Mechanical Biological Treatment Facility: Energy Recovery Assessment

Mechanical biological treatment (MBT) technology has been identified as the most preferred waste treatment technology that can effectively recover recyclable materials and high calorific value refuse-derived fuel (RDF) from municipal solid waste (MSW), as well as a viable alternative that can complement separate and source separation logistics in a waste management chain of developing countries with low budget for municipal solid waste management. Even though energy can be recovered or saved from utilisation of the output products of MBT plant, the operation of MBT plant consumes significant amount of energy, which prompted the need for further research of its energy sustainability performance potential. This chapter presents a framework for modelling of MBT plant as a combination of multi-stage mechanical separation processes for recovery of refuse derived fuel (RDF) and biological degradation process for stabilisation of municipal solid waste organic volatile components before disposal in landfill using a case study in Nigeria. The framework is a useful tool that can be used by policy-makers to support decision-making processes with respect to adoption and integration of MBT plant in local waste management system. It can also be used by technology developers for dimensioning a typical MBT plant configuration based on expected waste input quantities received at the plant and the framework will calculate and return quantities as well as the characteristics for products generated from the MBT plant.