Abstract
This paper provides an overview of waste generation and treatment operations in the European Union (EU) and other European countries and an analysis of the possibilities for the use of municipal solid waste (MSW) for energy production. A geographic information system based methodology was developed to investigate the spatial distribution of MSW and to identify the optimal location for new potential waste-to-energy in Europe. In 2016, there were 512 plants in Europe, with 251 combined heat and power plants, 161 electricity-only and 94 heat-only plants, which provide a total incineration capacity of 93 million tonnes. The suitability analysis showed that there is a potential to implement around 248 new waste to energy plants in the EU and 330 in all Europe, with a total capacity of 37 and 50 million tonnes, respectively. This represents an additional primary energy production of 260 PJ (6.2 Mtoe) in the EU, in comparison to 406 PJ (9.7 Mtoe) already produced in 2015, and about 352 PJ (8.4 Mtoe) in all European countries considered in this analysis.
Highlights
According to the RED 2009/28/EC [1] on the promotion of renewable energy sources, the use of renewable energy is projected to further increase in the European Union (EU) to reach a share of 20% in final energy consumption and 10% renewable energy in transport by 2020
This paper explores the situation of waste management options currently employed and investigates how municipal solid waste (MSW) can contribute to increase the renewable energy supply in Europe
A broad overview of the current potential of energy recovery from waste resources in Europe was performed. It started with the examination and assessment of the available statistical data on waste generation and treatment in order to describe the current scenario with respect to MSW management and energy recovery in Europe
Summary
According to the RED 2009/28/EC [1] on the promotion of renewable energy sources, the use of renewable energy is projected to further increase in the European Union (EU) to reach a share of 20% in final energy consumption and 10% renewable energy in transport by 2020. The use of waste and residues could plays a significant role in reaching the renewable energy targets set by the RED 2009/28/EC [1] and by the 2030 Climate and Energy Policy Framework (COM(2014) 15 final) with no impact of land use/land use change, food security or with no or reduced competition for raw materials with other sectors [2]. The overall vision is to establish a circular economy in which material use and waste generation are minimised, waste is recycled and reused in the production of new materials, the unavoidable waste treated in a least harmful way to the environment and human health or is used for energy recovered and the remaining waste is landfilled. The remaining resources were successively scanned in order to find the optimal location of new energy plants
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