Material vs. Energy Recovery – An Assessment Using Computational Tools NERUDA and JUSTINE

This paper deals with recent improvement of in-house developed large-scale computational tools NERUDA and JUSTINE. The NERUDA tool provides support for strategic decision making in the field of waste management. The key part of NERUDA is a waste management related logistic problem. The logistic problem is solved by mathematical programming and is used to simulate competitive environment in waste management. The JUSTINE tool is an optimization model recursively applied to region divided into several sub regions and also their parts. The optimization model is used to obtain estimates of desired parameters that can be used for waste production, composition and calorific value prediction. A new important module representing current technologies for waste sorting – mechanical-biological treatment plant (MBT) and sorting line – are described in more detail in the paper. The practical contribution of described computational tools is presented through a case study. The study is based on important outcomes of a comprehensive project of the Ministry of Environment of the Czech Republic, which describes regional waste management parameters on microregional level. The study also introduces the tool's potential for abroad applications in countries with developing waste management (e.g. eastern markets).