Processing of Biomethane for Electricity Production as a Sustainable Way to Treat Municipal Organic Solid Waste: A Case Study of the Corumbataí River Basin Region

Abstract

This study proposed action scenarios for urban solid waste management in six municipalities in the Corumbataí River Basin. The operating scenarios were designed for organic waste treatment and for the shared disposal of urban solid waste. Six municipalities were studied, five of which had less than 30,000 inhabitants (Analandia, Charqueada, Corumbatai, Ipeuna, and Santa Gertrudes). In addition, Rio Claro had 199,000 inhabitants. Thus, the transport and transshipment stages, general infrastructure, and final disposal in landfills were analyzed. Further, the three scenarios for organic waste treatment were conducted separately. The items and the cost of implementation were estimated for decentralized composting, centralized composting, and biomethanization of waste with electricity recovery. The biomethanization scenario included the commercialization of electricity, so it generated revenues that decreased costs. This cost reduction was especially notable in the last years of the project when the goals of diversion of organic waste through selective collection were higher. The results suggested that the investigated scenarios could improve organic waste treatment and that the biomethanization scenario with electricity generation presented lower average costs per inhabitant than the centralized and decentralized composting scenarios.