Energy Production from Landfill Gas: Short-Term Management

An increasing lack of raw materials, resource depletion, environmental impacts and other concerns have changed the way the population faces garbage disposal and municipalities implement waste management strategies. The aggravated global rise in municipal solid waste (MSW) generation has led to a new stage in full development, with objectives and targets set by the European Union regarding reducing the production of MSW. The targets also include the increasing selective collection, reuse, recycling and recovery (organic and energetic) of the waste produced. At the same time, the European Union has also set caps for the greenhouse gas emissions and for increasing the use of alternative renewable energy sources. In this context, one of the sources of renewable energy that is beginning to be used to produce electricity in our country is biogas. Finally, AD promotes the development of a circular economy. The present study introduces the formalism for a computer application that simulates the technical–economic behaviour of the short-term management of biogas for the conversion of electricity, and the mathematical model is formulated as a mathematical programming problem with constraints. A simulation for a case study of short-term management is given using the real landfill data available. The case study proves the ability of the LandGEM, despite some authors’ support that the Tabasaran–Rettenberger model provided a more reliable estimate, especially when compared to actual landfill data. The present paper is a contribution to the optimisation of the management of electricity from the use of biogas, namely the second phase of the Strategic Plan for Urban Waste. In addition to complying with the legislation in force, the use of biogas to produce electricity is an added value for the concessionaires of waste treatment and final destination units, as this alternative energy source can provide not only self-sufficiency in electricity for these units but also the export of surplus energy to the National Electricity Grid, thus contributing to the self-sustaining management and energy flexibility that is intended for these infrastructures.