Municipal Solid Waste Energy Conversion in Developing Countries

Technologies, Best Practices, Challenges and Policy

Suani Teixeira Coelho, Alessandro Sanches Pereira, Shyamala K. Mani, Daniel Hugo Bouille, William H.L. Stafford, Marina Yesica Recalde, Atilio Armando Savino, Suani Teixeira Coelho, Alessandro Sanches Pereira, Shyamala K. Mani, Daniel Hugo Bouille, William H.L. Stafford, Marina Yesica Recalde, Atilio Armando Savino

• Editore: Elsevier
• Anno: 2019
• ISBN:
  9780128134207
• Argomento: Technik & Maschinenbau
• Categoria: Regenerative Energieressourcen

Municipal Solid Waste Energy Conversion in Emerging Countries: Technologies, Best Practices, Challenges and Policy presents contributions from authors from India, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, South Africa and China who come together to present the most reliable technologies for the energy conversion of municipal solid waste. The book addresses existing economic and policy scenarios and possible pathways to increase energy access and reduce the negative impacts of inadequate disposal. The book's authors discuss anaerobic digestion and other MSW conversion technologies, such as incineration and gasification. The environmental and social impacts of their introduction in small villages in emerging countries is also explored.

Due to its focus on local authors and its pragmatic approach, this book is indispensable for bioenergy researchers and practitioners in emerging economies, as well as researchers, graduate students and professionals interested in developing waste to energy technology that can be implemented in those regions. It is also particularly useful to professionals interested in energy policy and economics, due to its assessment of policy and recommendations.

• Explores the opportunities and challenges for municipal solid waste to energy technology implementation in emerging economies, such as Brazil, India, South Africa and China
• Presents a detailed and updated overview of the commercial technologies available in these countries and their economic, environmental and social aspects
• Includes case studies which highlight best practices and successful local experiences
• Examines current economics and policy barriers for these technologies

Chapter One

Introduction

Suani Teixeira Coelho⁎; Daniel Hugo Bouille^†; Shyamala K. Mani^‡; William H.L. Stafford^{§,¶ ⁎} Research Group on Bioenergy, Institute of Energy and Environment, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
^† Fundación Bariloche, Río Negro, Argentina
^‡ National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, India
^§ Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Stellenbosch, South Africa
^¶ Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch, South Africa

Abstract

The adequate collection and disposal of municipal solid waste (MSW) remain a challenge in developing countries as a direct consequence of inadequate practices, which in turn produce negative environmental and social impacts. In industrialized countries most MSW are collected, reused, recycled, and, before being disposed in landfills, are recovered through waste-to-energy (WtE) systems. However, in developing countries, WtE technologies still face several barriers, in all aspects, and the synergies of WtE and basic sanitation are not yet well seen. In this context, the main objective of this publication is to analyze the current situation of MSW collection and disposal, allowing the discussion of the perspectives of WtE in Latin America, Africa, and Asia.

Keywords

Biomass; MSW; Waste-to-energy (WtE); Industrialized countries; Developing countries

Biomass energy (e.g., bioenergy) can be produced from different feed stocks of biological origin, through several different processes to produce heat, electricity and transport fuels (i.e., biofuels). As stated in REN21 (2018), “bioenergy as solid fuels (biomass), liquids (biofuels), or gases (biogas or biomethane) can be used to produce heat for cooking and for space and water heating in the residential sector, in traditional stoves or in modern appliances such as pellet-fed central heating boilers.” Besides that, bioenergy also can be used for cogeneration [combined production of electricity and heat—CHP (combined heat and power)]. One of the important sources of bioenergy corresponds to municipal wastes (solid waste and liquid effluents), which can be used for energy conversion, mainly electricity.

However, the adequate collection and disposal of MSW remain a challenge in DCs as a direct consequence of inadequate practices, which in turn produce negative environmental and social impacts.

