Gasification of Municipal Solid Waste for Power Generation

The paper analyzes the growing desire to use waste-to-energy strategies on municipal solid waste (MSW) to generate power. The two waste-to-energy technologies that will be explored are incineration and gasification. The background of these two technologies will be explained because incineration, which has been the pioneering technology for the past century, has come to be rivaled by gasification with its unique purification feature. Following this section, gasification and incineration power generation are studied to conclude which technology is sounder. This study will be conducted via an analysis to find the thermal and exergetic efficiencies and emissions of each. After analyzing the two technologies, both utilizing a vapor cogeneration power system, their efficiencies were found. For the gasification process, the thermal efficiency was 26% and the exergetic efficiency was 59%. The incineration process had a thermal efficiency of 25% and an exergetic efficiency of 55%. Lastly, the emission from the power generation of each method was explored to see which system had a greater impact on the environment. It was found that the primary emissions of these technologies were carbon dioxide and water.