The economic and environmental analysis of energy production from slaughterhouse waste in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The waste generated from animal slaughtering increases significantly during the Hajj period due to increased meat consumption as well as performing the religious ritual of animal slaughtering. It is estimated that about 12% of waste per body weight of sheep and goat is generated, while 43% waste of cattle body weight is generated. There are no robust data available about the slaughtering waste generation in KSA. However, it is apparent that huge amounts of waste are generated and disposed of to the landfills without any material and energy recovery. This study estimates that slaughtering activity generated about 0.08 million tons of solid waste in 2016, which will reach up to 0.2 million tons in 2030. The slaughtering activity includes both domestic and international visitors (Umrah and Hajj pilgrims) meat demand along with holly ritual of animal sacrifice on Eid Ul Adha (religious festival). The study assesses the economic feasibility of two scenarios for waste-to-energy production utilizing slaughterhouse waste as input material through sustainable waste management practices. The gross revenue obtained from the waste management facility includes gate fee saving (45 to 114 MSAR) by waste diversion, environmental saving (8 to 20 MSAR) in the form of carbon credits, power generation potential from biogas, biodiesel, glycerol, MBM (scenario I: 14 to 35 MSAR, scenario II: 21 to 52 MSAR) and selling price of the equivalent amount of fossil resources (scenario I: 46 to 117 MSAR; scenario II: 52 to 132 SAR) from 2016 till 2030. In general, the revenue contribution potentials of scenario I and scenario II to the national economic circle will be 288 MSAR and 319 MSAR in 2030, correspondingly. Although preliminary investigations of both scenarios reveal the considerable potential of implementing transesterification and anaerobic digestion for the sustainable management of slaughterhouse waste in Makkah, further in-depth studies in accordance with local geographic, socioeconomic and cultural values are also recommended.