Greenhouse Gas Credits from Integrated Waste-to-Energy Plant

článek ve sborníku ve WoS nebo Scopus

en

In Europe, the overwhelming majority of district heat is produced from fossil energy sources such as coal or natural gas. Together with the intention to divert municipal waste from landfilling, which is still the main way of treatment in approximately half of the EU countries, there is a potential for the construction of waste-to-energy plants (WtEP) that can partially replace fossil fuels. An important factor in planning the construction of new WtE plants is the assessment of the project's economy. However, the ecological aspect of the project, namely the greenhouse-gas (GHG) savings, is becoming a topic of discussion nowadays. In terms of GHG savings, WtE plant integration into an existing district heating system (DHS) has a positive impact, but its level is often only roughly estimated. The paper presents a comprehensive mathematical optimization tool working on a daily basis that is able to evaluate the impact of changing current technology or WtE plant construction on global warming potential. The technical parameters such as boiler output range, energy efficiency, etc. are taken into account. The tool also allows to put in the context the GHG savings and economic benefits of the project and to recommend the best solution satisfying both conditions. This issue is illustrated in real-world DHS with various parameters where the relationship between GHG savings and the economic benefits of the integration of a WtE plant is evaluated. The whole problem is the task of linear integer programming and is implemented in the GAMS programming environment using MS Excel.

In Europe, the overwhelming majority of district heat is produced from fossil energy sources such as coal or natural gas. Together with the intention to divert municipal waste from landfilling, which is still the main way of treatment in approximately half of the EU countries, there is a potential for the construction of waste-to-energy plants (WtEP) that can partially replace fossil fuels. An important factor in planning the construction of new WtE plants is the assessment of the project's economy. However, the ecological aspect of the project, namely the greenhouse-gas (GHG) savings, is becoming a topic of discussion nowadays. In terms of GHG savings, WtE plant integration into an existing district heating system (DHS) has a positive impact, but its level is often only roughly estimated. The paper presents a comprehensive mathematical optimization tool working on a daily basis that is able to evaluate the impact of changing current technology or WtE plant construction on global warming potential. The technical parameters such as boiler output range, energy efficiency, etc. are taken into account. The tool also allows to put in the context the GHG savings and economic benefits of the project and to recommend the best solution satisfying both conditions. This issue is illustrated in real-world DHS with various parameters where the relationship between GHG savings and the economic benefits of the integration of a WtE plant is evaluated. The whole problem is the task of linear integer programming and is implemented in the GAMS programming environment using MS Excel.

Emission cost; greenhouse gas savings; global warming potential; optimization; waste-to-energy

30.09.2019

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, Zagreb

Zagreb, Croatia

1847-7178

Book of abstracts

1–11

11