Assessing the Energy Generation and Greenhouse Gas Reduction Potential of Municipal Solid Waste in Jalingo Metropolis, Taraba State of Nigeria

The energy generating potentials of Municipal Solid Waste from Two Major Dumpsites in Jalingo were determined based on solid waste incineration and landfill gas generation using empirical models. Also, economic feasibility of generating electricity from solid waste and landfill gas generation were determined based on economic parameters of net present value (NPV) and Internal Rate of Return (IRR). The result of the study shows high percentage of Plastics (34.67%-29.67%), Agricultural waste percentage (29.00%-28.00%), Paper/Cardboards waste (11.93%-9.88%), Textiles (9.20%-4.04%), Food waste (6. 00%-5.66%) while the least are Glass (1.30%-0.90%) and Metals (1.11%-0.42%). The result shows that the solid waste at Pantinapu dumpsite has the highest moisture content (28.98%) than Mile Six (25.40%), but high volatile matter content at 38.84%. The ash content (22.51%-22.23%) from solid waste at Mile Six dumpsite is higher than Pantinapu dumpsite. Also, solid waste at Mile Six dumpsite has the highest fixed carbon content than Pantinapu dumpsite. As municipal solid waste is a source of energy potential, the analysis shows heat values between 1511.37kcal/kg and 1595.5485 kcal/kg which indicates the feasibility of waste to energy. The results of potential for generating electricity by solid waste incineration and landfill gas generation show a total of 39,417.7415kWh/day and 1,644,106.24MWh/yr with potential of providing 17,127 and 1,957 households with electricity respectively based on household consumption of 840kWh/yr for Jalingo metropolis. The result of greenhouse gas emissions from incineration of solid waste has shown lower emissions of carbon dioxide per kilowatt of electricity when compared with emissions from combustion of generated methane in the solid waste disposal sites. Similarly, combustion of generated methane has shown a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions of about 88.18% when compared with emissions from the current practice of waste disposal without methane recovery. The study has shown that significant electricity can be generated from incineration of municipal solid waste and landfill gas generation in Jalingo and the processes are environmentally sustainable.