MatER Meeting 2019 ENG

MatER Meeting 2019

4th MatER Meeting “Innovation & Technologies in Waste Recovery”

On May 27th – 28th the 4th MatER Meeting took place at the Piacenza Campus of the Politecnico di Milano over “Innovation & Technologies in Waste Recovery”.

This biannual conference arises from the fundamental goal of MatER that is providing a thorough, objective representation of technologies and policies for material and energy recovery from waste, covering the regulatory, strategic and technical-scientific aspects of sustainable waste management. The event has been organized with the scientific support of DICA (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering) and Energy Department of the Politecnico di Milano.

With the 4th edition of the conference, it has been our ambition to strengthen the link of the applied research with industry. For this reason, we have set 2 twin calls, equally evaluated but addressed to two different bodies. Works evaluation has been undertaken by a scientific committee according to their quality, innovation, and relevance of the subject, together with the need to preserve a balance of topics within the sessions.

The detailed program, together with the short abstract descriptions, can still be consulted at the dedicated page of the event at this link.

Some works have been illustrated in the 4 oral sessions and the rest have been presented during the poster sessions, distributed among the 2 days.

The focus of the 4 oral sessions have been:

The first session “Strategies, Perceptions & Economics of waste management” was opened with the introduction of the director Prof. Stefano Consonni (Politecnico di Milano)  who explained to the participants of the conference the genesis, activities and specific objectives of the MatER Study Center. After the welcome greetings, the first plenary session started, led by prof. Stefano Consonni & eng. Lorenzo Zaniboni (A2A Ambiente) in the role of chairmen.

During the morning session, various professionals specialized in the waste sector exposed their works. Among them:

  • “Waste and Circular Economy: present situation and future perspectives”, by Giuseppe Bortone, ARPAE Director
  • “Urban Waste Management in Emilia-Romagna Region: Economical and Technical Evaluation in a Life Cycle Perspective”, by Chiara Magrini, Università di Bologna
  • “Material Recovery from MSW: Actual recovery rates and Environmental benefits”, by Lidia Lombardi, Università Niccolò Cusano
  •  “The importance of communication in waste management”, by Giovanni De Feo, Università di Salerno
  • “Thoughts about RRR-Communication: How well-meant intentions in “Reduce – Reuse – Recycle” are an inadequate basis for a successful development of international waste management”, by Hedwig Vielreicher, WTERT Germany GmbH
  • “Economic Regulation of the Waste Management Sector: Defining An Efficient Benchmark Of The Gate Fees Of The Treatment Plants”, by Anna Moretto, Ente di Bacino Padova 2

 

During the afternoon, eng. Antonio Protopapa and eng. Manuele Gatti coordinated the first parallel sessions of the day. While the COREPLA director was guiding the “Plastics & Polymers Recovery” session, the PoliMi professor guided the “Biogas & Biomethane” session.

The second parallel session was coordinated by prof. Roberto Canziani (Politecnico di Milano) and by prof. Marco J. Castaldi (City College NYC). Here the 2 topics debated were Sludges & Sewage Recovery and Innovative Processes & Optimization

The presentations discussed during the afternoon were:

  • “Plastics And Microplastics: An Environmental And Health Problem, But Above All A Socio-Cultural Issue”, by Federica Tommasi, Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS)
  • “Polyce: Circular Economy Solutions For The Recycling Of Plastics From WEEE”, by Luca Campadello, ECODOM
  • “Modeling waste thermal treatment”, by Tiziano Faravelli, Politecnico di Milano
  • “Recycled Polymers in Bituminous Membranes: Opportunities Of Circular Economy for End-of-Life Tires”, by Camillo Cardelli, MOPI Srl
  • “Biogas-To-Biomethane: A Review Of Upgrading Techniques From A Life Cycle Perspective”, by Giovanni Cardamone, Università della Campania
  • “Power To Gas: Process Monitoring Of Hydrogenotrophic Methanogenesis To Biomethane Production”, by Daniela Bona, Fondazione Edmund Mach
  • “Biomethane Production from the MSW Organic fraction with immision into the local gas network”, by Gian Marco Malagoli, AIMAG Spa
  • “Alternative Scenarios Of Energy Recovery From Organic Fraction Of Residual Municipal Waste In the Marche Region”, by Martina Di Addario, Università di Urbino
  • “Zürich Mono-Inceneration plant: operation experiences”, by Antonio Castorini, TBF – Switzerland
  • “High Pressure And Medium Temperature Sludge Treatment”, by Mattia Sbaffi, Agrosistemi Srl
  • “Valorization Of Landfill Leachate Through Ammonium Sulphate Production”, by Gioia Garavini, Ecoinnovazione Srl
  • “Waste: Evolution Or Revolution Of Automation For Waste Treatment”, by Christophe Cord’Homme, CNIM – France
  • “Recent Advances On Waste Logistics Optimisation: From Strategic Design To Short-Term Operations Planning”, by Matteo Pozzi, OPTIT Srl
  • “Optimization Of Multi-Stage Air Pollution Control Systems In Wte Plants Via Process Data Analysis And Dedicated Test Runs”, by Alessandro Dal Pozzo, Università di Bologna

Thanks to the parallel sessions, it was possible to cover a wider range of topics and to give the possibility to all the participants to chose the one of greatest interest.

