Incineration of municipal solid waste in Brazil: An analysis of the economically viable energy potential

In Brazil, most Urban Solid Waste (USW) is disposed of in loosely controlled and low-quality dumps and landfills. One of the alternatives for improved management is incineration. This largely reduces the amount of waste in sanitary landfills, in turn enabling energy generation, which is encouraged by the Brazilian National Policy on Solid Waste (PNRS). In order to further the debate for the application of incineration plants in Brazil, the present study presents an energy and economic analysis. Calculations were carried out for different population groups in order to determine the minimum population and the respective waste generation to make an incineration plant viable. The country’s energy potential was also estimated as a function of the energy tariff. The results show that the energy produced through incineration can provide power to an average of 15% of the waste generating population. The viable energy potential in the country was confirmed only for scenarios with higher energy sales tariffs than those currently applied on the Brazilian market. These results indicate the need for government intervention in order to make this technology economically viable, which would in turn reduce inadequate waste disposal throughout the country.