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Municipal solid waste management has become an important challenge in the developing countries. Treatment using thermal methods, especially by incineration is advantageous in comparison with biological and chemical treatments, as they require less time and space for the reduction of huge quantities of wastes and also generates energy. As the composition of municipal solid waste (MSW) and its calorific value is inconsistent for power generation, we have studied the possibility of blending MSW with an auxiliary fuel such as coal. The study was conducted in the Warangal city (in Telangana State of India) which produces around 220 tonnes of MSW per day. Various blending proportions of MSW and coal were analysed and quantified the calorific value, gaseous emissions (NOx, SO2 and CO2) and also estimated the cost of production. We found that, blend of MSW and coal in the proportion of 90-80% and 10-20% respectively, is optimal in terms of waste processing and lower gaseous emissions. The cost-benefit analysis for the two scenarios consisting of either inclusion or exclusion of food wastes in the MSW validates the viability of co-firing as a better waste management practice with a minimum assured gain of Rs. 0.3 million per day [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Earth's atmospheric interface is highly vulnerable to anthropogenic aerosol pollution and changes caused by numerous industrial and allied sectors. The boundary layer aerosol emissions interact directly or indirectly with the dynamics and microphysical processes, impact cloud properties, precipitation accumulations, and subsequently affect socio-economic growth. The primary objective of this study is to synthesize the aerosol-convection-precipitation interactions concerning atmospheric microphysics and identify the modern methods to explore such dynamics. The secondary objective of this study is to understand and analyze the scientific literature with a bibliometric analysis to find the significant theme of influence from the scientific literature. The results highlighted the main and critical trends in aerosol research and reveal that the research interest seemingly improved in the past 5 years with an annual scientific growth rate of approx. 6%. It is evident from a plethora of relevant research findings that aerosol loading in the atmosphere up to a certain effective droplet concentration may increase the precipitation, however, further increment in aerosol concentration will decrease the precipitation efficiency. Regional feedback mechanisms (boundary layer, radiative etc.) play a pivotal role in governing aerosol and convective precipitation dynamics. The combination of satellite observations from space and ground-based (in-situ) measurements and climate models offers a practical possibility for resolving the complexity in cloud micro-phenomenology. • State-of-the-art methods to explore the complexity of aerosol-cloud interactions. • Crucial and influential trends in aerosol-CCN research. • Evidence of invigoration of modelling without ground truthing. • New avenues with machine learning methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]