Abstract
With increasing consumption propelled by economic prosperity, waste generation per capita in developing countries is growing quickly. Traditional approaches of open dumping and landfilling are encountering physical constraints, particularly in megacities, and the need for alternate municipal solid waste (MSW) management strategies is urgent. Among alternatives that are commonly considered are waste-to-energy technologies including incineration and plasma gasification. Previous studies convey the benefits of such technologies, but most do not consider the waste and environmental conditions in tropical megacities such as Mumbai, India, making these studies of limited use to developing countries. This article evaluates the exergetic potential of converting MSW to useful work by thermal and biochemical conversion technologies in the Indian context, considering the facts that the scale of production, composition, climate, segregation practices, moisture content of MSW, etc. in a developing tropical country like India differ significantly from those in developed societies in temperate climate locations. Both, exergy and economic analysis find gasification to be attractive in terms of its monetary return and thermodynamic efficiency. However, this analysis also identifies major hurdles in adopting advanced waste-to-energy technologies including lack of waste segregation, high moisture content, and high capital cost of the most thermodynamically efficient technology.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ameri M, Ahmadi P, Khanmohammadi S (2008) Exergy analysis of a 420 MW combined cycle power plant. Int J Energy Res 32:175–183. doi:10.1002/er.1351
Annepu RK (2012) Sustainable solid waste management in India. Thesis Earth Engineering Center, Columbia University, New York
Ayres R (2003) Exergy, power and work in the US economy, 1900–1998. Energy 28:219–273. doi:10.1016/S0360-5442(02)00089-0
Ayres RU, Talens Peiró L, Villalba Méndez G (2011) Exergy efficiency in industry: Where do we stand? Environ Sci Technol 45:10634–10641. doi:10.1021/es202193u
Byun Y, Namkung W, Cho M et al (2010) Demonstration of thermal plasma gasification/vitrification for municipal solid waste treatment. Environ Sci Technol 44:6680–6684. doi:10.1021/es101244u
Byun Y, Cho M, Chung JW et al (2011) Hydrogen recovery from the thermal plasma gasification of solid waste. J Hazard Mater 190:317–323. doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2011.03.052
Chattopadhyay S, Dutta A, Ray S (2009) Municipal solid waste management in Kolkata, India—a review. Waste Manag 29:1449–1458. doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2008.08.030
Dai J, Chen B, Sciubba E (2014) Ecological accounting based on extended exergy: a sustainability perspective. Environ Sci Technol 48:9826–9833. doi:10.1021/es404191v
Dorn T, Flamme S, Nelles M (2012) A review of energy recovery from waste in China. Waste Manag Res J Int Solid Wastes Public Clean Assoc ISWA 30:432–441. doi:10.1177/0734242X11433530
Ducharme C (2010) Technical and economic analysis of Plasma-assisted Waste-to-Energy processes. Research Paper I. School of Engineering and Applied Science, Columbia University
Eriksson O, Reich MC, Frostell B, Bjo A (2005) Municipal solid waste management from a systems perspective. J Clean Prod 13:241–252. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2004.02.018
Galeno G, Minutillo M, Perna A (2011) From waste to electricity through integrated plasma gasification/fuel cell (IPGFC) system. Int J Hydrog Energy 36:1692–1701. doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2010.11.008
Gohlke O (2009) Efficiency of energy recovery from municipal solid waste and the resultant effect on the greenhouse gas balance. Waste Manag Res 27:894–906. doi:10.1177/0734242X09349857
Hlina M, Hrabovsky M, Kavka T, Konrad M (2014) Production of high quality syngas from argon/water plasma gasification of biomass and waste. Waste Manag 34:63–66. doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2013.09.018
Hu Y (2010) China needs to control mercury emissions from municipal solid waste (MSW) incineration. Environ Sci Technol 44:7994–7995
Janajreh I, Raza SS, Valmundsson AS (2013) Plasma gasification process: modeling, simulation and comparison with conventional air gasification. Energy Convers Manag 65:801–809. doi:10.1016/j.enconman.2012.03.010
Joshi AS, Dincer I, Reddy BV (2009) Thermodynamic assessment of photovoltaic systems. Sol Energy 83:1139–1149. doi:10.1016/j.solener.2009.01.011
Kalinci Y, Hepbasli A, Dincer I (2011) Exergoeconomic analysis of hydrogen production from plasma gasification of sewage sludge using specific exergy cost method. Int J Hydrog Energy 36:11408–11417. doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2010.11.124
Langenhove HRVAN (2002) Quantitative assessment of solid waste treatment systems in the industrial ecology perspective by exergy analysis. Environ Sci Technol 36:1130–1135
