The potential of electricity generation from landfill gas (LFG) as a strategy to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions

Abstract

Municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills are a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions. Biogas is formed under anaerobic conditions by the decomposition of organic matter contained in the waste. Estimating biogas production, which largely depends on the type of waste deposited in the landfill, is essential for designing the gas collection system and assessing potential energy production. This study aims to demonstrate the added value of municipal waste in generating sustainable energy in Palestine, resulting from CH₄ emissions from local landfills. The electricity generation of a waste-to-energy (WTE) plant was studied based on mathematical modelling. With the application of the First Order Decay (FOD) model as recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Palestine’s MSW landfills’ methane emissions were estimated to be approximately 158.1 kg of CH₄ per ton of household garbage, equivalent to approximately 251.2 million kilograms of methane annually. Applying an assumed rate of electricity generation per ton of MSW of 0.08 MWh, the estimated electricity generated from landfill gas was 127,200 MWh per year, corresponding to a reduction of approximately 69,960 tons of CO₂ equivalent per year. A case study of Al-Minya landfill also highlighted the indigenous capacity for electricity generation and emission reduction, demonstrating the feasibility of WTE initiatives as a viable climate change mitigation policy for Palestine. In this article, the electricity generation and equivalent CO₂ emission reduction of WTE plants using biogas from municipal landfills in both Palestine and Egypt were critically evaluated. It was found that the reduction equivalent of GHG emissions from the municipal landfills is 20.5 % in Palestine and 8.4 % in Egypt, which is a good indicator of the environmental feasibility of biogas plants to generate electricity from waste.