Feasibility Assessment of Municipal Waste Management System for Energy and Fuel Generation

The transition to net zero requires integrated waste-to-energy (WtE) pathways that can simultaneously improve waste management, strengthen energy security, and mitigate carbon emissions. Plastic and food waste have different properties and therefore require different conversion technologies: plastic waste can be converted through plasma gasification, whereas food waste can be treated through anaerobic digestion. Integrating these technologies provides opportunities to produce multiple energy products while avoiding the environmental impacts associated with conventional waste disposal. However, the technical, economic, and environmental implications of integrating these waste conversion technologies with carbon capture and storage (CCS) remain insufficiently understood, particularly in developing economies. Therefore, this thesis investigates integrated plasma gasification, anaerobic digestion, and CCS systems to produce electricity, cooling, heating, liquefied biomethane, and hydrogen, using Indonesia as the study context.

Process models were developed in Aspen Plus® using a consistent plastic and food waste feedstock. The systems were evaluated through energy and exergy analyses, techno-economic analysis (TEA), and life cycle assessment (LCA). The investigated configurations included combined cooling, heating, and power (CCHP), liquefied biomethane production, and hydrogen co-production under no-CCS, pre- and post- combustion CCS conditions.

The results demonstrate the technical and economic feasibility and environmental potential of the integrated systems. CCHP-only configurations produced more electricity, heating, and cooling, while liquefied biomethane configurations achieved higher energy and exergy efficiencies. CCS increased production costs but substantially reduced global warming potential, with some configurations achieving net-negative emissions through biogenic CO2 storage. Separate waste processing achieved the highest hydrogen yield, thermodynamic efficiencies, and lowest hydrogen cost, whereas co-gasification provided the greatest emissions reduction. However, current Indonesian incentives remain insufficient to ensure economic competitiveness. Pilot-scale validation, cost reductions, and stronger policy and financial support are therefore required to enable commercial deployment in developing economies.