ESTIMATION OF THE LEVELIZED COST OF HEAT FOR THE LIFE CYCLE OF HOUSEHOLD SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL

Abstract

The article considers the problem of solid household waste disposal in Ukraine and promising ways to solve it. A five-stage hierarchical structure of household waste management has been introduced to solve the problem of solid household waste disposal in European countries. This technology has been adopted in Ukraine and included in the National Waste Management Strategy. All waste management technologies require their preliminary sorting. The best proven technology for the final disposal of household waste is the incineration of solid household waste in boiler plants with the production of thermal and electrical energy and the purification of waste gaseous combustion products from harmful substances. In Ukraine, sorting of household waste, reuse of waste in the production of products, extraction of biogas at landfills with subsequent use and burning of solid household waste at a single incineration plant in boiler units for the production of thermal energy are now increasingly used. This process solves two problems at the same time: the production of thermal energy for the population using alternative fuels of local origin and the disposal of solid household waste, which significantly reduces the volume of waste for subsequent disposal in landfills. In 2023, almost 10 million tons of household waste were collected in Ukraine. The use of the energy potential of residual solid household waste (MSW), which cannot be recycled, is the most accessible urban alternative energy source in Ukraine, for example, artificial fuel from MSW, located near thermal energy producers - enterprises for the production and supply of thermal energy for heating and hot water supply. The thermal energy of residual MSW can be a significant addition to other sources of natural gas substitution (biofuels, biogas extracted from landfills, etc.). The Government of Ukraine is developing a Concept of the State Targeted Economic Program for the construction of 207 new waste processing plants with the production of fuel from waste after sorting, which is intended to replace natural gas consumption at enterprises producing thermal energy. This will allow replacing about 10% of natural gas used for heating and hot water supply of the population of Ukrainian cities with a population of over 300 thousand inhabitants. The article notes the complexity of determining the calorific value of solid household waste, which may have a variable morphological composition and different moisture content of the components. The article provides a calculation of the levelized cost of thermal energy over the life cycle with the existing technology of combustion in a boiler unit for the production of thermal energy and estimates a possible reduction in the cost of thermal energy. The calculations were carried out for a waste incineration plant in the city of Kyiv. The calculated LCOH significantly exceeds similar indicators for boiler units using natural gas, coal, biofuels and even fuel oil. However, taking into account environmental and social factors, this technology for the disposal of solid household waste becomes acceptable. The introduction of solid household waste combustion technologies will allow replacing part of the fossil fuel burned in boiler plants for the production of thermal energy and revitalizing landfills.