Landfills all around the world are one of the major sources that contribute towards global warming and climate change. Although landfilling should be prioritized last in the waste management hierarchy due to highest greenhouse gas emissions as compared to other waste management systems it is still very common around the world. In this study, methane emissions are estimated by applying First Order Decay model to landfills in Pakistan over the latest data available by Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency. Results demonstrate that nearly 14.18 Gg of methane is emitted from the landfills in Pakistan each year. By combusting this methane in the form of biogas collected from the landfills as a waste management scheme we can reduce greenhouse effect up to ~88%. Same percentage is observed when we apply the similar analysis over the potentially improved practice. Also, Pakistan is facing severe economic crises due to continuous increasing gap between energy demand and supply. Demand is increasing exponentially while supply is observed to remain constant over the last few years due to frozen capacity in spite of having significant renewable/alternate energy resources. Current electricity shortfall has reached up to 6000 MW. Present operational landfills in Pakistan can only contribute up to ~0.1% to cater the total deficit which does not make any significant difference but if 75% of the total waste generated today is collected and 50% of it landfilled then Pakistan has the potential to produce ~83.17 MW of power that can contribute up to 1.4% to overcome the current power shortage. The outcomes of this paper may also be applicable to other developing countries having similar resources
Abstract-Pakistan is facing severe economic crises due to continuous increasing gap between energy demand and supply. Demand is increasing exponentially and expected to increase more than 66000 MW by 2030 while the supply is observed to remain constant over the last few years due to frozen capacity in spite of having significant renewable/alternate energy resources. Current electricity shortfall has reached up to 6000 MW. This paper investigates the potential of two major biomass energy resources available in Pakistan: Livestock and Bagasse. These resources, if utilized to their full extent for power generation, can contribute up to 42% in the current scenario. The biomass resource quantification is done along with its environmental impact assessment in terms of methane emissions pre and post production of biogas. Economic appeal of biomass energy is demonstrated by a comparative cost analysis among heavy fuel oil, natural gas and biomass (i.e. dung). The ongoing policies and incentives on biomass energy usage, and bottlenecks in making the biomass a component of energy portfolio of Pakistan are also reviewed. The outcomes of this paper might also be applicable to other developing countries having similar resources.
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