Seasonal Variation Analysis Method of GHG at Municipal Solid Waste Incinerator

Abstract

The greenhouse gas emissions of the waste incineration sector account for approximately 43% of the total GHG emissions and represent the majority of the CO2 emissions from waste in Korea. Improving the reliability of the GHG inventory of the waste incineration sector is an important aspect for the examination of global GHG emission management according to the Paris Agreement. In this study, we introduced a statistical approach to analyze seasonal changes through analysis of waste composition and CO2 concentration in Municipal Solid Waste incinerators and applied the methodology to one case study facility. The analysis results in the case study showed that there was no seasonal variation in waste composition and CO2 concentrations, except for wood. Wood is classified as biomass, and the GHG emissions caused by biomass incineration are reported separately, indicating that the effect of an MSW incinerator on GHG emissions is not significant. Therefore, the seasonal effect of CO2 concentration or waste composition may not be an impact when calculating GHG emissions from case study facilities’ MSW incinerators. This study proposed an approach for analyzing factors that affect the GHG inventory reliability by analyzing seasonal characteristics and variation through the statistical analysis, which are used for the calculation of the GHG emissions of an MSW incinerator.