Study on utilization of Indonesian non-recycled municipal solid waste as renewable solid fuel

Abstract

In 2008, Indonesia produced 38.5 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) and was estimated to increase 2-4% per year. Approximately 25% of the waste was consisted of paper, glass, recycled plastic and metal, taken by scavengers due to their economic value. The rest was non-recycled MSW consisted of organic waste, non-recycled plastic, textile and rubber. In this research, field survey based on Indonesian Standard SNI 19-3964-1994 was conducted to find out the latest MSW composition in final landfill, and its potential as solid fuel was analyzed by investigation of its physical composition and calorific value. The survey data showed that the composition of remained MSW at final landfill was dominated by organic waste and non-recycled plastic waste with a mass ratio of about 5:1. The composition of non-recycled plastic waste was dominated by colored plastic packaging, while the organic waste was dominated by leaves, food wastes, fruit wastes and vegetable wastes. The water content of non-recycled waste was high at about 51.38%, indicating that a pre-treatment process is required before the waste can be used as solid fuel. This characteristic, added with the fact that the waste is mixed and irregular in size and shape, hinders the non-recycled MSW utilization as solid fuel. Based on these characteristics, the wet torrefaction technology can be an appropriate pre-treatment process for Indonesian MSW, because it requires no initial drying and sorting process, producing 75% densified solid material with higher energy density and calorific value of almost equal to sub bituminous coal.In 2008, Indonesia produced 38.5 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) and was estimated to increase 2-4% per year. Approximately 25% of the waste was consisted of paper, glass, recycled plastic and metal, taken by scavengers due to their economic value. The rest was non-recycled MSW consisted of organic waste, non-recycled plastic, textile and rubber. In this research, field survey based on Indonesian Standard SNI 19-3964-1994 was conducted to find out the latest MSW composition in final landfill, and its potential as solid fuel was analyzed by investigation of its physical composition and calorific value. The survey data showed that the composition of remained MSW at final landfill was dominated by organic waste and non-recycled plastic waste with a mass ratio of about 5:1. The composition of non-recycled plastic waste was dominated by colored plastic packaging, while the organic waste was dominated by leaves, food wastes, fruit wastes and vegetable wastes. The water content of non-recycled waste ...