Anaerobic digestion as sustainable source of energy: A dynamic approach for improving the recovery of organic waste

Organic waste fraction disposed to landfill induce the release of greenhouse gas and leachate due to its degradation. The collection and treatment of such typology of waste is imperative in order to decrease environmental pollution and improve recycling rates. The aim of this study is to define a flexible and economically viable system to process all the RMSW and the OFMSW coming from SC, in a territory with low recycling rates. To that purpose, the survey provides a dynamic system which comply with future increases in the efficiency of SC systems. Dry anaerobic batch reactors are considered in order to treat RMSW and to operate the OFMSW, as long as SC improves. Four scenarios were considered, in particular for 10%, 25%, 50% and 75% SC rate. Biogas production has been estimated for evaluating the potentiality of each SC rate, since it can be exploited for generating electric energy and heating. Biogas generation is enhanced of the 21% by increasing from 10% to 75% SC, making the system more profitable under an energetic point of view. Moreover, the amount of electric energy which could be sold per year for each SC scenario was calculated, resulting as 631,293 kWh for the 10% SC and 442,527 kWh for 75% SC. Considerations on the exportability of the approach were also added in the paper, highlighting the affordability of the anaerobic digestion system in other countries. (c) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.