In developed and developing countries with growing population, consumerism and industrial development, the management of municipal solid waste (MSW) is monumental for sustainable development, because all human activities generate waste. This has significant impact on the environment (hazardous gas emissions), economy (disposal cost) and health (DEFRA, 2011). About 3 billion tonnes of MSW are generated in Europe annually (EC, 2010). Fig 1.1 shows the municipal waste generation by EU countries expressed in kilogram per capital for year 2003 and 2013. While Fig 1.2, shows the amount of waste treated in EU countries (EU27) for the period 1995 to 2013.
In 2008, about 53% of all the MSW generated in UK were disposed of in Landfill, while incineration …show more content…
Life cycle assessment is a tool that can be used to evaluate and compare the environmental effect of a product, process, or activity throughout its life cycle or lifetime, which is known as a “from cradle to grave” analysis (Poritosh Roy 2009). It can be used to assess environmental burdens, finding opportunities for process and product improvement, and selection of process technology, energy or raw material sources. LCA has been used extensively by researchers to evaluate and compare various MSW waste to energy systems (Khoo, 2009, Leme et al., 2014, Zaman, 2013, Ning et al., 2013, arena et al., 2015, Evangelisti et al., 2015). However, few researchers have used Life Cycle Assessment to investigate and compare MSW treatment with gasification technologies against conventional waste-to-energy technologies accounting for the electricity generated and secondary resources recovery such as bottom ash utilization and metal recovery. Thus, this work focuses in using Life cycle assessment to compare and evaluate a well detailed environmental assessment of the different MSW waste to energy scenarios used in this study, provide full understanding, and sensitivity analysis of significant parameters affecting variability of the gasification waste to energy
In 2008, about 53% of all the MSW generated in UK were disposed of in Landfill, while incineration …show more content…
Life cycle assessment is a tool that can be used to evaluate and compare the environmental effect of a product, process, or activity throughout its life cycle or lifetime, which is known as a “from cradle to grave” analysis (Poritosh Roy 2009). It can be used to assess environmental burdens, finding opportunities for process and product improvement, and selection of process technology, energy or raw material sources. LCA has been used extensively by researchers to evaluate and compare various MSW waste to energy systems (Khoo, 2009, Leme et al., 2014, Zaman, 2013, Ning et al., 2013, arena et al., 2015, Evangelisti et al., 2015). However, few researchers have used Life Cycle Assessment to investigate and compare MSW treatment with gasification technologies against conventional waste-to-energy technologies accounting for the electricity generated and secondary resources recovery such as bottom ash utilization and metal recovery. Thus, this work focuses in using Life cycle assessment to compare and evaluate a well detailed environmental assessment of the different MSW waste to energy scenarios used in this study, provide full understanding, and sensitivity analysis of significant parameters affecting variability of the gasification waste to energy