Energy utilization potential of Saravan landfill in Rasht with life cycle assessment approach

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran

Abstract

 
Introduction:
In addition to causing pollution, landfills also produce greenhouse gases. One of the best methods to assess landfills' environmental impact is to calculate and compare life cycle assessment (LCA) indicators to determine the relative stability of systems. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the environmental effects and economic implications of different methods of Saravan landfill biogas management in Rasht from 2024 forward to determine the most sustainable method for Saravan landfill gas management.
Material and methods:
Two scenarios were considered for biogas emission estimation from the landfill. In the first scenario, the landfill will be closed in 2024, and in the second scenario, the landfill will be in operation for another 20 years (until 2044). LandGem software has been applied to estimate the amount of biogas emitted from the landfill and the accuracy of results was assessed by the mass balance technique. The LCA study was conducted for three different control situations, including an uncontrolled base case, flare utilization, and electricity generation using internal combustion engines in openLCA software. Waste transportation, landfilling, and biogas management was considered in the system boundary in the life cycle assessment. The leachate treatment process was not investigated because of its negligible effect on the studied indicators. To estimate the emission rates of wastes to the atmosphere in the life cycle assessment software, the LandGem simulation results, international emission factors, and data in the ELCD v2.3 databases were used.
Results and discussion:
The results showed that in the first and second scenarios, the total amount of biogas generated in the landfill was over 6,600 and 10,500 Gigagrams, respectively. Also, the relative error of LandGem in predicting the generated methane was almost 3.3%. The extracted gas flow rate in the first and second scenarios from 2024 was about 1500 cubic feet per minute. Two flaring and electricity-generating using the internal combustion engine methods have been proposed for landfill gas management with capital costs of 639,000 and 7,120,000 U.S. dollars, respectively. Their annual costs were 18,000 and 918,000 U.S. dollars, respectively. Examining four environmental indicators in life cycle assessment showed that by applying flaring and electricity-generating using the internal combustion engine, global warming potential (GWP100) was reduced by about 30% compared to the uncontrolled base case. So that, the equivalent carbon dioxide emission was almost 3,245, 2,311 and 2,276 kilograms per Mega grams of input solid waste in the base case, the flaring case and the electricity generation case, respectively. Moreover, the photochemical oxidant formation potential in the base case (0.7-kilogram equivalent ethylene per Megagrams solid waste) was much more than that for the other two cases. Meanwhile, the ozone depletion potential was equal for all three management cases.
Conclusion:
Given the LCA indicators and economic implications, internal combustion engines have been suggested as the most suitable option for landfill gas management after 2024. It not only reduced about 30% of the global warming potential, but also produced 11,000 megawatt-hours of electricity per year. This is almost equal to the average annual electricity consumption of 5,500 households in Guilan Province or 4,000 households in Rasht County.

