Study on the feasibility of electricity generation from biogas produced from municipal solid waste and the biodigestion of henhouse manure

Despite consisting of residual material in some processes, solid waste still presents huge potential for recycling, reuse, and energy use, either through thermochemistry or biochemistry. Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) can be energetically exploited by converting landfill gas (LFG) to electrical energy. In addition, animal manure can also undergo biodigestion, generating biogas that can also be harnessed energetically. Achieving economic viability is difficult when evaluating Thermal Power Plants (TPP) using biogas, especially in cases of smaller cities (in the case of LFG) or when animal populations (biodigestion) are smaller. This study presents three scenarios for electricity generation using biogas in a case study of a small city located in Itanhandu (MG), Brazil. This study sought to evaluate the benefits of using two sources for biogas production, these being LFG and the anaerobic digestion of henhouse manure. In the first scenario, a project generating electricity using LFG was analyzed. In the second scenario, energy was generated via biogas coming from manure collected at henhouses. The third scenario considered electricity generation from both sources. The results demonstrate that TPPs based only in LFG are not economically viable, while the other two scenarios present positive results as to their economic viability, showing that the biogas volume coming from manure collected at henhouses is sufficient for electricity generation at the TPP with landfill gas. This result could be beneficial both as a solution for Solid Waste Management (MSW) as well as providing an additional energy generation solution near to the city. © 2020 Widener University School of Civil Engineering. All rights reserved.