The Energy Potential Assessment of Controlled Landfills in Morocco, by Dimensioning a Dry and Discontinuous Methanation Plant, Following the Household and Similar Waste Physicochemical Characterization Results

Abstract

The study was made by district (industrial zone, popular area with average habitats, villa zone, and rural area). A manual and careful sorting (nine categories) is carried out for this study. Thus, the characterization results are (organic matter 54,94%, plastic 15,18%, paper and cardboard 9,72%, textile 7,46%, sanitary textile 5,82%, metals 2,20%, glass 1,89%, Wood 1,82% and Others 1,28%) revealed a dominance of organic matter and an increase in plastic rate that did not exceed 8% in the past. Added to this, the results of the analysis of physicochemical parameters (loss on ignition of the order of 60,26%, humidity rate quite high 59,05%, a total organic carbon (TOC) of 33,47%, and a Lower Heating Value (LHV) of 1840,3 kcal/kg). From these data, we were able to demonstrate the inefficiency of the direct burying solution. Also, we were able to choose the most appropriate anaerobic digestion technology for our HSW (dry discontinuous and mesophilic) and sized the anaerobic digestion unit to assess the electricity production capacity that can be produced in our landfills. Therefore, we have realized three scenarios one which is pessimistic, one optimistic, and the last real, with a load factor of 0.9, and electrical efficiency of 39%. The results of this study are respectively: 18, 29, and 24 concerning the number of digesters to be built, 1,325 kWh, 2,154 kWh, and 1,790 kWh for the electric power per hour, and 4,496,634 m3/year, 7,307,010 m3/year, and 6,070,464 m3/year for the methane produced per year.