In industrialized countries most MSW are collected, reused, recycled, and before being disposed in landfills, are recovered through WtE systems. The share of MSW in the biomass energy conversion worldwide is significant: in 2015, 18% of all biomass corresponded to MSW for heating and 4% to biogas from different sources. Considering electricity production, in 2015 biogas was responsible for 20% and MSW corresponded to 8% of electricity produced from biomass (REN21, 2018).

Fig. 1.1 illustrates the situation of MSW and WtE in European countries (Eurostat, 2018). Eurostat data shows that WtE (and recycling) is mostly used in the more developed European countries, landfills being used preferentially in the less industrialized European ones.

Fig. 1.1 Municipal waste treatment in the European Union from Eurostat. (Data from Eurostat, 2018. Municipal Waste Treatment, EU-28 (kg per Capita).)

The situation is different in DCs, where the collection and adequate disposal of MSW are not yet a reality for most of their populations.

In Brazil, for instance, the adequate disposal of MSW is still a problem, especially in small and medium municipalities. There are more than 1000 municipalities generating about 42% of the total collected waste that have no adequate disposal in landfills. Moreover, there has been a significant increase in the specific waste generation (e.g., tones per capita per year) and adequate disposal does not follow this trend, largely in the North and Northeastern regions (ABRELPE, 2016).

In India, according to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Government of India, the total generation of municipal waste is 145,128 metric tonnes per day (MT/D) of which 34.07% is processed (MoHUA, 2018). It also states that 79.5% of the wards in cities have achieved 100% door to door collection of domestic garbage. The current WtE production in India is 88.4 MW and the waste to compost production for September 2016 was 1506500 metric tonnes. Urban population in India is 37 million and the number of cities 4378 (MoHUA, 2018). In India state urban development departments and urban local bodies are responsible for waste management in the different cities. According to the Clean India campaign, which started on October 2, 2014 and will go on till October 1, 2019, all cities and towns will achieve 100% collection at doorstep and sizeable amount recovered and processed. According to the Solid Waste Management Rules 2016 promulgated by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Government of India, not more than 10%–15% of the municipal waste should go for dumping, if at all only in sanitary landfills built according to specifications to prevent air, water and soil pollution. However, it is estimated that over 65% of the waste is currently going to dumpsites, which have no lining or preventive measures to stop air or water pollution.

In South Africa, a population of 52 million generates approximately 108 million tonnes of waste (Republic of South Africa, 2011). Municipalities are responsible for ensuring that adequate waste collection and disposal facilities are available. However, waste collection services are not fully rolled out, and almost one-third (30.1%) of households lack any kind of refuse facilities, particularly in small municipalities and rural areas, which are the most unserved areas. Waste disposal by landfill remains the most dominant method of disposal in South Africa. The reliance on landfill disposal, coupled with the relative low pricing for landfilling, has limited the incentive to devise alternative methods of dealing with waste. However, there are a few laudable examples where waste management practices have been recently improved with new measures and put in place to recover materials and energy from MSW. In addition, the recent development of national policy, namely the National Waste Management Strategy (NWMS), aims to drastically reduce waste to landfill through waste minimization, reuse, recycling and recovery of waste (DEA&DP, 2015) with a target of a 20% reduction in waste going to landfill by 2019.

Ahead, in this book, several other examples and difficulties are presented for African, Asian and Latin American countries. In addition, this book highlights that the main MSW disposal is still landfills and there are only a few examples on WtE processes. The main challenge is the economic feasibility since investment are extremely high and the demonstration plants remain very few. Besides these difficulties, there is another important challenge faced by DCs: energy access. As discussed in several publications, such as in BREA project (GBIO, 2015), access to cleaner and affordable energy options is essential for improving the livelihoods of the poor in DCs. In fact, there is a clear link between energy and poverty.

In DCs, there are 2.7 billion people (17% of world population) relying on traditional biomass for cooking and the overwhelming majority of the 1.2 billion have no access to electricity (38% of world population), despite some decrease in the energy deficit since 2010 (REN21, 2018). In addition, as shown in Fig. 1.2, a large percentage of such population lives in African and Asian c...