Energy recovery from landfill gas in Egypt

Abstract

In developing countries, the transition from dumpsites to landfills is particularly important for addressing the challenges of waste management and promoting sustainable development. The goal of this study is to determine the quantity of gas emissions from landfills in Egypt using LandGEM, Afvalzorg, and Mexico models, as well as analyze the financial benefits and greenhouse gas reductions of producing electricity from municipal solid waste, considering seven different landfills across Egypt. A financial assessment was conducted using the entire lifecycle cost, levelized cost of energy, net present value, internal rate of return, and payback period. While the environmental assessment adopted a methodology to determine greenhouse gas production and reductions due to landfill gas valorization, in a span of 30 years, greenhouse gas emissions are expected to be reduced by 81% following landfill gas utilization based on a 75% gas collection efficiency. Furthermore, the potential electricity generation reaches 358 gigawatt-hours, with plant capacities ranging between 3 and 40 megawatts. The positive net present values obtained demonstrate that landfill gas for electricity generation in Egypt is financially feasible for big landfills. This aims to provide first-hand technical knowledge to waste management stakeholders, including policymakers, planners, decision-makers, and investors, to guide waste management planning and promote financially feasible investment in landfill gas to energy in Egypt. Graphical Abstract