Abstract
Mechanical biological treatment (MBT) is known as one of the most attractive method of waste treatment. This treatment consists of the mechanical separation of resource and the biological degradation of organic matter. The both operations need to be optimized to the regional characteristic of waste. The purpose of this study is to investigate the state of arts of MBT operation in Asia in order to figure out the practical problem on it. Operational conditions and material flow were investigated in the MBT facilities, in Phitsanulok and Saraburi, Thailand. The MBT plant in Phitsanulok has capacity to bio-drying for 9 months because of large available area. Some part of residue had to be stored in the plant and the disposal site for the residue was required. The MBT plant in Saraburi, all the bio-dried MSW without the packaging was used as a fuel and the disposal site for the residue was not required. The lower heat value (LHV) of dried-MSW was lower than the MBT plant in Phitsanulok. It suggests that the demand of LHV of fuel product by user and the available area of biological treatment are evaluation parameters of optimization level of the MBT operation for adapting Asian regions.
