IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v143y2018icp310-322.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An emergy based sustainability evaluation on a combined landfill and LFG power generation system

Author

Listed:
  • Pan, Hengyu
  • Geng, Yong
  • Jiang, Ping
  • Dong, Huijuan
  • Sun, Lu
  • Wu, Rui

Abstract

Recovering the landfill gas from municipal solid wastes for power generation is one feasible approach to respond both climate change and resource depletion issues. Under such a circumstance, it is important to evaluate the overall performance of its production process. This study proposes an integrated evaluation method by integrating emergy analysis and eco-indicator 99 method. Key impact factors influencing the sustainability are uncovered by adopting Kaya identity and index decomposition analysis (IDA). One MSW treatment plant in Yunnan province of China was selected as one case study site. The results indicate that the overall performance of the MSW treatment plant has been improved after operating a power generation system. The emissions' impact has been reduced by 56.85% and 2.44gCO2eq has been offset when generating 109sej of electricity. However, the low economic benefit, the increase of nonrenewable empower density and the low investment effectiveness are still key factors that hinder its sustainability. In order to address these issues, several suggestions are raised by considering the local realities.

Suggested Citation

  • Pan, Hengyu & Geng, Yong & Jiang, Ping & Dong, Huijuan & Sun, Lu & Wu, Rui, 2018. "An emergy based sustainability evaluation on a combined landfill and LFG power generation system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 310-322.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:143:y:2018:i:c:p:310-322
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2017.10.144
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544217318492
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2017.10.144?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ang, B. W., 2004. "Decomposition analysis for policymaking in energy:: which is the preferred method?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(9), pages 1131-1139, June.
    2. Lou, Bo & Ulgiati, Sergio, 2013. "Identifying the environmental support and constraints to the Chinese economic growth—An application of the Emergy Accounting method," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 217-233.
    3. Chen, Shaoqing & Chen, Bin, 2012. "Sustainability and future alternatives of biogas-linked agrosystem (BLAS) in China: An emergy synthesis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(6), pages 3948-3959.
    4. Yang, Jin & Chen, Bin, 2014. "Emergy analysis of a biogas-linked agricultural system in rural China – A case study in Gongcheng Yao Autonomous County," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 173-182.
    5. Yang, Jin & Chen, Bin, 2016. "Emergy-based sustainability evaluation of wind power generation systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 239-246.
    6. Shao, Ling & Chen, G.Q., 2016. "Renewability assessment of a production system: Based on embodied energy as emergy," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 380-392.
    7. Song, Ho-Jun & Lee, Seungmoon & Maken, Sanjeev & Ahn, Se-Woong & Park, Jin-Won & Min, Byoungryul & Koh, Wongun, 2007. "Environmental and economic assessment of the chemical absorption process in Korea using the LEAP model," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(10), pages 5109-5116, October.
    8. Brown, Mark T. & Ulgiati, Sergio, 2010. "Updated evaluation of exergy and emergy driving the geobiosphere: A review and refinement of the emergy baseline," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 221(20), pages 2501-2508.
    9. Gengyuan Liu & Zhifeng Yang & Bin Chen & Yan Zhang & Meirong Su & Lixiao Zhang, 2013. "Emergy Evaluation of the Urban Solid Waste Handling in Liaoning Province, China," Energies, MDPI, vol. 6(10), pages 1-21, October.
    10. Sanaye, Sepehr & Khakpaay, Navid, 2014. "Simultaneous use of MRM (maximum rectangle method) and optimization methods in determining nominal capacity of gas engines in CCHP (combined cooling, heating and power) systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 145-158.
    11. Zhang, Binyue & Chen, Bin, 2017. "Sustainability accounting of a household biogas project based on emergy," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 819-831.
    12. Zhang, Gaijing & Long, Weiding, 2010. "A key review on emergy analysis and assessment of biomass resources for a sustainable future," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 2948-2955, June.
    13. Ribeiro, Fernando & Ferreira, Paula & Araújo, Madalena, 2013. "Evaluating future scenarios for the power generation sector using a Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) tool: The Portuguese case," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 126-136.
