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Solid WasteManagement

The Importance o Landfll Gas EnergyIn Integrated Municipal Solid ManagementIn the Developing WorldBrian Guzzone and Amy Alexander

Iii i

f b i i i i i

. FIndIng theproper mIx oFpractIces to meet alocal communItysmeans and needswIll help ensure ahealthIer populatIonand envIronment.

As the worlds populAtion reAched 7 billion

in 2011, the demand or access to improved sanitation

steadily increased as a result o a burgeoning middle

class in the developing world. Furthermore, by 2050,

the world will include more than nine billion people.1

Each year the worlds population generates more than 2billion tons o waste; i society continues to move toward

the current waste generation patterns o the wealthiest

cities in high-income countries today, then by 2025,

we could be generating as much as 7 billion tons o

waste each year.2 Rapid population growth coupled

with increasing prosperity in developing countries

requires a serious examination o the waste management

process (Figure 1) and the role o integrated solid waste

management (ISWM) to saeguard the environmentagainst air and water pollution and residual waste,

protect public health and maximize the value-added

elements (i.e., energy and recovered materials).

Waste DisposalCurrently, between 30 and 60 percent o solid

waste rom cities in developing countries remains

uncollected and ends up on the street or disposed o

through open burning.3 This is a major public health

and environmental concern aecting rich and poor alike,

and poses enormous problems or growing cities and

towns. However, due to rapid increases in population

and urbanization, an increasing number o developing

countries are beginning to use some orm o landll (i.e.,uncontrolled or controlled dump, sanitary landll) to

manage increasing waste generation rates. Worldwide,

the majority o waste is disposed o in landlls which

alleviate several public health concerns, but creates

additional environmental considerations. Landlls

provide an anaerobic environment or wastes to decay

that causes the release o landll gas (LFG), odors and

a host o other potential air, water and soil pollutants.

The methane produced by landlls is o environmentalsignicance because methane is a potent greenhouse gas

and its ability to trap heat in the atmosphere, called

its global warming potential, is more than 20 times

greater than that o carbon dioxide. Globally, landlls

are the third largest anthropogenic source o methane,

accounting or approximately 11 percent o estimated

global methane emissions or nearly 799 million

metric tons o carbon dioxide equivalent (MMTCO2E)

Figure 1: Liecycle inputs and outputs o awaste management process.Figures provided courtesy o EPAs Landfll Methane

Outreach Program (LMOP).

WasteAdvantage Magazine April 2012 35

As Seen In

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36 WasteAdvantage Magazine April 2012

emissions in 2010.4 As a constituent o natural gas,

however, methane oers a unique opportunity to

mitigate climate change and simultaneously increase

available energy supply. Thereore, eorts to prevent

or use methane emissions can provide signicant

energy, economic and environmental benets.

As developing countries transition to controlled

or sanitary landlls, methane emissions will rise as

more waste is managed in a proper manner whichis conducive to LFG generation. Thereore, LFG

collection and control measures are o increasing

importance to oset these emissions. Moreover,

the lowest-cost and oten the most expedient

solution is disposal o waste in uncontrolled

landlls or dumpsites. Due to the relatively high

cost o sanitary landlls, cities tend to make little

progress toward landll implementation unless the

regulatory ramework and environmental agencies

apply enorcement pressure.5 Meanwhile, in manydeveloped nations, the availability o landll capacity

has been fat or steadily decreasing due to regulatory,

siting and environmental permitting constraints on

new landlls and landll expansions. As a result, new

approaches to waste management are rapidly being

written into public and institutional policies at local

and national levels.

Solid waste management is usually one o the

most labor and cost intensive services providedby local governments in developing countries and

local government ocials are requently besieged

by companies selling solid waste management

technologies. Many o these technologies may not be

appropriate and ocials may have limited experience

or assessing a companys claims and technological

viability that has resulted in many systems that have

been built, only to close shortly ater costly startup,

operations and maintenance. Thereore, helping

local governments choose appropriate solid waste

management strategies and technologies is critically

important.

Major Components o IntegratedSolid Waste Management

To address global waste management challenges,

countries have ocused on developing and

implementing a variety o ISWM strategies to

tackle the long-term management o waste. For the

purposes o this article, the six major components o

ISWM (Figure 2) are categorized as:

Waste reduction;

Reuse;

Recycling (including composting and anaerobic

digestion);

Waste-to-energy (i.e., waste combustion,

gasication, pyrolysis);

Landflling in a proper disposal site with LFG

recovery (i.e., faring and energy use); and

Landflling in an uncontrolled dump site with

little or no environmental controls.

Role o ISWM in DevelopingSustainable Waste ManagementPractices

While a generally agreed upon ISWM hierarchy

exists, the selection o methods o management

LFG Energy

RecoveryTechnologies Directthermal

Boilers

Furnaces,dryers,kilnsand

processheaters

Infraredheaters

Leachateevaporation

Electricitygeneration

Internalcombustionengines

Gasturbines

Microturbines

Combinedheatandpower

Conversiontohigh-Btugas

Pipeline-qualitygas

Compressednaturalgas(CNG)

Liqueednaturalgas(LNG)

Figure 2: Preerred components o integrated solid waste management.

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should be based upon the needs and means o the local government as well

as environmental regulations and national, regional and local policies. Each

community must decide which waste management methods make senseor it based upon its unique environmental needs, economic situation and

public policies. Additionally, no one process or technology can handle all o

a communitys waste, thereore a number o integrated methods or proper

waste management should be considered. Initiatives rom one country cannot

always be exported to another and be expected to work as the local volume and

composition o waste, inrastructure, economic resources, climate and cultural

traditions and norms can vary signicantly. For example, constructing a waste-

to-energy plant in a developing country with high levels o wet organic waste

such as ood waste may cause operational challenges and increase costs becausemany WTE technologies are designed to burn wastes that are lower in wet ood

wastes and higher in readily combustible materials such as paper and plastics.

