Waste-to-Energy Role in Circular Economy Concept - Modelling Approach

Waste management is undergoing significant development in many EU states. This development may be related to the circular economy ideas or may be related to the residual municipal waste and recyclable waste direct landfilling ban. The suitability of different municipal waste management approaches is discussed in this context, however, comparison of the approaches assumes a complex assessment according to many aspects and a broad data basis.
The main contribution of this paper is the interconnection of selected partial models to a complex scenario task and a related overall assessment of municipal waste management approaches. The scenario represents waste material flow from the producers to the final processing in the context of this paper. The aim is to design an efficient, realistic and, above all, economically viable comprehensive waste management solutions. Previously developed techno-economic models describing municipal waste treatment are presented in the contribution, i.e. models of waste logistics, waste transfer station, waste-to-energy plant, composting plant, waste sorting plant and mechanical biological treatment plant. The models are interconnected for the purpose of waste flow modelling in specific scenarios. The proposed approach is supported by geographical, logistic, economic and legislation datasets included in in-house developed large-scale computational tools NERUDA and JUSTINE.
The main output of the contribution comprehensive methodical approach to municipal waste management scenarios assessment. The methodology includes logistical, operational and legislative claims and it is based on an assessment of investment and operating costs, environmental considerations and benefits for regional energy (electricity, heat). The applicability of the proposed methodology and the potential of its application in arbitrarily chosen areas is proven by a case study of a particular territory.