Keywords

References

Abduli, M.A., Naghib, A., Yonesi, M. and Akbari, A., 2011. Life cycle assessment (LCA) of solid waste management strategies in Tehran: landfill and composting plus landfill. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment. 178(1-4), 487-498.
Ahmadzadeh, A., Khosravi, A., Orkomi A.A. and Tehrani, HJ., 2014. Principles of Design, Operation and Landfill Gas Management. 1st ed.Khaniran, Iran. (In Persian).
Beylot, A., Villeneuve, J. and Bellenfant, G., 2013. Life cycle assessment of landfill biogas management: sensitivity to diffuse and combustion air emissions. Waste Management. 33(2), 401-411.
Bicheldey, T. and Latushkina, E., 2010. Biogass emission prognosis at the landfills. International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology. 7(4), 623-628.
Boyaghchi, FA., Khanpour, N. and Ashrafi, M., 2013. Emission rate assessment in landfill and energy generation technologies (Case study: Aradkooh landfill). Journal of Environmental Studies. 3(67), 6-8. (In Persian with English abstract).
Change, IP., 2006. IPCC guidelines for national greenhouse gas inventories. 2013-04-28. Available online at: http://www. ipcc-nggip. iges. or. jp./public/2006gl/index. html.
Cherubini, F., Bargigli, S. and Ulgiati, S., 2009. Life cycle assessment (LCA) of waste management strategies: Landfilling, sorting plant and incineration. Energy. 34(12), 2116-2123.
Cho, H.S., Moon, H.S. and Kim, J.Y., 2012. Effect of quantity and composition of waste on the prediction of annual methane potential from landfills. Bioresource Technology. 109, 86-92.
EPA AP-42, Compilation of Air Pollutant Emission Factors, 1995. Section: c03s01: Stationary Internal Combustion Sources, Stationary Gas Turbines.
EPA AP-42, Compilation of Air Pollutant Emission Factors, 2018. Section: dc13s05: Miscellaneous Sources, Industrial Flares.
Faour, A.A., Reinhart, D.R. and You, H., 2007. First-order kinetic gas generation model parameters for wet landfills. Waste Management. 27(7), 946-953.
Ghanbarzadeh Lak, M. and Sabour, MR., 2010. Greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption through solid waste disposal scenarios using LCA, case study: SIRI island. Journal of Environmental Studies. 36(55), 67-78. (In Persian with English abstract).
GPSIS, 2018. Management and planning organization of Guilan Provice. Statistical information system of Guilan province. Guilan Province Statistical Information System (In Persian with English abstract). Available online at: http://sdi.mpogl.ir/.
Hong, J., Li, X. and Zhaojie, C., 2010. Life cycle assessment of four municipal solid waste management scenarios in China. Waste Management. 30(11), 2362-2369
ISO-14040, 2006. Environmental management-life cycle assessment-principles and framework. International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, Switzerland.
ISO-14044, 2006. Environmental management-life cycle assessment-requirements and guidelines. International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, Switzerland.
Marashi, F., Haghighifard, N.J., Khorasani, N. and Monarouei, S.M., 2019. Life cycle assessment of the sugar industry: A case study of Amir Kabir Sugar Cane Industry. Iranian Journal of Biosystem Engineering. 49(4), 597-608.
Milich, L., 1999. The role of methane in global warming: where might mitigation strategies be focused? Global Environmental Change. 9(3),179-201.
Mirzaei, S., 2010. Transportation energy data book. Iranian Academic Center for Education, Culture & Research, Tehran, Iran, submitted to Iranian Fuel Conservation Company.
Mosher, B.W., Czepiel, P.C., Shorter, J., Allwine, E., Harriss, R.C., Kolb, C. and Lamb, B., 1996. Mitigation of methane emissions at landfill sites in New England, USA. Energy Conversion and Management. 37(6-8), 1093-8.
Noorpoor, A., Afrasyabi, H. and Davoodi, S.M., 2013. Waste management processing assessment in the World and Iran. Iran. Studeis and Planning Department of Tehran Municipality. (In Persian with English abstract).
Ntziachristos, L., Samaras, Z., Kouridis, C., Hassel, D., McCrae, I., Hickman, J., Zierock, K.H., Keller, M., Andre, M., Winther, M. and Gorissen, N., 2009. Category Exhaust Emissions From Road Transport. EMEP/EEA Emission Inventory Guidebook. Part B, Chapter 1.A.3.b.i-iv.
Pazoki, M., Delarestaghi, R.M., Rezvanian, M.R., Ghasemzade, R. and Dalaei, P., 2015. Gas production potential in the Landfill of Tehran by landfill methane outreach program. Jundishapur Journal of Health Sciences. 7(4), 29679. (In Persian with English abstract)
