Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/10208
Title: Energy recovery from waste : is thermal treatment a viable option for Malta?
Authors: Scicluna, Simon (2014)
Keywords: Recycling (Waste, etc.) -- Malta
Refuse and refuse disposal -- Malta
Waste products as fuel -- Malta
Incineration -- Malta
Issue Date: 2014
Abstract: In 2012 Malta generated 246,110 tonnes of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) and a further 158,167 tonnes of other waste. Landfilling amounted to 268,140 tonnes while the total energy generated from waste in 2012 was 4.09 GWh equivalent to 0.47 MW. The Waste Management Plan for the Maltese Islands 2014–2020 (MSDEC, 2014) issued earlier this year, indicates that Malta is still at cross-roads on how to treat the waste ending up in the landfill – whether by some means of local energy recovery, exporting the waste or further landfilling. This dissertation intends to analyse a potential waste management roadmap for Malta for the period 2015–2040 taking into account the present and committed waste management infrastructure together with the hypothetical introduction of a Thermal Treatment Facility (TTF) in 2021, initially to complement the waste treatment portfolio, until it eventually becomes the mainstay for the treatment of mixed waste in Malta. This dissertation is divided into two main parts. The first part constitutes a literature review on the documentation related to waste management in Malta in an effort concentrated at understanding the current state of play in this sector and to try to figure out the reasons and motives behind the apparent course of action taken to manage waste. In the second part, a model is used to depict the Maltese waste mass flows in five reference years as it transforms from collection to processing until it eventually becomes some form of output. These reference years are chosen to represent 2012 as the year with the latest official waste data available; 2016 being the first full year when Malta North is expected to come online; 2021 as the year when hypothetically a Thermal Treatment Facility is introduced in the waste management scene and 2025 and 2030 as the years when the MBTs at SAWTP4 and Malta North are expected to be decommissioned. This enables to map out and compare the resultant changes in the waste outputs, the effect on the biowaste and recycling targets and the resultant waste management cost as it varies consequential to the different waste treatment methods adopted arising from the different treatment plants employed. The data that emerges from the model employed shows that, in spite of the operation of the Mechanical and Biological Treatment plants (MBTs), 70% of the total waste generated still ends up being landfilled equivalent to 86% of the waste that is not recycled. In contrast, if a Thermal Treatment Facility is introduced, landfilling goes down to 20% of the total waste generated or 30% of the mixed stream waste. Once the TTF is operational, there is no significant effect on landfill quantities if the MBT’s are no longer in service. Furthermore, the TTF during its operational lifetime brings along the beneficial opportunity to mine around 3.7 million tonnes of municipal waste deposited in the engineered landfill – thereby creating valuable void space and extending considerably its lifetime. Thermal treatment5 could also be a solution for Malta to achieve its landfill targets in terms of biowaste and recyclables – both earmarked by the EU for a complete landfill ban as of 2025.
Description: M.SC.SUS.ENERGY
URI: https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar//handle/123456789/10208
Appears in Collections:Dissertations - InsSE - 2014

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