic-Composites (WPC) or Natural-fibre reinforced materials.

biodegradable

Able to degrade naturally through the action of living organisms such as bacteria and fungi. This can be in nature, in compost or under specific industrial requirements

Biogas

Gases (methane and carbon dioxide) resulting from the decomposition of organic waste in an Anaerobic digestion.

Biomethane

Methane produced from biogas after carbon dioxide removal

Biosolids

Organic human waste after treatment at a sewage or waste water treatment plant.

Biowaste, bio-waste, biodegradable waste

Bio-waste is defined as biodegradable garden and park waste, food and kitchen waste from households, restaurants, caterers and retail premises, and comparable waste from food processing plants. It does not include forestry or agricultural residues, manure, sewage sludge, or other biodegradable waste such as natural textiles, paper or processed wood. It also excludes those by-products of food production that never become waste.

C

Centrifugation

Centrifugation is a mechanical separation process which involves the use of the centrifugal force to separate particles from a solution or liquids of different densities according to particle size, shape, density, viscosity and rotor speed. The more dense components of the mixture migrate away from the axis of the centrifuge, while the less dense components of the mixture migrate towards the axis. Next to the separation of solids from liquid, it is possible to obtain separation between two liquids of different densities as well, given that the density difference is large enough.

Coating and lamination

Coating and lamination are material technologies where a coating or laminate is placed on a material surface to cover this substrate. Lamination is a finishing process in which a plastic film from a roll is bonded to a substrate such as paper, cardboard or aluminum foil. In coating, material surfaces are combined with a thermoplastic layer to form a composite material which is bondend together. The purpose of applying the coating or lamination may be functional (e.g., improved strenght and stability), decorative (e.g., aesthetic), or both.

Compost

Compost is an organic product consisting of an aerobic composting process to recycle the organic materials. It consists of a mixture of ingredients used to mulch, fertilise for plant growth and improve the soil structure to increase water and nutrient retention, aeration, and erosion control. Compost is used in gardens, landscaping, horticulture, urban agriculture and organic farming.

Compostable

Organic material that is suitable for biodegradation and composting.

Composting

Composting is a biological process in which micro-organisms convert organic matter such as plant and animal scraps into soil-like material called compost. Compost is easier to handle than manure and other raw organic materials, stores well and is odor-free. Composting is an ancient technology, practiced today at every scale from the backyard compost pile to large commercial operations.

Bioremediation

Bioremediation is different from composting. This techniques are destruction techniques to stimulate the growth of micro-organisms, using the contaminants as a food and energy source. These techniques have been successfully used to remediate soils/sludges & groundwater contaminated by petroleum hydrocarbons, solvents, pesticides, wood preservatives, and other organic chemicals. Oxygen, water & nutrients are added, and the temperature and pH are controlled. The rate microorganisms degrade the contaminants is influenced by: the specific contaminants present, their concentrations, the oxygen supply, moisture, temperature, pH, nutrient supply, bio-augmentation, and co-metabolism.  Micro-organisms can be adapted to degrade specific contaminants or enhance the process.

Contaminants

Foreign material in a recycling stream that makes it more difficult to recycle, or that reduces the usefulness of the final product OR micro-organisms, chemicals, wastes or waste water introduced into the environment or a product (water, soil or recyclable materials) that make the environment or product unfit for its intended use. They can have a

detrimental impact on the quality of recycled materials and can spoil the potential for recovery.

D

Decomposer

Any micro-organism, funghi or small animal small animal that causes organic material to undergo biological or chemical breakdown.

Densification

Densification is a mechanical method to compress material with a low density, such as garden and park waste consisting of small pieces or sawdust, to consistent structures via pressure. Binder agents can be used to increase the cohesion of the particles. Densification overcomes biowaste issues with low densities, a low heating value per unit of volume, high dust levels, and a large variety in physical shapes. The process generally produces pellets or briquettes, which have a lower transportation cost and are easy to handle, which enables industrial processing. Pyrolysis and torrefaction can also be seen as forms of densification.

Design for Recycling

Products designed for recycling by disassembly at the end of the product's useful life to ensure effective separation of all component parts for subsequent reuse and recycling.

