Optimal economic planning for the development of waste management system by a superstructural model

Abstract

In this paper, a model of integrated waste management system was presented that evaluates the possibility of energy supply by the system and offers sustainable plans for expansion and development of the system in the long-time horizon. Initially, the system superstructure was represented, which includes waste-to-energy (WtE) processes with electricity product and waste-to-material (WtM) processes with products of recycled material and compost, and does not include the transportation sector. The mixed and source-segregated municipal solid waste, which is collected from city area, can be considered as feedstock in superstructure. Then, an optimization model of mixed integer nonlinear programming was formulated based on the superstructure. In addition to optimally determining the strategic process and feedstock allocation, this model plans product production and capacity expansion. The ability of model was tested through a case study of future Tehran metropolis.