COMPOSTING HEATING RECOVERY SYSTEMS (CHRS): A SUSTAINABLE SOLUTION FOR HEAT PRODUCTION

Since energy demand is growing up rapidly an alternative and renewable energy sources for both economic and environmental reason must be implemented. Among various types of renewable energy sources, renewable energy from biomass (Bioenergy) is seen as one of the best choices to prevent the global warming and the environmental pollution and represents an abundant, alternative and sustainable source of energy. Bioenergy recovery from waste and residual biomasses is an interesting solution that allows to combine appropriate waste management strategies with energy generation, according to the principles of circular economy. The aerobic biomass biodegradation is an exothermic process for the stabilization of the organic wastes coming from the separate collection. There are decentralized technologies that allow to produce sustainable energy: traditional Thermocompost plants, which mainly exploit green waste and woodchips, uses the elevated temperature released by the oxygen-consuming microbial metabolism of the process, to heat the water used for the underfloor heating of buildings and warming the sanitary water (Smith et al., 2017) The primary aim of the thesis is to provide, starting from previous studies and literature reviews, a clear overview of the basis of composting mechanism during aerobic degradation, the state of the art of traditional CHRS and the methods to recover the thermal energy produced via thermocomposting. The second part of the research regarded the construction and monitoring phase of a full-scale thermocompost, the trials made to evaluate the potential heat extraction and the laboratory analysis.