| dc.description.abstract | Kampala's Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) is continuously increasing as a result of its
growing population. This has put a strain on the land and electricity resources. This waste is
largely disposed of at Kampala's only landfill located in Kiteezi, which has currently
exceeded its capacity posing a waste management problem. Kampala, being the economic
hub of the country, absorbs 58% of the country's electricity. The main goal of this research
was to assess the technical and economic feasibility of incinerating MSW to generate
electricity, using Kampala as a case study.
The waste data was gathered by taking a sample of the garbage that was sent to the landfill. A
proximate analysis was done to determine the moisture content, volatile matter, fixed carbon,
ash content and the calorific value of the waste samples. The elemental composition of the
waste was calculated using the results from the proximate analysis. The incineration plant
design was based on a mass burn incineration plant where the design parameters were
determined using thermodynamic equations and Peng Robison’s equations of state. The
simulation was done using Aspen Plus and Aspen Hysys, components of Aspen Tech V10.
The economic analysis was done with the assumption that the project was a Public Private
Partnership (PPP) debt financed by 75% with an interest rate of LIBOR plus 5 % margin over
a term of 15 years.
The composition of the waste was largely organic (Food waste, banana peelings, garden
waste, wood and waste fines) with an 80% composition. The Low Heating Value (LHV) of
the waste was 6.1 MJ/kg with a moisture content of 25%. The calculated elemental
composition of the MSW was 43.47% carbon, 5.52% Hydrogen and 41% Oxygen there was
no nitrogen and sulphur in the waste and the ash content was 6.65% as shown from the
proximate analysis. A simulation was done of mass burn facility combusting 220,000 tonnes
of MSW per annum at a feed rate of 27 tonnes of MSW per hour. The plant is capable of
exporting 815 kWh of electricity per tonne of MSW to the national grid powering 5,488
medium income households in Uganda. A capital investment of 157 million USD with the
sale of electricity and a gate fee as the sources of revenue for a project running for 25years
was considered. The resulting Net Present Value (NPV) was 34 million USD and with project
Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of 12.9% and a payback period of 5 years. Waste to Energy
(WTE) is economically viable in Kampala only with the sale of electricity and the charging
of a gate fee as the sources of revenue. | en_US |