    14. Ang, B.W. & Xu, X.Y., 2013. "Tracking industrial energy efficiency trends using index decomposition analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 1014-1021.
    15. Huopana, Tuomas & Song, Han & Kolehmainen, Mikko & Niska, Harri, 2013. "A regional model for sustainable biogas electricity production: A case study from a Finnish province," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 676-686.
    16. Geng, Yong & Tian, Xu & Sarkis, Joseph & Ulgiati, Sergio, 2017. "China-USA Trade: Indicators for Equitable and Environmentally Balanced Resource Exchange," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 245-254.
    17. Ang, B. W. & Liu, F. L. & Chew, E. P., 2003. "Perfect decomposition techniques in energy and environmental analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(14), pages 1561-1566, November.
    18. Sun, J. W., 1998. "Changes in energy consumption and energy intensity: A complete decomposition model," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 85-100, February.
    19. Ang, B.W. & Zhang, F.Q., 2000. "A survey of index decomposition analysis in energy and environmental studies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 25(12), pages 1149-1176.
    20. Wang, Can & Chen, Jining & Zou, Ji, 2005. "Decomposition of energy-related CO2 emission in China: 1957–2000," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 73-83.
    21. Ghisellini, Patrizia & Zucaro, Amalia & Viglia, Silvio & Ulgiati, Sergio, 2014. "Monitoring and evaluating the sustainability of Italian agricultural system. An emergy decomposition analysis," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 271(C), pages 132-148.
    22. Zhang, Ming & Li, Huanan & Zhou, Min & Mu, Hailin, 2011. "Decomposition analysis of energy consumption in Chinese transportation sector," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(6), pages 2279-2285, June.
    23. Brown, Mark T. & Ulgiati, Sergio, 2016. "Assessing the global environmental sources driving the geobiosphere: A revised emergy baseline," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 339(C), pages 126-132.
    24. Chen, Shaoqing & Chen, Bin, 2014. "Energy efficiency and sustainability of complex biogas systems: A 3-level emergetic evaluation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 151-163.
    25. Cherubini, Francesco & Bargigli, Silvia & Ulgiati, Sergio, 2009. "Life cycle assessment (LCA) of waste management strategies: Landfilling, sorting plant and incineration," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(12), pages 2116-2123.
    26. Campbell, Daniel E. & Lu, Hongfang & Lin, Bin-Le, 2014. "Emergy evaluations of the global biogeochemical cycles of six biologically active elements and two compounds," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 271(C), pages 32-51.
    27. Ang, B.W., 2006. "Monitoring changes in economy-wide energy efficiency: From energy-GDP ratio to composite efficiency index," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 574-582, March.
    28. Lee, Kihoon & Oh, Wankeun, 2006. "Analysis of CO2 emissions in APEC countries: A time-series and a cross-sectional decomposition using the log mean Divisia method," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(17), pages 2779-2787, November.
    29. Liu, Zhe & Geng, Yong & Adams, Michelle & Dong, Liang & Sun, Lina & Zhao, Jingjing & Dong, Huijuan & Wu, Jiao & Tian, Xu, 2016. "Uncovering driving forces on greenhouse gas emissions in China’ aluminum industry from the perspective of life cycle analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 253-263.
    30. Torchio, Marco F. & Genon, Giuseppe & Poggio, Alberto & Poggio, Marco, 2009. "Merging of energy and environmental analyses for district heating systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 220-227.
    31. Kaya, Yoichi, 1990. "1.4. Credibility of models," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 15(3), pages 163-170.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dianfa Wu & Zhiping Yang & Ningling Wang & Chengzhou Li & Yongping Yang, 2018. "An Integrated Multi-Criteria Decision Making Model and AHP Weighting Uncertainty Analysis for Sustainability Assessment of Coal-Fired Power Units," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-27, May.
    2. Junxue Zhang & Lin Ma, 2021. "Urban ecological security dynamic analysis based on an innovative emergy ecological footprint method," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(11), pages 16163-16191, November.
