Performance evaluation of anaerobic digestion of municipal solid waste : a case study of Rayong Municipality, Thailand | |
| Author | Warangkana Jutidamrongphan |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.EV-08-44 |
| Subject(s) | Sewage--Purification--Anaerobic treatment--Thailand--Rayong Organic wastes--Thailand--Rayong Organic wastes as fertilizer--Thailand--Rayong Factory and trade waste as fertilizer--Thailand--Rayong |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Environmental Engineering and Management |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | This study evaluated the performance of the waste-to-energy and fertilizer (WTEF) facilities of the Rayong municipality, Thailand, with respect to the amount of organic wastes feeding, biogas production, and electricity and fertilizer production. Currently, there are about 20 tons organic wastes per day being fed to the single-stage batch anaerobic reactor and the COD removal was found to be 50%. The amount of biogas production was found to be about 108 m³ per ton of input volatile solids (VS) which could be used to generate 620 kWh of electricity. The WTEF project was found to be environmentally, economically, and socially feasible. On the environmental aspect, the recovered CH₄ from the AD process that was used in electricity generation resulted in GHG reduction of about 0.34 Gg CH₄ per year, equivalent to 7.15 Gg C0₂-eq of total GHG emission per year. The investment in WTEF project could be considered value added in terms of internal rate of return (IRR) which is 10.24%, net present value (NPV) of about 3.08 mil.Bht, and 2.17% of return of investment (ROI). The pay-back period was estimated to 10.2 years. The results of questionnaire and interviews with the concerned stakeholders showed the WTEF project to be highly acceptable, but the public should be encourage to continually separate the organic wastes. The major lessons learned from the WTEF project were: lack of skilled manpower to operate the WTEF facilities and to trouble-shoot the day-to-day operational problems; lack of experience in planning and design of WTEF plants; and there should be regulation or policy on solid wastes separation and recycling. The results of this study suggested that for the WTEF facilities to bring the desired benefits, the following activities should be performed: retrofitting the AD unit to minimize biogas leakage and increasing microbial activities by improving the tank mixing; fixing the belt-press machine used for AD sludge dewatering; and encouraging the local community to separate the organic wastes to be fed to the AD units. |
| Year | 2008 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Energy and Climate Change (Former title: Department of Energy, Environment, and Climate Change (DEECC)) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Environmental Engineering and Management (EV) |
| Chairperson(s) | Chongrak Polprasert; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Visvanathan, C.;Preeda Pakpian; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | RTG Fellowship; |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2008 |