In addition, economic considerations must be evaluated to determine the most

appropriate solutions. For example, constructing a plasma gasication project

in a small rural community (e.g., 25,000 inhabitants) may prove uneconomical

due to the higher capital costs associated with the technology. The key to

eective ISWM is the design and development o waste management systems

that are best t to local needs and challenges. Developing countries are

beginning to recognize the need or a comprehensive approach to undertake

sustainable waste management practices. For example, in Argentina, theederal government has embarked on a national ISWM strategy that includes

closure o uncontrolled dump sites in avor o regional modern sanitary landlls

to serve populations rom local communities and businesses.

Role o Landfll Gas in ISWMRecovery o LFG is a critical component o ISWM. LFG recovery or faring or

energy is an eective method to reduce uncontrolled air emissions and improve

public health and saety and the environment. With multiple environmental,

social and economic benets, LFG energy plays a critical role in municipal solid

waste (MSW) management. LFG energy is a small but important component

o an integrated approach to solid waste management given that the use o

landlls continues to remain the predominant method o waste disposal in

most countries. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency waste hierarchy6

treats landlls and incineration equally, as environmentally acceptable disposal

options or MSW. However, source reduction, recycling and composting

are the more environmentally preerred waste management options. When

these preerred methods o waste management are not employed and the use

o landlls is the available option, energy recovery improves the greenhouse

gas prole and makes use o the energy generated as the organic raction o

MSW decomposes. Where landlls exist, the use o methane generated by the

decomposing waste already in place to produce energy is the best-case option

to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and provide an alternative to ossil uel-

based power generation. Many landlls in developed countries already collect

LFG and either use it to power engines or electricity generation, transmit it

WasteAdvantage Magazine April 2012 37

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in a pipeline to a nearby end user to replace ossil uel use (e.g., boiler, kiln,

dryer), or fare it. Internationally, signicant opportunities exist or expanding

LFG energy (see LFG Energy Recovery Technologies sidebar, page 36) .One such eective approach to reducing landll methane emissions is the

Global Methane Initiative (GMI), an international publicprivate partnership

that brings together 40 governments and the private sector to develop projects

that can reduce emissions rom the agriculture, coal mine, landll, oil and gas

systems, and municipal wastewater sectors. Cumulative methane emission

reductions achieved through GMI total more than 128 MMTCO2E (or more

inormation, visit www.globalmethane.org).

Incorporating ISWM and LFG energy best practices can go a long way to

protecting human health and the environment rom the dangers o improperlymanaged and disposed waste. Finding the proper mix o practices to meet a

local communitys means and needs will help ensure a healthier population and

environment. | WABrian Guzzone is a Senior Climate Analyst or ERG (Arlington, VA). He has

17 years o technical and outreach expertise in climate change, methane mitigation

and solid waste management. Brian worked in EPAs Climate Change Division or

nearly 10 years where he designed, developed and implemented greenhouse gas mitigation

strategies or programs targeting methane and other non-CO2

gases. He was instrumental

in the development o specifc EPA methodologies or emissions and osets o landfll

methane. Brian currently manages ERGs international outreach eorts including

engineering, scientifc and economic analysis support or major domestic and international

climate programs such as EPAs Landfll Methane Outreach Program and the Global

Methane Initiative. He can be reached at brian.guzzone@erg.com.

Amy Alexanderis a Senior Environmental Engineer or ERG (Morrisville, NC).

She has 15 years o technical experience in air quality, including evaluating landfll

and LFG technologies and emissions, constructing emission estimation methodologies and

inventories, evaluating and costing greenhouse gas mitigation technologies, designing

sotware models, and reviewing and preparing air permits. Amy has provided technical

assistance and outreach support to EPAs LMOP or more than seven years. She constructed

and routinely enhanced LMOPs LFGcost model or conducting economic assessments o

LFG energy projects. She assisted EPAs Ofce o Research & Development with the

2005 upgrade o the Landfll Gas Emissions Model (LandGEM) to make the tool more

user-riendly and improve its LFG generation estimates. Amy can be reached at amy.

alexander@erg.com.

Notes1. Population Reerence Bureau. 2011. www.prb.org.2. UN-HABITAT. 2010. Solid Waste Management in the Worlds Cities, Water

and Sanitation in the Worlds Cities 2010, www.waste.nl/page/1757.3. Ibid.4. U.S. EPA. 2011. DRAFT: Global Anthropogenic Emissions o Non-

CO2

Greenhouse Gases: 19902030 (EPA 430-D-11-003). www.epa.gov/climatechange/economics/international.html.

5. The World Bank. 2011. Analysis o Technology Choices. http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTURBANDEVELOPMENT/EXTUSWM/0,,contentMDK:20239704~menuPK:497751~pagePK:148956~piPK:216618~theSitePK:463841,00.html.

6. Frankiewicz, T.A., C.A. Leatherwood , and B.L. Dieleman. Landll Gas Energy:An Important Component o Integrated Solid Waste Management, LMOPLFG 34 Paper, 2011. www.scsengineers.com/Papers/Leatherwood_Dieleman_(2011)_LFGE-Important_Component_o_Integrated_SWM.pd.

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2012 Waste Advantage Magazine, All Rights Reserved. Reprinted rom Waste Advantage Magazine. Contents cannot be reprinted wi thout permission rom the publisher.

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