Pirooz, B., Razdar, B., Bagherzadeh, A. and Kavianpour, M.R., 2010. Environmental impact assessment of Rasht landfill within Saravan forest in Guilan province. Proceedings of the National Conference on Human, Environment and Sustainable Developm. 2010 March. 10. Hamedan. Iran. (In Persian with English abstract).
Rahimi, F., Atabi, F., Nouri, J. and Omrani, G.A., 2019. Using life cycle assessment method for selecting optimal waste management system in Tehran City. Journal of Environmental Health and Sustainable Development. 4(4), 866-878.
Rahmani, K., Dadashkhah, Z., Alighadri, M., Mokhtari, A. and Nazari H., 2019. Environmental assessment of life cycle of waste management system based on LCAIWM1 modeling (Case study: Rasht city). Journal of Environmental Health Engineering. 6(4), 443-456. (In Persian with English abstract).
Rezaee, E. and Abolhasani, M.H., 2018. Evaluation of landfill gas generation for exploitation energy (Case study: landfill no. 2 of Shahinshahr). Journal of Environmental Health and Engineering. 5(4), 389-400. (In Persian with English abstract).
Sabetraftar, K., Tavakoli, B., Sedighrahnama, S., Tolouian, M. and Farogh, M., 2010. The Comprehensive Waste Management Plan of Guilan Central District. (In Persian with English abstract).
Safari, E., Asadollahfardi, G. and Joghatayi, F., 2009. Methane reduction possibility study in Rasht city landfills considering green development mechanism. International Journal of Applied Environmental Sciences. 4, 337. (In Persian with English abstract).
Scharff, H. and Jacobs, J., 2006. Applying guidance for methane emission estimation for landfills. Waste Management. 26(4), 417-29.
Sil, A., Kumar, S. and Kumar, R., 2014. Formulating LandGem model for estimation of landfill gas under Indian scenario. International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management. 17(2-4), 293-299.
Skone, T.J., 2019. NETL CO2U openLCA LCI Database. National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), Pittsburgh, PA, Morgantown, WV, and Albany, OR United States.
Sofsatayi, A., 2010. The biogas extraction technologies and potential of bioenergy production from the landfills in Isfahan. Proceedings of the 1st Iranian Bioenergy Conference. 13th October, Tehran, Iran. (In Persian with English abstract).
Talaiekhozani, A., Bahrami, S., Hashemi, S.M.J. and Jorfi, S., 2016. Evaluation and analysis of gaseous emission in landfill area and estimation of its pollutants dispersion, (case of Rodan in Hormozgan, Iran). Environental Health Engineering and Management Journal. 3(3), 143–150. (In Persian with English abstract).
Thompson, S., Sawyer, J., Bonam, R. and Valdivia, J.E., 2009. Building a better methane generation model: Validating models with methane recovery rates from 35 Canadian landfills. Waste Management. 29(7), 2085-2091.
Turner, D.A., Williams, I.D. and Kemp, S., 2016. Combined material flow analysis and life cycle assessment as a support tool for solid waste management decision making. Journal of Cleaner Production. 129, 234-248.
Turner, J.H., 1997. The US EPA 40 CFR part 258 financial test/corporate guarantee-new environmentally protective, cost-effective mechanisms for the demonstration of financial responsibility. Fordham Environmental Law Journal. 9, 567.
United State Environmental Protection Agancy (U.S. EPA), 2008. Background Information Document for Updating AP42 Section 2.4 Municipal Solid Waste Landfills. EPA/600/R-08-116 2008.
United State Environmental Protection Agancy (U.S. EPA), 2020. LFG Energy Project Development Handbook. 1st ed. EPA.
Wanichpongpan, W., and Gheewala, S.H., 2007. Life cycle assessment as a decision support tool for landfill gas-to energy projects. Journal of Cleaner Production. 15(18), 1819-1826.
Xi, B.D., He, X.S., Wei, Z.M., Jiang, Y.H., Li, M.X., Li, D., Li, Y. and Dang, Q.L., 2012. Effect of inoculation methods on the composting efficiency of municipal solid wastes. Chemosphere. 88(6),744-750.
Zazouli, M., Karimi, Z. and Rafiee, R., 2020. Selecting the best options of management of municipal solid waste using life cycle assessment methodology (Case study: Noor city). Iranian Journal of Health and Environment. 12(4), 607-620. (In Persian with English abstract).
Environmental Sciences
Volume 19, Issue 2
July 2021
Pages 205-224

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics