Conceptualization of Bioreactor Landfill Approach for Sustainable Waste Management in Karachi, Pakistan

Ihsanullah Sohoo, Marco Ritzkowski, Muhammad Sultan, Muhammad Farooq and Kerstin Kuchta
Additional contact information
Ihsanullah Sohoo: Circular Resource Engineering and Management (CREM), Institute of Environmental Technology and Energy Economics, Hamburg University of Technology, Blohmstr. 15, 21079 Hamburg, Germany
Marco Ritzkowski: Circular Resource Engineering and Management (CREM), Institute of Environmental Technology and Energy Economics, Hamburg University of Technology, Blohmstr. 15, 21079 Hamburg, Germany
Muhammad Sultan: Department of Agriculture Engineering, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan 60800, Pakistan
Muhammad Farooq: Department of Mechanical Engineering (New Campus-KSK), University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore 54890, Pakistan
Kerstin Kuchta: Circular Resource Engineering and Management (CREM), Institute of Environmental Technology and Energy Economics, Hamburg University of Technology, Blohmstr. 15, 21079 Hamburg, Germany

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 6, 1-22

Abstract: Finding a sustainable approach for municipal solid waste (MSW) management is becoming paramount. However, as with many urban areas in developing countries, the approach applied to MSW management in Karachi is neither environmentally sustainable nor suitable for public health. Due to adoption of an inefficient waste management system, society is paying intangible costs such as damage to public health and environment quality. In order to minimize the environmental impacts and health issues associated with waste management practices, a sustainable waste management and disposal strategy is required. The aim of this paper is to present a concept for the development of new bioreactor landfills for sustainable waste management in Karachi. Furthermore, this paper contributes to estimation of methane (CH 4 ) emissions from waste disposal sites by employing the First Order Decay (FOD) Tier 2 model of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and determining of the biodegradation rate constant ( k ) value. The design and operational concept of bioreactor landfills is formulated for the study area, including estimation of land requirement, methane production, power generation, and liquid required for recirculation, along with a preliminary sketch of the proposed bioreactor landfill. This study will be helpful for stockholders, policy makers, and researchers in planning, development, and further research for establishment of bioreactor landfill facilities, particularly in the study area as well as more generally in regions with a similar climate and MSW composition.

Keywords: municipal solid waste; sanitary landfill; open dumps; waste to energy; climate change (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/6/3364/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/6/3364/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:6:p:3364-:d:770207

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().