Vision 2023: Assessing the feasibility of electricity and biogas production from municipal solid waste in Turkey

Turkey imports most of its energy. However, according to the recently avowed Vision 2023 agenda the country also plans to produce 30% of its electricity demand from renewable energy sources by 2023. Meanwhile, each year around 25milliontonnes of municipal solid waste (MSW) is generated nationwide. Not only MSW pollutes the environment handling, processing and storage requires precious labour and capital. In that context, a synergistic solution can be created between MSW management and energy supply. In this study, economics and environmental impacts of electricity generation from MSW via (i) direct combustion and (ii) biogas harnessing in 81 cities of Turkey is analysed in detail for a period between 2012 and 2023. Firstly, it is estimated that nationwide 8500GWh of electricity could have been generated by direct combustion of MSW in 2012. This is predicted to rise 9700GWh in 2023. It is calculated that 3100millionm3 of methane would be emitted from the landfills of Turkey in 2012. If no action taken this would rise to 3600millionm3 in 2023. Furthermore, it is estimated that by capturing 25% of this methane via landfill bioreactors 2900GWh or 0.5% of Turkey's annual electricity demand could be supplied in 2023. Simulations also showed that by realizing apposite landfill investments by 2023 annual energy savings worth 200–900 million € could be generated from MSW. Consequently, this could lead to greenhouse gas emission savings up to 11.0milliontonnes of CO2 per annum.

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