Mohamed Naguib Mohamed Khafagy Shady, El Sammak Amr, Emara Karim
Faculty of Science, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt.
Faculty of Engineering Mataria, Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt.
Sci Rep. 2024 Oct 23;14(1):25040. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-73572-9.
Waste and energy sectors have significant contributions to the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused primarily by the population expansion. Waste-to-Energy (WtE) is introduced to address the issue raised by both sectors simultaneously through utilization of the potential energy stored in municipal solid waste (MSW) as well as offsetting GHG emissions. Limited research have been conducted in Egypt to assess the current situation of MSW management and associated methane emissions. The current study focused on estimating the baseline methane emissions for six Egyptian governorates and determining the energy production potential from WtE projects. To achieve this aim, three scenarios have been assessed: Baseline, Landfill Gas to Energy (LFGE), and Incineration scenarios. Key results revealed that a total of 3.7 million tonnes of methane would be emitted from all studied governorates generated over 50 years. Incineration also found to be more favorable in all governorates in terms of energy production, quantity of avoided GHG emissions, and in terms of economic viability over LFGE. Implementing incineration in all governorates would generate about 5.6 TWh energy annually and could avoid about 5 Mt CO eq annually in comparison to LFGE that would generate about 0.6 TWh annually and could avoid about 2.5 Mt CO eq annually. In terms of economic viability of WtE projects, while they were generally not economically viable under the assumptions made in the current study, incineration technology deemed promising, but policy adjustments, such as competitive Feed-in Tariff (FiT) rates and the inclusion of gate fees, are necessary. Specific minimum gate fees and FiT were identified for each governorate, providing essential guidance for decision makers to ensure the viability of WtE implementation. This study would support the decision makers in assessing technically and financially feasible options for WtE technologies in the selected governorates.
废物和能源部门对主要由人口增长导致的温室气体排放有重大影响。引入垃圾能源化（WtE）以通过利用城市固体废物（MSW）中储存的潜在能源以及抵消温室气体排放来同时解决这两个部门提出的问题。埃及在评估城市固体废物管理现状和相关甲烷排放方面进行的研究有限。当前的研究重点是估计埃及六个省份的基准甲烷排放量，并确定垃圾能源化项目的能源生产潜力。为实现这一目标，评估了三种情景：基准情景、垃圾填埋气能源化（LFGE）情景和焚烧情景。主要结果显示，在50多年的时间里，所有研究省份共将排放370万吨甲烷。在所有省份，就能源生产、避免的温室气体排放量以及经济可行性而言，焚烧也比垃圾填埋气能源化更具优势。与每年产生约0.6太瓦时能源并可避免约250万吨二氧化碳当量的垃圾填埋气能源化相比，在所有省份实施焚烧每年可产生约5.6太瓦时能源，并可避免约500万吨二氧化碳当量。就垃圾能源化项目的经济可行性而言，虽然在当前研究的假设下它们通常在经济上不可行，但焚烧技术被认为很有前景，但需要进行政策调整，例如有竞争力地确定上网电价（FiT）费率并纳入门费。为每个省份确定了具体的最低门费和上网电价，为决策者确保垃圾能源化实施的可行性提供了重要指导。这项研究将支持决策者评估选定省份垃圾能源化技术在技术和财务上可行的选项。
