Trash to Energy: A Measure for the Energy Potential of Combustible content of Domestic solid waste generated from an industrialized city of Pakistan

Abstract

BackgroundThe current study was designed to calculate the approximate energy potential of combustible fraction shared in the overall domestic solid waste stream generated from Faisalabad, the 3rd largest city and an industrial hub of Pakistan through ASTM standards. MethodsCharacterization of samples were collected during the rainy season from June-August 2020 and January-March 2021 from three discrete socio-economic classes (lower income class [Rs. 15,000 (US $100)], middle-income class [Rs. 50,000 (US $350)] and high-income class [Rs. ≥1,00,000 (US $1,000)]) and segregated into 13 different physical components consisting of organic waste, yard waste, wood, cardboard, textile, plastic, paper, metal, rubber, glass, ceramic, diapers, dust, stone and miscellaneous. Significant FindingsMore than 70% of the overall generated solid waste was shared by organic waste in the study area, comprising 64.75% moisture content on average. Among all the physical elements of solid waste, combustible content was estimated at 37% in dry mass with 19.23% of ash content and 80.77% of the volatile organic compound. The results of the study approximate about 27.18 MW of energy generation from the available combustible fraction of 1,155 t of domestic solid waste generated from the city daily which can fulfil the need of almost 5,00,000 houses having an average usage of 500 W electricity on monthly basis. The study concludes the conversion of solid waste into energy is the suitable practice for solid waste generated but needed to make this solution practicable with the help of government officials with the involvement of appropriate private sector which will definitely generate new jobs for unemployed persons. The summary demands appropriate adaptation in current waste disposal practice to convert the combustible fraction of generated waste into energy to combat the shortfall of energy/electricity in the city of industries.