Disposal

Waste management option, used after all other environmentally acceptable avenues have been exhausted and includes landfill and incineration.

Domestic waste (DW)

Solid waste coming from households and apartments.

Drying

Drying technologies are based on the vaporisation/evaporation or sublimation of different liquids or solids under different gas atmospheres and physical conditions resulting in dry products or products with a desired humidity.

E

Energy recovery

The generation of energy by burning/incineration or other thermal treatment of materials that are currently sent to landfill.

EPA

Environment Protection Authority

F

Feedstock

Feedstock generally means a unprocessed raw material, that is used to produce something. It is basic material used to produce goods, finished products, energy, or intermediate materials that are feedstock for future finished products. In case of this project bio-waste is defined as a feedstock to be used and utilised via different conversion processes to produce energy, materials or other products.

Field-Flow fractionation (FFF)

Field-Flow Fractionation (FFF) is a family of high resolution separation techniques especially applicable to macromolecules colloids and particles, and shares the most common likeness with liquid chromatography (LC). The mechanism for separation, however, does not involve interactions with a stationary phase used in LC methods. Instead, a field is applied normal to a laminar flow through a narrow channel, which results in a parabolic flow profile, separating different analytes into distinct regions of the velocity profile. The analytes can be fractionated according to their physicochemical properties such as charge, chemical composition, density, molar mass, and size. Beside analytical purposes, the FFF can also be utilised for preparative purposes.

Food and kitchen waste

Food and kitchen waste

G

Garden waste

Organic waste from parks and gardens including grass, leaves, mulch, plants, branches and twigs, tree trunks, stumps and roots.

Gasification

Gasification is the conversion of a solid or liquid organic compound in a gas phase and a solid phase. The gas phase, usually called 'syngas' or 'producer gas', has a high heating power and can be used for power generation or biofuel production. The solid phase, called char, includes the organic unconverted fraction and the inert material present in the treated feedstock.

Greenhouse gases

Atmospheric gases which enhance the natural greenhouse effect including carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH4₄) and others.

H

Hazardous waste or material

Waste that significant quantities of substances that may constitute a danger to the life or health of living organisms and the environment, or poses a threat to the safety of humans or equipment if incorrectly handled. Hazardous waste properties include toxicity, flammability, chemical reactivity, corrosivity and infectiousness, wastes of this type require particular precautions when treated.

Household waste

see 'domestic waste'

Hybrid processing

Hybrid processing covers processes that can be utilised in both primary processing and secondary processing.

Hydrolysis

Hydrolysis (/haɪˈdrɒlɪsɪs/; from Ancient Greek hydro- 'water', and lysis 'to unbind') is a chemical reaction in which a molecule of water breaks one or more chemical bonds. The term is used broadly for substitution, elimination, and solvation reactions that use water as the reagent. In lignocellulosic biomass, the cellulose and hemicellulose breaks down into individual sugars. Hemicellulose is easier to hydrolyse than cellulose. The result of hydrolysing hemicellulose and cellulose are sugars (glucose, mannose, galactose, (C6) and xylose, arabinose (C5)) and organic acids (formic acid and acetic acid).

I

Incineration

Burning waste without energy recovery to either reduce the volume of waste and/ or destroy its infectious properties.

Industrial fermentation

Industrial fermentation is a biotechnological process which uses microorganisms (genetically modified or not), in particular bacteria, yeasts, fungi or algae, to make useful products. The cells are real "cell factories" for the industrial conversion of a wide range of renewable feedstocks into bulk chemicals, fine chemicals, platform chemicals, pharmaceutical ingredients, bio-fuels, bio-plastics, etc. It is a multidisciplinary technology and includes the integrated application of disciplines such as biochemistry, microbiology, molecular genetics and process technology to develop useful processes and products.

Industrial waste

Any waste generated by industrial or manufacturing processes.

Integrated waste management

The complementary use of a variety of waste management practices to handle municipal solid waste safely and effectively. This might include source reduction, reuse, recycling, disposal and energy recovery.

