The main objective of this paper is to analyze the economic feasibility landfill gas for electricity generation in Lagos State. In this paper, methane emissions are estimated by applying the… Click to show full abstract
The main objective of this paper is to analyze the economic feasibility landfill gas for electricity generation in Lagos State. In this paper, methane emissions are estimated by applying the First Order Decay model to landfills in Lagos over the latest data available by Lagos Bureau of Statistics. Documented waste-in-place in Lagos State from 1990 to 2014 can be approximated to 51 million tons of waste disposed. An engineering economic analysis was used which was adapted from US EPA’s Landfill methodology. Based on the US EPA’s Landfill methodology, we calculated that a total of landfill gas of 4,736.37 mmcf/yr can be generated. Therefore, considering the use of internal combustion engines, a total of 202,720,789 kWh of electricity can be generated annually. The NPV results were mostly negative and positive at N18.75 and N36.49 unit prices respectively. Further analyses revealed that the breakeven price was N29.17 per unit of electricity at 10% discount rate and a life span of 15 years. It becomes imperative that electricity from this source requires government subsidy as other economic benefits abound.
               
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