Energy management of the organ fraction of the municipal solid waste. Case study: Metropolitan area of Medellin, Colombia

Morales Maya, Catalina; Valencia Morales, Maria V.; González Castaño, Alexander; Penagos Garcia, Guillermo L.

Abstract

The global problem of production and final disposal of the municipal solid waste, has today a greater environmental impact due to economic growth, the industrial development and the increase of population in urban areas. In the case of Colombia, the inefficiency in the solid waste handling process does not consider the possibility to benefit from the physicochemical and microbiological properties
of the organic fraction of the municipal solid waste (OFMS). Situation which has great environmental, social and economic impacts. The purpose of this study, was to evaluate the potential that the Organic fractions has as an alternative energy source, through a recovery system based on the use of its physicochemical and microbiological properties, and to propose suitable areas for the storage of waste in housing units and complexes, to potentiate a management system that favors waste separation at the source. To this end, based on the amount of municipal solid waste produced, a mass balance was performed considering an anaerobic digestion system for a wet single-phase process, which allowed to calculate the amount of energy (kWh/day) that the transformed organic fraction can produce. In the same way, the required area for an appropriate storage of the waste produced within the housing unit was estimated, and the procedure to calculate the amount of area necessary for a common waste storage facility within the residential complex, according to the number of housing units, is described. According to the results, the amount of energy resulting from the application of such a system could meet the energy demand of almost 4,000 households. Thus, this initiative is not only an alternative source for energy generation, it is also a strategy that has great potential to provide solutions to many current environmental problems.

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (published)
• Conference Name: Passive and Low Energy Architecture (PLEA)
• Start Date: Sep 9, 2015
• End Date: Sep 11, 2015
• Publication Date: 2015
• Deposit Date: Feb 6, 2023
• Book Title: 15 PLEA: Architecture in (R)Evolution : 31st International PLEA Conference, Bologna 9-11 September 2015 : Book of Abstracts
• ISBN: 9788894116304
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/10437733
• Related Public URLs: https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/15_PLEA.html?id=NbAkygEACAAJ&redir_esc=y