LAUSR

Abstract The purpose of this work is to present a comprehensive survey of the energy recovery potential from municipal solid waste (MSW) in Sao Paulo State, Brazil. The electricity generation potential from landfills receiving waste from two or even thirty two (32) cities of Sao Paulo State (33 landfills) is calculated. The remaining landfills, which receive waste just from their own local municipalities, were staged within six (6) population ranges, and the potential calculation was based on the arithmetic mean of the total waste produced by the cities allocated within each range. Two technological routes were studied to accomplish this study: thermochemical and biochemical routes. In the thermochemical route both incineration and gasification were considered; landfill gas and anaerobic digestion in the biochemical route. In addition, two hybrid combinations were analysed (incineration/anaerobic digestion and gasification/anaerobic digestion). The potential of electricity generation from wases was compared to the total andresidential electricity consumption in the state of Sao Paulo, considering both technological route. The combination involving incineration and anaerobic digestion represented the highest theoretical potential of electricity generation (8,051,623 MWh.year−1). The choice technological routes for landfills in Sao Paulo State, also considering the scale of commercial plants, decreased the and the highest energy potential was 84% of this amount (6,764,611 MWh.year−1), representing a viable potential.