ENERGY POTENTIAL FROM MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE (MSW) FOR A DEVELOPING METROPOLIS

Akinbowale Aki̇nshi̇lo

doi:10.18186/thermal.654322

Abstract

In many developing cities around the world, the shortage of energy and environmental degradation are currently two vital issues affecting sustainable development. The migration of people from villages to one of Africa’s rapidly growing city Lagos, Nigeria has led to the generation of tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) daily. This is one of the important contributors to environmental degradation. Harnessing the useful potential of MSW for power generation adopting the incineration technology will enhance the intermittent power supply and also help with waste management, which has threatening effect on the populace. Therefore this paper focuses on energy stored in waste generated and the power potential of this MSW through an energy recovery method to generate other forms of energy for use has an alternative energy. From the waste characterization exercise, the main components of the Lagos MSW were found to be food, metal and plastic; making the average moisture content of the MSW high. It was illustrated from analysis that a high power potential of over 10,000 MW can be obtained adopting the incineration process, starting with data from 2016 with an exponential increase over the years.

Highlights

Waste arises from human activities such as domestic, commercial, industrial, agricultural and so on
With respect to past research, the present paper aim to investigate the energy potential from solid municipal waste which may be obtained from landfills in Lagos state, Nigeria due to its peculiarity, as the commercial center of Africa, its rapid urbanization, meteoric population rise and problem of proper waste disposal methods
The site selection for any waste to energy (WTE) technology which could be incinerator plants with energy recovery, biomethanation/ anaerobic digestion or gasification should be based on factors other than the mere availability of land due to the effect of carbon footprints on high population density

Summary

Introduction

Waste arises from human activities such as domestic, commercial, industrial, agricultural and so on. [8,9] presented a review of energy recovery from burning solid municipal waste; where they reviewed the use of energy component obtained in form of steam, electricity or sale as solid fuel. With respect to past research, the present paper aim to investigate the energy potential from solid municipal waste which may be obtained from landfills in Lagos state, Nigeria due to its peculiarity, as the commercial center of Africa, its rapid urbanization, meteoric population rise and problem of proper waste disposal methods.

Results

Conclusion