Evaluation of the energy potential of organic waste in Havenstad: From a systems modelling and behavioural perspective
S.G. Sial (TU Delft - Technology, Policy and Management)
Laurens J. de Vries – Mentor (TU Delft - Energy and Industry)
C. Els Van Daalen – Graduation committee member (TU Delft - Policy Analysis)
K.P.H. Lange – Coach (TU Delft - Energy and Industry)
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Abstract
Waste-to-Energy (WtE) serves as an important source to meet the growing energy demands of the world in a sustainable manner. It can help in the reduction of Greenhouse Gases (GHG) emissions, lower the risk of environmental pollution and contribute towards the establishment of a circular economy. By generating steam or electrical energy, WtE helps avoid the CO2 emissions from fossil-fuel based electrical generation. But it requires further improvements within the area of waste management. One of the key objectives of waste management is to improve the source separation of Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Waste (OFMSW) generated by households and Small-Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The increase source separation of waste, positively impacts the WtE process. To achieve high source separation, the presence of pro-environmental behaviour and the appropriate waste collection infrastructure is important. In this thesis, the impact of these factors on the waste separation rate and the energy generated from OFMSW is evaluated by constructing an Agent-Based Model. The results of this thesis show that combined influence of Pro-environmental behaviour, higher ratio of households to SMEs, large bin size and choice of an efficient WtE technology to treat source separated waste, resulted in an 16.24 % increase in the energy generated from OFMSW and a 25.32% increase in the CO2 abated.