Reducing Methane Emissions from Municipal Solid Waste Landfills via Conversion into Electricity

Reducing biogas produced by solid waste landfills is a key solution in achieving climate neutrality goals, contributing to GHG emission reduction. This study aimed to investigate the opportunity to invest in a landfill biogas energy production plant when the quality of the biogas (methane concentration) is low. The research was conducted on three municipal solid waste landfills located in Bacău, Ilfov, and Brașov in Romania. Due to improper selective collection and recycling, the average methane content in these landfills is between 7 and 30%. The methodology used to conduct the research combined scientific and digital bibliographic sources, data processing and economic calculations using MS Excel, and the estimation of landfill gas emissions using LandGEM software. The analysis showed sales prices ranging between 155 and 450 [EUR/MWh]. However, the environmental analysis highlights that only the third landfill, with a methane concentration of over 30%, truly contributes to reducing emissions. Also, the use of high quantities of natural gas for energy production is incompatible with the European Union’s climate neutrality objectives. These results demonstrate the need for more efficient technologies or methods for producing and using biogas from waste before it reaches the landfill.