    3. Clasen, Arno P. & Agostinho, Feni & Sulis, Federico & Almeida, Cecília M.V.B & Giannetti, Biagio F., 2024. "Unlocking the potential of municipal solid waste: Emergy accounting applied in a novel biorefinery," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 492(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lin, Boqiang & Ouyang, Xiaoling, 2014. "Analysis of energy-related CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions and reduction potential in the Chinese non-metallic mineral products industry," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 688-697.
    2. Fernández González, P. & Landajo, M. & Presno, M.J., 2014. "Tracking European Union CO2 emissions through LMDI (logarithmic-mean Divisia index) decomposition. The activity revaluation approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 741-750.
    3. Ma, Chunbo, 2010. "Account for sector heterogeneity in China's energy consumption: Sector price indices vs. GDP deflator," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 24-29, January.
    4. Cahill, Caiman J. & Ó Gallachóir, Brian P., 2012. "Combining physical and economic output data to analyse energy and CO2 emissions trends in industry," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 422-429.
    5. Yue-Jun Zhang & Ya-Bin Da, 2013. "Decomposing the changes of energy-related carbon emissions in China: evidence from the PDA approach," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 69(1), pages 1109-1122, October.
    6. Wang, Miao & Feng, Chao, 2017. "Decomposition of energy-related CO2 emissions in China: An empirical analysis based on provincial panel data of three sectors," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 772-787.
    7. Xing Zhou & Meihua Zhou & Ming Zhang, 2016. "Contrastive analyses of the influence factors of interprovincial carbon emission induced by industry energy in China," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 81(3), pages 1405-1433, April.
    8. Vazquez, Luis & Luukkanen, Jyrki & Kaisti, Hanna & Käkönen, Mira & Majanne, Yrjö, 2015. "Decomposition analysis of Cuban energy production and use: Analysis of energy transformation for sustainability," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 638-645.
    9. Wang, H. & Ang, B.W. & Su, Bin, 2017. "Assessing drivers of economy-wide energy use and emissions: IDA versus SDA," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 585-599.
    10. Su, Bin & Ang, B.W., 2012. "Structural decomposition analysis applied to energy and emissions: Some methodological developments," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 177-188.
    11. de Freitas, Luciano Charlita & Kaneko, Shinji, 2011. "Decomposition of CO2 emissions change from energy consumption in Brazil: Challenges and policy implications," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 1495-1504, March.
    12. Fernández, Esteban & Fernández, Paula, 2008. "An extension to Sun's decomposition methodology: The Path Based approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 1020-1036, May.
    13. Jidong Kang & Tao Zhao & Xiaosong Ren & Tao Lin, 2012. "Using decomposition analysis to evaluate the performance of China’s 30 provinces in CO 2 emission reductions over 2005–2009," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 64(2), pages 999-1013, November.
    14. Wang, Miao & Feng, Chao, 2018. "Decomposing the change in energy consumption in China's nonferrous metal industry: An empirical analysis based on the LMDI method," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 82(P3), pages 2652-2663.
    15. Li, DuoQi & Wang, DuanYi, 2016. "Decomposition analysis of energy consumption for an freeway during its operation period: A case study for Guangdong, China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 296-305.
    16. Jianying Feng & Jing Wang & Xiaoshuan Zhang & Fengtao Zhao & Radoslava Kanianska & Dong Tian, 2015. "Design and Implementation of Emergy-Based Sustainability Decision Assessment System for Protected Grape Cultivation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(10), pages 1-24, October.
    17. Leal, Patrícia Alexandra & Marques, António Cardoso & Fuinhas, José Alberto, 2019. "Decoupling economic growth from GHG emissions: Decomposition analysis by sectoral factors for Australia," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 12-26.
    18. Jennings, Mark & Ó Gallachóir, Brian P. & Schipper, Lee, 2013. "Irish passenger transport: Data refinements, international comparisons, and decomposition analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 151-164.
    19. Ang, B.W. & Huang, H.C. & Mu, A.R., 2009. "Properties and linkages of some index decomposition analysis methods," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(11), pages 4624-4632, November.
    20. Katerina PAPAGIANNAKI & Danae DIAKOULAKI, 2008. "Decomposition Analysis of CO2 Emissions from Passenger Cars: The cases of Greece and Denmark," EcoMod2008 23800102, EcoMod.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:143:y:2018:i:c:p:310-322. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.