Model for the economic feasibility of energy recovery from municipal solid waste in Brazil

Unlike many countries across the world using advanced treatment technologies for energy recovery from municipal solid waste (MSW), Brazil´s waste potential in terms of energetic use remains mostly unexploited. This paper presents a new methodological approach to support strategic investment decisions favoring the energetic treatment of MSW. Furthermore, it contains a case study that provides interesting insights into the conditions under which state of the art MSW incineration plants with energy recovery using revenues from electricity and carbon credit sales and income from waste treatment contract, are competitive with low cost landfills. The paper´s content, including both the mathematical model and the case study were included in an MSc Thesis [Maier Sebastian. Model for economic feasibility of municipal solid waste treatment methods. Rio de Janeiro, 2011. 136p. MSc Thesis - Department of Electrical Engineering, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro. http://www.ub.tuwien.ac.at/dipl/2011/AC07811231.pdf] presented in August 2011.