Work

Waste-to-energy pathways for fresh and legacy waste management: A case study in India

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Rapid urbanization and population growth in developing countries like India have led to the dual challenge of managing the fresh municipal solid waste (MSW) and accumulated legacy waste in unregulated landfills. Despite the environmental significance of legacy waste, it is often overlooked in existing life cycle assessment (LCA) studies. This results in a critical gap in integrated LCA approaches that consider both waste streams within a single system boundary. This study addresses this gap by conducting an integrated attributional LCA, using the case study of Ghazipur landfill, Delhi, India. It covers processes from waste collection to energy recovery, using a functional unit of 1 tonne of MSW. LCA is performed using GaBi software and the Environmental Footprint 3. Four scenarios are analyzed: landfill without gas recovery (LF), landfill with gas recovery (LFGR) for fresh waste, refuse-derived fuel (RDF) incineration, and RDF gasification for legacy waste. LFGR shows an energy recovery of 73.04 kWh/tonne of MSW, significantly reducing the environmental impacts compared to LF. For legacy waste, RDF gasification outperforms incineration, showing an energy recovery of 306.1 kWh/tonne of MSW. The reduction cost of 1 tonne of CO 2 is 20 USD for LFGR and 32 USD for the RDF gasification. Sensitivity analysis highlights that the net electricity output predominantly affects the climate change category. This study highlights the potential of WtE for biomining and landfill reclamation, supporting circular economy transitions. The integrated LCA framework is replicable across developing nations with similar landfills, aligning with SDGs 7, 11, and 13.

Source: Energy Nexus

DOI: 10.1016/j.nexus.2025.100472

Authors: Iram Naaz, Sonal K. Thengane, Pratham Arora, Gunasekhar Thirumoorthy, S.K. Singal

Institution: Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee

Language: English

Topic: Municipal Solid Waste Management

Subfield: Waste Management and Disposal

Field: Environmental Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Responsible consumption and production, Climate action, Affordable and clean energy, Industry, innovation and infrastructure, Sustainable cities and communities

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,200