Opportunities and Challenges of Gasification of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) in Brazil

Abstract

The growth of the economy in urban centers is invariably accompanied by an increase in human activities and environmental interference, mainly related to waste generation. Due to the nature of these activities, large volumes of varied waste are generated daily without the establishment of compatible and adequate collection, logistics, and final disposal systems, bringing relevant impacts to society on health, the environment, and the economy itself. In Brazil, in 2019 alone, almost 30 million tons of MSW were not collected and the total collected, of approximately 44 million tons, went to landfills, with little or no energy use. There is therefore a great opportunity for energy use using this source, aiming not only to adapt to current legislation, but also to reduce GHG emissions, reduce the population’s exposure to sanitary landfills and open air, and use the energy contained in these wastes. The purpose of this study is to analyze the main conditions and challenges of current technologies for harnessing the energy potential of biomass from urban solid waste (USW) to enable the insertion of mini thermal plants connected to distributed generation.