Energy Recovery from Municipal Solid Waste in Oujda city (Morocco)

The generation of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) is inevitable.With population growth year after year and the increase in the standard of living, the quantities of waste are increasing exponentially and their efficient management has become a priority to municipal authorities worldwide.The Moroccan government has recognized the importance of effective sustainable resource management and the implementation of a national strategy as waste management.In Morocco, the Secretariat of State for Sustainable Development and the Ministry of the Interior have developed a waste management strategy called the National Household Waste Management Program (PNDM), which was implemented with the support of the World Bank, which targets for the next few years the quantitative objectives of waste collection (90% in 2020), the implementation of controlled landfills and the development of waste sorting, recycling and valorization.Waste energy recovery is the most optimal management solution that not only eliminates the large quantities of waste produced each day but also creates the energy needed for a constantly growing population.The objective of this research work is to assess the municipal solid waste potential for electrical and thermal energy generation and biogas production using three modes of energy recovery (combustion, gasification and anaerobic digestion) in Oujda city (Morocco).The maximum electric load generated is 177.39GWh from waste gasification with electrical efficiencies of 17.3%.Whereas for thermal energy, a maximum value of 277.17 GWh is generated by direct combustion of MSW.For anaerobic digestion, the maximum potential methane generation capacity is 2.44 106 m3/year in 2014.