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Mechanical Biological Treatment as a Solution for Mitigating Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Landfills in Thailand

S.N.M.Menikpura, Janya SANG-ARUN and Magnus Bengtsson Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) Group Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), Japan.

ISWA world congress, 17-19 September 2012, Florence, Italy

Content

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Introduction: Situation of Waste Management in Thailand and Phitsanulok Municipality Methodology : Concept of LCA for quantification of GHG Results and Discussion

• GHG emissions from different phases of life cycle of MBT
• GHG emissions from business as usual practices

Conclusions Objectives of the study

General Background of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Management in Thailand

• In 2011 the volume of garbage in Thailand was approximately 43,800 tonnes

per day

• More than 20% of the country’s generated waste is occurred in Bangkok

Metropolitan Area

• In 2011, 26% generated waste is separated and sent to recycling centers
• Annually waste generation is increased 0.2 million tonnes due to population

growth, economic development and tourism expansion

• Open dumping and sanitary landfilling without gas recovery are the two

predominant waste disposal methods in Thailand; 53% open dumping and 47% sanitary landfill

• The current methods of waste disposal have caused negative effects on

environmental degradation, economic losses and social burdens

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Introduction

Existing Waste Management in Phitsanulok Municipality

Study Location: Phitsanulok Municipality Area : 18.26 km² Location: 390 km from north of Bangkok Registered population: 78,000 residents as of December 2010 Non-registered residents: 50,000-100,000 The total number of households: 32,000

Millstone towards Zero Waste City – Phitsanulok Municipality

1996: beginning of the improvements of waste management 1999: Initiation of sanitary landfill site 2002: Initiation of transfer station 2005: Initiation of Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) plant 2006: Hazardous waste management 2010: Initiation of pyrolysis plant 1998: Sellable material sorting campaigns

Existing Waste Management in Phitsanulok Municipality

Waste Collection - by compactor trucks 30% of vehicles- Natural gas vehicle

Waste generation

In 2011, total waste generation is 78 tonnes/day Sellable material sorting campaigns

Waste management process

Transfer Station - waste is re-loaded to heavy-duty trucks MBT plant

Existing Waste Management in Phitsanulok Municipality

Mechanical Biological Treatment Plant

• MBT plant in Phitsanulok Municipality is one of the biggest pilot-scale plants in developing

countries

• Running capacity: 100 tonnes/day (22 tonnes MSW receive from other neighbouring

municipalities

• Objectives of commencement of this plant: minimize the waste volume, minimize the GHGs

emissions (methane) from the landfill, separate valuable materials homogenisation, piling, aeration Sieving and separation of compost-like materials and plastic waste

Period for biological stabilisation and degradation – 9 months 50 % mass loss during degradation 37% Inert

• GHG emissions from waste management activities and their contribution

to global warming and climate change is a serious environmental concerns

• Moving towards biological treatment methods would be the most

appropriate way to reduce the GHG emissions from waste sector

• This study assessed the GHG mitigation potential of MBT as compared to

the “business as usual” practices from a life cycle perspective

Rational and objectives of the study

CH4 CH4 CH4 Business as usual practice MBT

• Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a useful methodology for estimating the

possible mitigation options of environment impacts

• LCA framework designed considering all the phases of MBT process
• Inventory analysis was performed to account fossil fuel and electricity

consumption, recovery of materials from waste treatment

• The functional unit for the assessment was defined as “management of one

tonne of waste received at the MBT plant

Methodology

Development of Life Cycle Framework for Estimating GHG Emissions

Quantification of Life Cycle GHG Emissions from MBT

Mathematical formulas were derived to quantify GHG emission from different phases by using the theoretical concepts explained in IPCC 2006 guidelines

Activity/life cycle phase Mathematical formula to quantify GHG emissions I - GHG emissions from waste transportation Emission of CO2, CH4, N2O owing to fossil fuel combustiona ETransportation –GHG Emissions from transportation (kg CO2 -eq/tonne of collected waste) Fuel – Amount of fuel used (MJ/tonne of collected waste) EFj – Emission Factor of type j GHG (kg/TJ) GWPj – Global Warming Potential of type j GHG (kg CO2 -eq/kg of jth emission) II - GHG emissions from operational and maintenance activities of MBT Emission of CO2, CH4, N2O owing to fossil fuel combustion for operating machines. Emission of GHG owing to grid electricity production with respect to the electricity consumption for machine operations EOperation –Emissions from operational activities (kg CO2/tonne of treated waste) i - ith operational activity (e.g. Homogenizations, piling, turning, dissembling of piles ) ECi - Electricity consumption apportioned to the activity type i (MWh/tonne of treated waste) EFel - Emission factor for grid electricity generation (kg CO2-eq/MWh) FCi - Fuel consumption apportioned to the activity type i (mass or volume/tonne of treated waste) NCVFF - Net calorific value of the fossil fuel consumed (TJ/unit mass or volume) EFj.i- Emission factor of a jth GHG by activity type i (kg of GHG/TJ) GWPj – Global Warming Potential of type j GHG (kg CO2 -eq/kg of jth emission)