Ionic liquids

Ionic liquids are organic salts that are liquid at room temperature. Because they are salts, they show no volatility. Moreover, they show a high thermal stability as well. Both properties allows them to be used as green solvents and as and alternative to volatile organic compounds. These properties are useful in the pre-treatment of lignocellulosic material by dissolving the material and separating the lignin.

M

Materials recovery

Waste processing allowing reuse and recycling of materials from waste streams.

Membrane filtration

Membrane filtration is a separation technology to remove substances from liquids and gases with the help of permeable membranes which are composed of fibrous or porous materials.

Municipal waste

Municipal solid waste (MSW) is a waste type consisting of everyday items that are discarded by the public. In the European Union, the semantic definition is mixed municipal waste, given waste code 20 03 01 in the European Waste Catalog. Municipal waste consists mainly of waste generated by households, although it also includes similar waste from sources such as shops, offices and public institutions. Although the waste may originate from a number of sources that has nothing to do with a municipality, the traditional role of municipalities in collecting and managing these kinds of waste have produced the particular etymology.

P

Pyrolysis

Pyrolysis (from greek pyr, "fire" and lysis, "loosing/unbind") is a conversion technology that utilises a thermochemical process to convert organic compounds in presence of heat and absence of oxygen into valuable products which can be solid, liquid or gaseous. The chemical transformations of substances are generally accompanied by the breaking of chemical bonds which leads to the conversion of more complex molecules into simpler molecules which may also combine with each other to build up larger molecules again. The products of pyrolysis are usually not the actual building blocks of the decomposed substance, but are structurally modified (e.g. by cyclization and aromatisation or rearrangement).

Pilots4U Database

The Pilots4U Database groups all European open access bio-economy pilot- and multipurpose demo facilities under one, very visible and easily accessible network.

Primary processing

Primary processing of biowaste results in intermediate chemicals and/or materials which will then go into the secondary processing or hybrid processing after which the final product is obtained. While some technologies are used exclusively for the purpose of primary processing, others (such as the separation processes and technologies) can be utilised in both primary and secondary processing which places them into hybrid processing.

S

Secondary processing

Secondary processing covers either the direct or indirect (processing of intermediates from primary processing) valorisation of biowaste into a final product. While some technologies are used exclusively for the purpose of secondary processing, others (such as the separation processes and technologies) can be utilised in both primary and secondary processing which places them into hybrid processing.

Sizing

Sizing is a mechanical process that aims to reduce the particle size and crystallinity and to increase the specific surface area of biowaste to promote further processing of the substrate. This is achieved by eliminating mass and heat transfer limitation during the required reaction. It is a very efficient technique, but a major drawback is the high energy input. Moreover, sizing makes the biomass easier to handle and allows it to flow. Sizing includes chipping, extrusion, grinding, and milling as base technologies.

Steam explosion

Steam explosion is a physicochemical method to break the lignocellulose structure by using high-pressure steam to disrupt the bonding between polymeric components (lignin, cellulose) and decompression. It can be used to pre-treat the lignocellulosic biomass to improve subsequent processes, such as enzymatic hydrolysis.

T

Torrefaction

Torrefaction is a thermochemical treatment applied to upgrade lignocellulosic biomass into a solid bioenergy carrier (torrefied biomass) with superior properties in terms of logistics (handling, transport, and storage) and end use (combustion, gasification, and chemical processing). The word "torrefaction" is derived from the French verb torrefier, which means roasting (as in the roasting of coffee beans). As in most thermochemical treatments, torrefaction results in a combination of products, namely, solid torrefied biomass, condensable liquids, and permanent gases.

U

Ultrasonication

Ultrasonication is a physical treatment to disperse, disrupt, emulsify, extract, and/or homogenise biomass via the application of ultrasonic frequencies (>20 kHz). The propagation of sound waves through the biomass results in spontaneous formation and collapse of microsized cavities. This activity produces a hot-spot effect, resulting in high temperature and pressure gradients to form locally, while the overall conditions remain ambient. This effect can be used to break down morphologies, for example for the depolymerisation of lignocellulosic biowaste.

Links

• Wipe Out Waste (WOW)
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