Characterization and Heating value Prediction of Municipal solid waste

Abstract— There is an increasing trend of using municipal solid waste as an alternative energy resource, burning and converting it into energy in the form of heat or steam or electricity. The aim of this study is to predict energy value of MSW using compositional and proximate-based analysis of solid waste and compare the reliability of models in predicting the energy recovery potentials from different solid waste components. Physical characterization showed that food, yard, textile, leather, rubber, wood scrap,  yard,  metal, plastic  and  paper waste were  the  constituents  of  all  waste  samples in the study area, but in varying proportions. The energy content of combustible solid waste was estimated to be 17.50 MJ/kg for gross heating value, and 9.54 MJ/kg for net heating value, which revealed the suitability of solid waste as energy recovery option. In this study several proposed composition and proximate-based mathematical models have been used to estimate the HHV of municipal solid waste. The average high heating values estimated from some models were found to be 16.27 ± 0.90 MJ/kg (Model II), 16.45 ± 0.43 MJ/kg (Model III), 18.97 ± 0.03 MJ/kg (Model XVIII), and 16.60 ± 0.32 MJ/kg (Model XXIV) which were closely match the value with experimentally determined calorific value as 17.50 ± 0.68 MJ/kg. Therefore, it is concluded that the quantity of energy obtainable from a known amount and composition of mixed solid waste can be estimated using already developed models without conducting calorimetric experiments.