∑

× × =

j j j tion Transporta

GWP EF Fuel E ) (

) ( ) (

. . j j i FF i j i i el i Operation

GWP EF NCV FC EF EC E × × × + × =∑

∑

Quantification of Life Cycle GHG Emissions from MBT

Activity/life cycle phase Mathematical formula to quantify GHG emissions III - GHG emissions from waste degradation in waste piles Emission of CH4 and N2O from the biological degradation of organic wasteb ETreatment – Emissions from treatment of organic waste (kg CO2/tonne of organic waste) ECH4- Emission of CH4 during waste degradation (kg of CH4/tonne of organic waste) GWPCH4- Global warming potential of CH4 (21 kg CO2/kg of CH4) EN2O- Emission of N2O during waste degradation (kg of N2O/tonne of organic waste) GWPN2O- Global warming potential of N2O (310 kg CO2/kg of N2O) IV – Life cycle GHG emission from MBT After quantification GHG emission from above three phases, life cycle GHG emissions from MBT estimated

) (

2 2 4 4 O N O N CH CH Treatment

GWP E GWP E E × + × =

Emission Reduction = Baseline emissions – Project emissions

GHG Total= E Transportations + E Operations + E Treatment

GHG emission from “business as usual” practices

• GHG emissions from open dumping and sanitary landfilling (without gas recovery) were

quantified using the IPCC 2006 waste model

• The required default values for derived considering waste characteristics, climatic

conditions, as well as the situation of disposal sites in Phitsanulok

Emissions Reduction

Results and Discussion

Phase I - GHG emissions from waste transportation

Description Unit

Type of GHG

CO2 CH4 N2O Emissions from combustion of 5.84L of diesel kg of emission/tonne of waste 19.80 0.0006 0.0001 Emissions from combustion of 3.04 kg of CNG kg of emission /tonne of waste 6.48 0.0001 Negligible Total emissions during waste transportation kg of emission /tonne of waste 26.30 0.0007 0.0001 Conversion factor into CO2-eq kg of CO2-eq/kg of GHG emission 1 25 298 Contribution of each GHG kg CO2-eq/tonne of waste 26.27 0.019 0.042 Total GHG emissions from waste transportation kg CO2-eq/tonne of waste 26.33

Phase II - GHG emissions from the operation of the MBT facility

Description Unit Value Diesel consumption for operational activities L/tonne of waste 3.38 Heating value of diesel MJ/L 36.42 Total energy required for operational activities MJ/tonne of waste 123.09 Default CO2 emission factor from diesel combustion kg CO2/TJ 74100.00 GHG emissions from combustion of diesel kg CO2-eq/tonne of waste 9.12 Electricity consumption for operational activities kWh/tonne of waste 0.20 GHG emissions in grid electricity production in Thailand kg of CO2-eq/MWh 566.00 GHG emissions due to electricity consumption kg of CO2-eq/tonne of waste 0.11 Total GHG emissions from operational activities kg of CO2-eq /tonne of waste 9.23

Phase III - GHG Emissions from Waste Degradation

• GHG emission from biodegradation of organic waste was quantified (biodegradable part

represents 66% by weight)

• According to IPCC guidelines, GHG emissions from MBT process considered to be similar

to those of composting

Description Unit Value Percentage of organic waste in MSW % (wet basis) 66.30 CH4 emission factor from composting kg/tonne of organic waste 4.00 Methane generation potential from MSW in MBT kg of CH4/tonne of waste 2.65 Conversion of CH4 to CO2 equivalents kg of CO2/kg of CH4 25.00 CH4 based GHG emission kg of CO2-eq/tonne of waste 66.30 N2O emission factor from composting kg/tonne of organic waste 0.30 N2O generation potential from MSW in MBT kg of N2O/tonne of waste 0.20 Conversion of N2O to CO2 equivalents kg of CO2/kg of N2O 298.00 N2O based GHG emission kg of CO2-eq/tonne of waste 59.27 Total GHG emissions from MBT process kg of CO2-eq/tonne of waste 125.57

• The contribution of CH4 and N2O for total GHG emissions in waste degradation phase is

53% and 47%, respectively

Total GHG Emissions from MBT Facility in Phitsanulok

Total GHG emission 161kg CO2-eq/tonne

Comparison with “Business as Usual” Waste Management

64 % GHG emissions reduction 83 % GHG emissions reduction

• Phitsanulok Municipality replaced its former rudimentary waste treatment system

with an MBT facility

• GHG mitigation potential of MBT process is 64% and 83% lower as compared to open

dumping and sanitary landfilling respectively.

• Contribution of MBT for annual GHG mitigation is 21,758 tonnes of CO2-eq as

compared to sanitary landfilling and 8,170 tonnes of CO2-eq as compared to shallow

• pen dumping
• Current waste management model in Phitsanulok has significant climate benefits
• Widespread adoption of similar systems could contribute substantially to the national

GHG mitigation programme and improve the overall sustainability of the waste management sector

• Besides, there are other benefits from MBT;
• Drastic reduction of the waste volume (50% of mass) prior to final disposal
• Possibility of separating high calorific value components and use as fuel
• Reduce the need of valuable land for final disposal and lower costs for

municipality

• This study clearly demonstrates the multiple benefits obtainable from MBT, and

therefore the findings would be useful for sound decision making on waste management in Thailand and other developing countries in Asia.

Conclusion

Nirmala Menikpura, PhD Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) Group Institute of Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) E-mail: menikpura@iges.or.jp