title: A technical, economic, and environmental analysis of energy production from newspaper in Ireland.
abstract: The production of newspaper corresponds to 37 kg per person per annum in Ireland. Newspaper becomes a waste product in a short period of time; only 13% of domestic waste paper is recycled (data on newspaper is not available). Four scenarios, which generate energy from newspaper, are analysed. These scenarios may be summarised as follows: lignocellulosic biomass conversion to ethanol (transport fuel); co-digestion with the organic fraction of municipal solid waste and production of CH4-enriched biogas (transport fuel); co-firing with the residue of municipal solid waste in an incinerator; and gasification of newspaper as a sole fuel. Two of the scenarios involve transport fuel production; two involve the production of electricity and heat. Two of the scenarios involve newspaper as the sole ingredient; two involve co- utilisation of newspaper with another waste stream. Assuming no economic market for heat, then only the transport scenarios have the potential to be economic; indeed the biogas scenario is shown to be extremely competitive generating a potential profit of euro 227/t newspaper. A greenhouse-gas analysis indicates that the biogas scenario generated the best net greenhouse-gas savings. However when a market for heat is available, gasification was shown to be most advantageous.
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, Cork Institute of Technology, Cork, Ireland. jdmurphy@cit.ie
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Power
mesh_terms: D001674:Bioelectric Energy Sources / Q000191:economics; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000191:economics; D007494:Ireland; D010209:Paper; D012037:Refuse Disposal / Q000191:economics