Solution 1 : MBT :
1) Efficacy :
- ability to process all kinds of MSW, except dangerous waste
- Effective in reducing the need for landfills (decrease of 70% or
700,000 tons of waste) environmentally benefitting
- 422,100 kWh of energy could be produced from 1 million tons of
MSW annually (with 12 facilities to achieve that)
- That said, organic material could produce biogas through anaerobic
digestion which could help in renewable energy
- MBT accepts a big range of MSW + minimizes the amount of
landfills so it is coherent with the existing literature
2) Cost:
- To build 1 MBT plant : both high initial investment (44.85 million $)
and very high running costs (144.5 million $)
3) Environmental effects:
To analyze environmental effects, we assessed CO2 emissions with the
degree of toxicity of the products
- 1 plant generates 161,000 tons of CO2 per year
- Biogas strong greenhouse gases
- BUT its environmental effects are minimized used to generate
power after a conversion process
- Leachate (or recyclable water produced during MBT) can be used as
plant fertilizer
- RDF (refused derived fuel) can be used as a fuel source for various
sectors such as cement manufacture
4) Community acceptance:
- Only 17% already heard of MBT
- After reading the overview in our questionnaire, 35.6% of
participants voted for the effectiveness of MBT in Beirut based on
the efficacy and the community compatibility of this technology
5) Operational feasibility :
- Easy to operate thanks to the modernity of this solution
- Workforce is not much needed
- Present workforce in Lebanon have the skills required in this field :
as we can see in the MBT in bar elias
Solution 2 : plasma gasification :
1) Efficacy :
- Processes all kinds of MSW without any exception, even the
hazardous
- Landfilling reduction converts 90% of input into syngas and 10%
is landfilled
- 1 million tons of MSW815,000,000 kWh (2000 times the kWh
generated by MBT)
- Recovers bigger amounts of electricity
- Disadvantage : although electricity needed is very high for plasma
gasification (with14 facilities required), syngas produces powers the
entire plant self sufficient
- Consistent with the existing literature since syngas can be used to
generate power
2) Cost:
- 14 plants to fulfill Beirut’s demand
- Initial investment of building 14 plants > initial investment of
building 1 MBT plant
3) Environmental effects :
- ~25-30% less greenhouse gas emissions per MW
- Organic molecules are entirely converted to syngas
- Principal plasma gasification byproduct : syngas harmless for the
environment + clean energy source
- Ferrous + non-ferrous are found in the slag residue of plasma
gasification and can be recovered to be used elsewhere
- Fly ash + hazardous material not produced
4) Community acceptance:
- Participants weren’t aware of this technology
- After the questionnaire, 43.8% said that plasma gasification is
better for the waste management issue in Beirut
- A big part of these people concluded the long term sustainability of
plasma gasification from its effectiveness
5) Operational feasibility:
- User friendly BUT
- Needs more specialized training because it is complex
- The current workforce needs more training
- It isn’t easy because of the poor education of the country’s workers.
Recommendation and summary:
- Plasma gasification >
- 4 out of 5 criteria plasma > MBT
- We can conclude our research by recommending more studies in
this field
- Tests can be made to check the implementation of the solutions and
challenges that can be faced, hoping in implementing plasma
gasification plants in Beirut
-
plasma gasification > MBT : type of waste accepted, higher waste
reduction rate, higher energy recovery, self sustaining in terms of
energy input.
obviously, plasma gasification is more economical after taking into
consideration both initial investment and running costs
Plasma gasification more advantageous than MBT because the
emissions are less
