Development of a decision model for the techno-economic assessment of municipal solid waste utilization pathways.
Economic competitiveness is one of the key factors in making decisions towards the development of waste conversion facilities and devising a sustainable waste management strategy. The goal of this study is to develop a framework, as well as to develop and demonstrate a comprehensive techno-economic model to help county and municipal decision makers in establishing waste conversion facilities. The user-friendly data-intensive model, called the FUNdamental ENgineering PrinciplEs-based ModeL for Estimation of Cost of Energy and Fuels from MSW (FUNNEL-Cost-MSW), compares nine different waste management scenarios, including landfilling and composting, in terms of economic parameters such as gate fees and return on investment. In addition, a geographic information system (GIS) model was developed to determine suitable locations for waste conversion facilities and landfill sites based on integration of environmental, social, and economic factors. Finally, a case study on Parkland County and its surrounding counties in the province of Alberta, Canada, was conducted and a sensitivity analysis was performed to assess the influence of the key technical and economic parameters on the calculated results.
Department of Mechanical Engineering, 4-9 Mechanical Engineering Building, University of Alberta, Edmonton T6G 2G8, Canada.
Md Mohib-Ul-Haque
MM
Khan
Department of Mechanical Engineering, 4-9 Mechanical Engineering Building, University of Alberta, Edmonton T6G 2G8, Canada.
Siddharth
S
Jain
Department of Mechanical Engineering, 4-9 Mechanical Engineering Building, University of Alberta, Edmonton T6G 2G8, Canada.
Mahdi
M
Vaezi
Department of Mechanical Engineering, 4-9 Mechanical Engineering Building, University of Alberta, Edmonton T6G 2G8, Canada. Electronic address: amit.kumar@ualberta.ca.
Amit
A
Kumar
D000416:Alberta; D000693:Anaerobiosis; D002947:Cities; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D003657:Decision Making; D003661:Decision Support Techniques; D004777:Environment; D005740:Gases; D040362:Geographic Information Systems; D018803:Models, Economic; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D012037:Refuse Disposal / Q000379:methods*; D012987:Soil; D062611:Solid Waste; D013672:Technology / Q000379:methods; D014186:Transportation; D018505:Waste Management / Q000379:methods
D005740:Gases; D012987:Soil; D062611:Solid Waste
GIS; Landfilling; Sensitivity analysis; WTE; Waste conversion