Morrin S, Lettieri P, Chapman C, Mazzei L (2012) Two stage fluid bed-plasma gasification process for solid waste valorisation: technical review and preliminary thermodynamic modelling of sulphur emissions. Waste Manag 32:676–684. doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2011.08.020
Morris DR, Szargut J (1986) Standard chemical exergy of some elements and compounds on the planet earth. Energy 11:733–755. doi:10.1016/0360-5442(86)90013-7
Mountouris A, Voutsas E, Tassios D (2006) Solid waste plasma gasification: equilibrium model development and exergy analysis. Energy Convers Manag 47:1723–1737. doi:10.1016/j.enconman.2005.10.015
Mountouris A, Voutsas E, Tassios D (2008) Plasma gasification of sewage sludge: process development and energy optimization. Energy Convers Manag 49:2264–2271. doi:10.1016/j.enconman.2008.01.025
Moustakas K, Fatta D, Malamis S et al (2005) Demonstration plasma gasification/vitrification system for effective hazardous waste treatment. J Hazard Mater 123:120–126. doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2005.03.038
Murphy JD, Mckeogh E (2004) Technical, economic and environmental analysis of energy production from municipal solid waste. Renew Energy 29:1043–1057. doi:10.1016/j.renene.2003.12.002
Rathi S (2007) Optimization model for integrated municipal solid waste management in Mumbai, India. Environ Dev Econ 12:105–121
Ricaud A (2011) Practical and economic viability of small scale Energy-from-Waste. Thesis Imperial College London
Rivero RÃ, Garfias M (2006) Standard chemical exergy of elements updated. Energy 31:3310–3326. doi:10.1016/j.energy.2006.03.020
Sciubba E (2008) Critical review exergy: its potential and limitations in environmental science and technology. Environ Sci Technol 42:2221–2232
Sharholy M, Ahmad K (2008) Municipal solid waste management in Indian cities—a review. Waste Manag 28:459–467. doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2007.02.008
Sikka P (2000) Energy from MSW refused derived fuel (RDF) pelletization-a pilot Indian plant. Department of Science & Technology, Government of India
Singh K, Kelly SO, Sastry MKS (2009) Municipal solid waste to energy: an economic and environmental assessment for application in Trinidad and Tobago. J Assoc Prof Eng Trinidad Tobago 38:42–49
Singh RP, Tyagi VV, Allen T et al (2011) An overview for exploring the possibilities of energy generation from municipal solid waste (MSW) in Indian scenario. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 15:4797–4808. doi:10.1016/j.rser.2011.07.071
SWM Cell (2003) Status report on municipal solid waste management. Konkan Division, All India Institute of Local Self Government, Mumbai
The International Energy Agency (IEA) (2008) Turning a liability into an asset: landfill methane utilisation potential
The World Bank (1999) Decision makers’ guide to municipal solid waste incineration. The World Bank Washington, Washington
Tsai W, Kuo K (2010) An analysis of power generation from municipal solid waste (MSW) incineration plants in Taiwan. Energy 35:4824–4830. doi:10.1016/j.energy.2010.09.005
Ukidwe, Nandan (2005) Thermodynamic Input-output LCA of the 1997 U.S. Economy with application to electricity generation. In: AiChE Annual Meeting. pp 13233–13562
US EPA UE (1985) Chapter 2: solid waste disposal, AP 42, Fifth Edition, Volume I. http://www.epa.gov/ttnchie1/ap42/ch02/. Accessed 20 Sept 2014
Vorst GVD, Dewulf J, Aelterman W, Witte BD, Langenhove HV (2011) A systematic evaluation of the resource consumption of active pharmaceutical ingredient production at three different levels. Environ Sci Technol 45:3040–3046
Wang X, Nagpure AS, Decarolis JF, Barlaz MA (2013) Using observed data to improve estimated methane collection from select U.S. Landfills. Environ Sci Technol 47:3251–3257
Yaws C (1999) Chemical properties handbook. McGraw-Hill, New York
Yedla S, Kansal S (2003) Economic insight into municipal solid waste management in Mumbai: a critical analysis. Int J Environ Pollut 19:516–527
Zhou C, Hu D, Wang R, Liu J (2011) Exergetic assessment of municipal solid waste management system in south Beijing. Exol Complex 8:171–176. doi:10.1016/j.ecocom.2011.01.006
Zhu D, Ansani P, Anapolsky S, Mani S (2008) Improving municipal solid waste management in India. The World Bank Washington, Washington
Zvolinschi A, Kjelstrup S, Bolland O, van der Kooi HJ (2007) Exergy sustainability indicators as a tool in industrial ecology. J Ind Ecol 11:85–98. doi:10.1162/jiec.2007.1142
Acknowledgements
Partial financial support was provided by the University Grants Commission, Government of India.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Jadhao, S.B., Shingade, S.G., Pandit, A.B. et al. Bury, burn, or gasify: assessing municipal solid waste management options in Indian megacities by exergy analysis. Clean Techn Environ Policy 19, 1403–1412 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-017-1338-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-017-1338-9