Design and Economic Analysis of a Heating/Absorption Cooling System Operating with Municipal Solid Waste Digester: A Case Study of Gazi University

Abstract Recovering energy from municipal solid waste (MSW) is one of the most important issues of energy management in developed countries. This raises even more interest as world fossil fuel reserves diminish and fuel prices rise. Being one of main processes of waste disposal, anaerobic digestion can be used as a means to reduce fossil fuel and electricity consumption as well as reducing emissions. With growing demand for cooling in Turkey, especially during warm seasons and considering the energy costs, utilizing heat-driven absorption cooling systems coupled with an anaerobic digester for local cooling purposes is a potentially interesting alternative for electricity driven compression cooling. The aim of this article is to study the viability of utilizing biogas obtained from MSW anaerobic digestion as the main fuel for heating facilities of Gazi University, Turkey and also the energy source for an absorption cooling system designed for the central library of the aforementioned campus. The results prove that the suggested system is sustainably and financially appealing and has the potential to replace the conventional electricity driven cooling systems with a reasonable net present worth; moreover, it can notably reduce carbon dioxide emissions.