THE EFFECTS OF IMPLEMENTING PUBLIC POLICIES ON THE ENERGY PRODUCTION POTENTIAL IN BRAZILIAN LANDFILLS
Name: Tânia Galavote Pinto
Type: MSc dissertation
Publication date: 22/07/2021
Advisor:
Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| Renato Ribeiro Siman | Advisor * |
Examining board:
| Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| Diogo Costa Buarque | Internal Examiner * |
| Gisele de Lorena Diniz Chaves | Co advisor * |
| LUCIANA HARUE YAMANE | Co advisor * |
| Maria Claudia Lima Couto | External Examiner * |
| Renato Ribeiro Siman | Advisor * |
Summary: Electricity generation from landfill gas (LFG) can be influenced by different factors,
such as changes in the composition and amount of generated MSW (municipal solid
waste). These changes can be triggered by public policies that encourage the
reduction and recycling of waste and, consequently, landfill diversions. As a result, the
main goals of this work were: to evaluate the effects of applying public policies from
the perspective of the power generation potential in landfills and respective economic
viability. Therefore, a bibliometric survey was carried out to design political scenarios
of MSW reduction and diversion of dry and wet waste from landfills. Then, a system
dynamics model was created to simulate these scenarios and, with the obtained
outputs, the impact on the economic viability of the LFG utilization was assessed. The
bibliometric review has indicated deficiencies in the implementation of policies aimed
at preventing MSW generation and the management of its organic fraction. Moreover,
specifically in Brazil, the implementation of policies is more challenging compared to
developed countries and also, the treatment of organic waste needs more incentive,
since it is still incipient. The developed model behaved properly and, through
simulation, it was possible to verify that diverting only dry materials from landfills
increases LFG generation, hence electricity generation. However, only diverting
organic waste will compromise electricity production. Thus, the highest electricity
generation potentials were obtained from the scenarios with lower deviation of
biodegradable waste. Conversely, the economic viability results indicate that none of
the scenarios is viable, except when additional revenues from the sale of carbon credits
are considered. However, economic viability could be achieved through government
incentives, such as: an increase in the energy sales fare; discounts in the initial
investment phase, through tax relief on machinery, equipment, raw materials and
imports; subsidized investment costs.
