In Thailand, the municipal solid waste (MSW) generated is currently about 71,700 tons a day. Moreover, solid waste management (SWM) is an interdisciplinary issue. The concept of WM has been embraced by Thailand through the setting of a national master plan for SWM. Several waste to energy (WTE) projects have been initiated. The anaerobic digestion WTE power plant in Rayong municipality was selected for performance evaluation. It is able to treat 70 tons of organic waste per days but its actual throughput has decreased to 20 tons per day based on limited amount of waste separation effected to isolate organic waste. In addition, a better digester design is required for the actual organic waste generated. Thermal processes such as gasification and incineration in Hatyai have been applied for mixed waste. However, they suffer from the limitation that high moisture content waste can cause fluctuating heating values. Also, the environmental impact on nearby communities is an important concern. Meanwhile, investment in WTE project has been encouraged by the introduction of the feed-in tariff (FiT) rate paid for electricity generated through sustainable processes to promote energy recovery from MSW. The keys to success for WTE technologies are waste separation at source and development of machine innovation.
Part of the book: Advances in Biofuels and Bioenergy
Evaluation of the organizational greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from operational activities of selective municipality was investigated in this study. The selected municipality is located in Songkhla Province, the southern part of Thailand, and is divided into seven functional units. The total GHG emissions were estimated at 16,920.29 ton CO2 eq. in the fiscal year 2016. The carbon footprints under direct, indirect, and optional indirect emissions (scopes 1, 2, and 3, respectively) were found to be 1129.92, 255.24, and 15,535.13 ton CO2 eq./year, respectively. The highest carbon footprint was from methane emissions related to solid waste decomposition in sanitary landfills (15,524 ton CO2 eq./year). Therefore, the main GHG mitigation strategy proposed was the installation of waste to energy recovery in order to reduce waste throughput to the landfill. For specific municipal operations, diesel combustion in municipality-owned vehicles had the highest carbon emission followed by fugitive emissions from refrigerants and electricity consumption (746.92, 289.60, and 255.24 ton CO2 eq./year, respectively). The important constraints in reducing GHG emissions from upstream and downstream of the organizational activities were identified in terms of time, cost, and data accessibility. Further, convergent cooperation and public participation are also significant for effective implementation of global warming mitigation strategies.
Part of the book: Low Carbon Transition