Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Gasification and Landfilling for Disposal of Municipal Solid Wastes

Angelika Sita Ouedraogo,Robert Scott Frazier,Ajay Kumar

doi:10.3390/en14217032

Angelika Sita Ouedraogo, Robert Scott Frazier + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/en14217032

Copy DOI

Journal: Energies	Publication Date: Oct 27, 2021
Citations: 12	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Oklahoma State University

Abstract

Disposal of municipal solid wastes (MSW) remains a challenge to minimize its impacts on the environment and human health. Landfilling, currently the most common method used for MSW disposal, occupies land space and leads to soil and air emissions. Gasification, an alternative MSW disposal method, can convert waste to energy, but can also lead to soil and air emissions and is a more extensive operation. In this study, life cycle assessments (LCA) of the two disposal methods (landfilling without energy recovery and gasification) were compared to understand impacts on environment and health. The LCA was conducted following the ISO 14040 standards with one ton of MSW as the functional unit. The life cycle inventory was obtained from published journals, technical reports, LandGEM, HELP and GREET database. The impact assessment was done using TRACI 2.1 and categorized into eight groups. The LCA revealed that landfilling is a higher contributor in global warming, acidification, smog formation, eutrophication, ecotoxicity and human health cancer and non-cancer categories. The negative environmental impacts of MSW landfilling can be primarily attributed to the fate of leachate loss and landfill gas, while those of the MSW gasification can be attributed to the disposal of its solid residues.

Highlights

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, Oklahoma State University, 111 Agriculture Hall, Citation: Ouedraogo, A.S.; Frazier, Abstract: Disposal of municipal solid wastes (MSW) remains a challenge to minimize its impacts on the environment and human health
The study found that hydrogen sulfide (H2 S), an airborne contaminant released during MSW landfilling, was linked to lung cancer and respiratory diseases mortality, along with respiratory diseases morbidity, especially for children (
Acidification and smog formation potentials were not affected by locations and were evaluated for air emissions only

Summary

Introduction

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, Oklahoma State University, 111 Agriculture Hall, Citation: Ouedraogo, A.S.; Frazier, Abstract: Disposal of municipal solid wastes (MSW) remains a challenge to minimize its impacts on the environment and human health. Life cycle assessments (LCA) of the two disposal methods (landfilling without energy recovery and gasification) were compared to understand impacts on environment and health. Landfills cause severe toxicological risks and odor nuisances to the surrounding environment (air and soil), animals and residents due to chemical exposure such as benzene, vinyl chloride monomer, polychrorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins/furans, dioxins and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons [3]. These hazardous compounds have been reported to cause reproductive disorders, pulmonary, gastrointestinal, renal, liver and dermatologic-related diseases, lung, skin and bladder cancer, bone marrow alteration, and leukemia [3,4,5,6,7]. Gasification is a thermal decomposition of biomass or MSW into syngas, ash and slag, conducted in a partial oxidative

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion