Sustainable energy production from municipal solid waste in Oman

The adverse impact of the energy production from fossil fuels is now well recognised globally; therefore, the move towards renewable and sustainable energy has become an integral part to achieve United Nations sustainable development goals. A comparative study considered a waste-to-energy plant to produce electricity in Oman. A research strategy including both qualitative and quantitative research methods was adopted to evaluate the municipal solid waste generation and emissions, electricity consumption and emissions, public participation in waste segregation, and to estimate the reduction in emission considering a 5000 t/day waste-to-energy plant in Oman. The results showed that current emissions from fossil fuels to meet the electricity requirement of 71 GWh/year is 162 MtCO2e/year. Similarly, the emissions from 2.2 Mt/year of municipal solid waste is 3.4 MtCO2e/year. A 5000 t/day waste-to/energy plant would not only produce 2.93 GWh daily but would also enable an annual reduction of 2.46 MtCO2e. Such an initiative would help Oman to improve its sustainability performance in energy, climate change, waste reduction and economic growth and will pave the road to achieve the relevant sustainable development goals by 2030.