Integrated waste-to-energy conversion and waste transportation within island communities

Zdena Zsigraiová, Gilberto Tavares, Viriato Semiao and Maria de Graça Carvalho

Energy, 2009, vol. 34, issue 5, 623-635

Abstract: Usually in islands both primary energy sources and drinking water are missing. Additionally, municipal solid waste (MSW) must be managed avoiding exclusive use of landfills, which limits sustainable development. Power generation from MSW incineration contributes significantly to replacing energy produced from fossil fuels and to reduce overall emissions. A solution based on thermodynamics, environmental and economic analyses and 3D-GIS modelling for the afore-mentioned problems for Cape Verde is proposed. This model integrates waste transportation optimisation and incineration with energy recovery combining production of heat and power (CHP), the heat being used for drinking water production. The results show that extraction condensing steam turbines are more suitable when power production is a priority (5.0MW with 4000m3/d of drinking water), whereas back-pressure turbines yield 5540–6650m3/d of drinking water with an additional power production of 3.3–4.7MW. The environmental and economic assessment performed shows the feasibility of the proposed CHP solution, which brings a considerable reduction in net air emissions (1.6kt), including a significant decrease in the greenhouse gas emissions (131ktCO2), and that the revenue from energy sales (€15 million) has potential to balance the incineration cost. Moreover, when terrain relief is accounted for in the route optimisation for minimum fuel consumption, savings up to 11% are obtained.

Keywords: Integrated MSW management; Energy recovery; Combined heat and power (CHP); Seawater desalination; Vehicle routing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:34:y:2009:i:5:p:623-635

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2008.10.015

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