The first day ended up with the GALA dinner at the premises of the prestigious Basilica Sant’Agostino, in Piacenza, preceded by a guided tour of the RICCI ODDI Modern Art Gallery.

During the second day only plenary sessions were held, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The first one coordinated by prof. Umberto Arena (Università degli Studi della Campania) & eng. Claudio Mazzari (IREN Ambiente) in the role of chairmen, focused on Energy Recovery.
Among the works presented, we found:

  • “How to increase energy recovery in existing plants?”, by Robert Van Kessel, PREWIN – Netherlands
  • “The Role Of Waste-To-Energy In The Circular Economy”, by Lorenzo Ceccherini, CEWEP – Brussels
  • “The Unsaid Of The Waste Incineration BREF BAT-Conclusions”, by Christophe Cord’Homme, CNIM – France
  • “Mercury Emissions in the Turin WtE plant: Management Experiences”, by Giovanni Corti, TRM Spa.
  • “The Actual Impact Of Waste-To-Energy Plants On Air Quality: Case Study For The Desio Plant”, by Alberto Cambiaghi, Brianza Energia Ambiente SpA
  • “Hot Syngas Cleaning Performances Of Activated Carbons Of Different Size”, by Francesco Parrillo, Università della Campania

In the afternoon, the other fundamental aspect of MatER study center was addressed: Energy Recovery. During this session the chairmen were prof. Michele Giugliano (Politecnico di Milano) & eng. Davide Alberti (LGH), and the presentetations exposed were:

  • “Material recovery, a priority for Europe and the territories: the contribution of the Regional Environmental Prevention Agency (ARPAE) of Emilia-Romagna”, by Franco Zinoni, Direttore Tecnico ARPAE
  • “Achievements And Future Challenges Of The Italian Organic Waste Recycling Sector”, by Alberto Confalonieri, CIC
  • “Assessing The Performances Of Paper Vs. Bioplastic Bags For Food Waste Delivered To Anaerobic Digestion”, by Giovanni Dolci, Politecnico di Milano
  • “SCOOTER – Fruit and vegetable wastes: opportunity in their reuse and energetic valorization”, by Lucrezia Lamastra, Università Cattolica di Piacenza
  • “Microalgae Production From Digestate Of Dry Anaerobic Digestion Of Organic Waste Sequestering CO2 From Air”, by Davide Papurello, Politecnico di Torino
  • “Natural And Accelerated Carbonation Treatments For MSW Incineration Bottom Ashes Inertization”, by Caterina Caviglia, Università di Torino

May 29th, 2019

Finally, on the 3rd day, a technical visit took place.

The novelty of the 4th edition has been the choice of 2 waste treatment facilities instead of one:

    1.         The biomethane production plant of Sant’Agata Bolognese (BO) of HERAmbiente
    2.         The WTE plant of Modena of HERAmbiente

Choosing two plants allowed the participants to have a deep knowledge of both a material and energy recovery plant, in line with the real purpose of the MatER study center.

Here are in summary some of the #MatER19’s numbers:

  • ~150 participants from 10 different nations and with different professional profiles (universities, industries, institutions, public administration etc.)
  • 38 oral interventions over 2 days
  • 12 POSTERcontributions exposed
  • 7 Sessions, 4 of which in parallel on specific topics (Novelty 2019)
  • 4 Corporate Sponsors + 2 Media Partners (Novelty 2019)
  • 2 HerAmbiente plants visited (Material & Energy) (Novelty 2019)
  • 1 Unique on-line platform developed internally for communication and the management of the entire event at 360 °  (Novelty 2019)

Hence, the Meeting has been an occasion of discussion and knowledge sharing, on an international level, of projects and activities over the waste management world. Once again, the event has been confirmed to be a fruitful appointment in the sector of the recovery of materials and energy from refuse, according to the mission of the MatER Study Center.

We truly want to thank the sponsors of the event:

 

It is possible to find the detailed program together with the main description of all the presented works at the
dedicated website of the #MatER19.

In order to download the proceedings of the 4th Edition, please click HERE.