Environmental impact and economic sustainability analysis of a novel anaerobic digestion waste-to-energy pilot plant in Pakistan

Introduction: Current energy sources are coming to end and one of the main priorities of the country’s management is the energy recovery from renewable energy. Considerable quantity of municipal solid waste (MSW) is one of the most serious urban pollution sources. Impact assessment matrix is a new and fast tool for Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). Materials and Methods: In this regard, renewable energy like waste-to-energy was investigated. Environmental assessment method was performed to evaluate the environmental impacts of common Waste to Energy (WTE) technologies by Wooten and Rau matrix. Most available WTE technologies (anaerobic digestion, sanitary landfill with gas recovery, waste incineration, and gasification) were environmentally assessed and compared. Results: Results showed that anaerobic digestion could be most environmental friendly WTE technology for production of renewable energy from organic waste and could be considered. Furthermore, executives as green minded managements can improve the quality of waste management by finding new solutions. Other technologies such as landfill by gas recovery and gasification will be ranked second and third in terms of environmental effect. Conclusion: Results showed that performing anaerobic digestion technology will produce less environmental impact in long term. Then landfilling by gas recovery and gasification technologies will be ranked second and third in terms of environmental effect.

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Economical and Environmental Impact of Waste-to-Energy (WTE) Alternatives for Waste Incineration, Landfill and Anaerobic Digestion

Energy Procedia ◽

10.1016/j.egypro.2014.11.947 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 61 ◽

pp. 704-708 ◽

Cited By ~ 34

Author(s):

Sieting Tan ◽

Haslenda Hashim ◽

Chewtin Lee ◽

Mohd Rozainee Taib ◽

Jinyue Yan

Keyword(s):

Anaerobic Digestion ◽

Environmental Impact ◽

Waste Incineration ◽

Waste To Energy

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Performance of an amine-based CO2 capture pilot plant at the Fortum Oslo Varme Waste to Energy plant in Oslo, Norway

International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control ◽

10.1016/j.ijggc.2020.103242 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 106 ◽

pp. 103242

Author(s):

Johan Fagerlund ◽

Ron Zevenhoven ◽

Jørgen Thomassen ◽

Marius Tednes ◽

Farhang Abdollahi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Co2 Capture ◽

Pilot Plant ◽

Waste To Energy ◽

Energy Plant

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Environmental impact assessment of organic fraction of municipal solid waste treatment by anaerobic digestion in Sri Lanka

Waste Management & Research ◽

10.1177/0734242x211013405 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 0734242X2110134

Author(s):

Rasangika Thathsaranee Weligama Thuppahige ◽

Sandhya Babel

Keyword(s):

Anaerobic Digestion ◽

Sri Lanka ◽

Environmental Impact ◽

Municipal Solid Waste ◽

Solid Waste ◽

Resource Scarcity ◽

Policy Formation ◽

Ozone Formation ◽

Organic Fraction ◽

Management Options

The management of organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) has continued to be a significant challenge in Sri Lanka. Anaerobic digestion is one of the management options of OFMSW. However, it generates unavoidable environmental impacts that should be addressed. The present study focuses to assess the environmental impact of a full-scale anaerobic digestion plant in Sri Lanka from a life cycle perspective. The inventory data were obtained from direct interviews and field measurements. Environmental burdens were found to be in terms of global warming potential (230 kg CO2 eq) ozone formation on human health (6.15 × 10−6 kg NO x eq), freshwater eutrophication (2.92 × 10−3 kg P eq), freshwater ecotoxicity (9.27 × 10−5 kg 1,4 DCB eq), human carcinogenic toxicity (3.98 × 10−4 kg 1,4 DCB eq), land use (1.32 × 10−4 m2 a crop eq) and water consumption (2.23 × 10−2 m3). The stratospheric ozone depletion, fine particulate matter formation, ozone formation on terrestrial ecosystems, terrestrial acidification, marine eutrophication, ecotoxicity (terrestrial and marine), human non-carcinogenic toxicity, mineral resource scarcity and fossil resource scarcity, were avoided due to electricity production. Results show that the direct gaseous emissions and digestate generation should be addressed in order to reduce the burdens from the anaerobic digestion plant. Finally, the results of the study could help in policy formation and decision-making in selecting future waste management systems in Sri Lanka.

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Solar Integrated Anaerobic Digester: Energy Savings and Economics

Energies ◽

10.3390/en13174292 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 13 (17) ◽

pp. 4292

Author(s):

Lidia Lombardi ◽

Barbara Mendecka ◽

Simone Fabrizi

Keyword(s):

Anaerobic Digestion ◽

Natural Gas ◽

Economic Analysis ◽

Thermal Energy ◽

Economic Feasibility ◽

Solar Thermal ◽

Base Case ◽

Economic Sustainability ◽

Solar Thermal Energy ◽

Solar Integration

Industrial anaerobic digestion requires low temperature thermal energy to heat the feedstock and maintain temperature conditions inside the reactor. In some cases, the thermal requirements are satisfied by burning part of the produced biogas in devoted boilers. However, part of the biogas can be saved by integrating thermal solar energy into the anaerobic digestion plant. We study the possibility of integrating solar thermal energy in biowaste mesophilic/thermophilic anaerobic digestion, with the aim of reducing the amount of biogas burnt for internal heating and increasing the amount of biogas, further upgraded to biomethane and injected into the natural gas grid. With respect to previously available studies that evaluated the possibility of integrating solar thermal energy in anaerobic digestion, we introduce the topic of economic sustainability by performing a preliminary and simplified economic analysis of the solar system, based only on the additional costs/revenues. The case of Italian economic incentives for biomethane injection into the natural gas grid—that are particularly favourable—is considered as reference case. The amount of saved biogas/biomethane, on an annual basis, is about 4–55% of the heat required by the gas boiler in the base case, without solar integration, depending on the different considered variables (mesophilic/thermophilic, solar field area, storage time, latitude, type of collector). Results of the economic analysis show that the economic sustainability can be reached only for some of the analysed conditions, using the less expensive collector, even if its efficiency allows lower biomethane savings. Future reduction of solar collector costs might improve the economic feasibility. However, when the payback time is calculated, excluding the Italian incentives and considering selling the biomethane at the natural gas price, its value is always higher than 10 years. Therefore, incentives mechanism is of great importance to support the economic sustainability of solar integration in biowaste anaerobic digestion producing biomethane.

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Poultry litter as a fuel

World s Poultry Science Journal ◽

10.1079/wps19930017 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 49 (2) ◽

pp. 175-177 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

S.P. Dagnall

Keyword(s):

Environmental Impact ◽

Poultry Litter ◽

Waste To Energy ◽

The Uk ◽

Direct Use

In the UK about 1.4 million tonnes of used poultry litter are produced each year. Its disposal by direct use as a fertilizer or by landfill can, in some circumstances, have an adverse environmental impact. Waste-to-energy schemes which generate revenue from the energy produced and may provide fertilizer as a valuable byproduct offer an alternative and environmentally acceptable means of disposal.

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