ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECONOMIC ANALYSIS FOR DIFFERENT SCENARIO OF MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL

In order to determine the optimal final destination of municipal solid waste, it is necessary to consider both monetary costs and environmental externalities, such as carbon balance and GHG production, as well as the local availability of waste-processing industrial infrastructure. The paper examines the results obtained from a technical, economic and environmental comparison between different scenarios for waste management: in particular the solutions of gasification and pyrolysis were studied and afterwards were compared with direct combustion in incineration plant (from the point of view of the thermal treatment) and final disposal in landfill. In order to perform this analysis 13 plants (thermal treatment and landfill) operating on full scale are analyzed. The comparison took into account environmental, energy and economic aspects. From the environmental and energetically point of view, the tool of mass and energy balance was used to address some key environmental aspects and the global acceptance of these scenarios. In particular some indexes were defined in order to perform a comparison among the different analyzed solutions. As concerns the economic point of view, conventional economic criteria, i.e. investment and operating costs, were considered. The analysis showed from the environmental and energetical point of view conveniences for the examined thermal treatment solutions with the related energy recovery. In conclusion the comparison methodology that has been defined can establish a more general useful approach, in order to help the definition of the best solution for waste management planning.