A Preliminary Feasibility Study of Waste to Energy Technologies in Treating MSW in Belize

• Main Authors: Jeavon Jason Hulse, 何喬凡
• Other Authors: Kuen-Sheng Wang
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2006
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/q3ruq2

碩士 === 國立中央大學 === 國際環境永續發展碩士在職專班國際專班 === 94 === Belize has a growing solid waste problem that is plaguing the country. This problem is further magnified due to a lack of information. To remedy the solid waste problem, the government has developed a national solid waste management plan which calls for the construction of a central sanitary landfill and the refurbishment of existing disposal sites. In addition to the above, the country is also faced with a problem of energy security. The country imports 100 % of the fossil fuels used in the country. Overall, about 75% of the total energy demand for the country is obtained from foreign / external sources. With these two issues in mind, this thesis proposes the construction of a waste to energy facility to be used in conjunction with the central landfill. This thesis undertakes a preliminary investigation to ascertain the feasibility of four (4) waste to energy technologies namely incineration, gasification, anaerobic digestion and composting. The ultimate objective of this preliminary study is to identify the most suitable technology. The technologies are evaluated based on their respective technical, economic and environmental merits, the preferred technology being the most technically efficient, economically efficient and resulting in the least environmental damage. Information pertaining to the technical, economic and environmental attributes is collected for each of the technologies. Using an Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP), the technologies and the evaluation criteria are given a relative weigh and rank. This weight and rank are subsequently combined and leads to the identification of the preferred technology. For this thesis, the preferred technology based on the AHP conducted is incineration. This satisfies both requirements of solid waste treatment and energy generation, offering an 80% reduction in the volume of waste and generating a considerable amount of energy that can be sold to the local grid.