Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Municipal Solid Waste Incineration by Carbon Capture and Enhanced Recycling
Summary
The Dutch waste incineration industry is one of the most efficient in the world, extracting 36% of the
energy in the waste as useful heat or electricity on average, while reducing the volume of the solid
municipal waste by around 90% (Rijkswaterstaat, 2020). Consequentially, the industry is also one of
the Netherlands’ largest emitters of greenhouse gases. In 2018, the industry emitted 7.5 Mt of CO2-
equivalent emissions, of which 3.0 Mt was non-biogenic in origin. In order to achieve the climate
ambitions of the Dutch government of 60% GHG emission reduction and net-zero emissions in 2050,
the waste incineration industry is under pressure to reduce its emissions (Rijksoverheid, 2018).
This research, conducted in the context of the MIDDEN project, attempts to compare different
technologies, configurations and pathways for the reduction of GHG emissions related to the
currently incinerated waste stream in the Netherlands. The two main categories that were
investigated were carbon capture technologies and enhanced recycling technologies. Emission
reduction options are compared on the basis of their technology readiness level, potential feedstock,
total CO2 emission reduction potential and estimated CO2 avoidance cost. The net emission reduction
potential is estimated by an ex-ante comparative life cycle assessment. Validation of the results is
done via a Monte Carlo analysis of uncertainty.
Carbon capture for waste incinerators is already an established technology, which is currently
applied at two major waste incinerators in the Netherlands. This report identified three
configurations for carbon capture technologies and assessed their potential for emission reduction
and associated cost. CO2 avoidance cost ranged from €159-224 per tonne CO2, depending on the
configuration chosen. Furthermore, policy issues that hinder implementation of carbon capture are
addressed in the discussion.
Enhanced recycling aims at decreasing the total volume of incinerated waste, while reducing net
GHG emissions. Enhanced recycling technologies identified by this research with the potential of
reducing GHG emissions are waste plastic pyrolysis, EPS solvolysis, PET depolymerisation and
gasification of municipal solid waste. Findings include limited total GHG emission reduction potential
for enhanced recycling (154 kt CO2 annually) compared to carbon capture technologies (5,130 kt
annually). A configuration combining recycling (gasification) and CCS was found to result in 1,043 kt
CO2 reduction annually. In part, this is due to the limited availability of the feedstock for these
processes. Another factor is the emissions from the alternative processes themselves. CO2 avoidance
cost results for enhanced recycling technologies were inconclusive, as uncertainty was found to be
too large.
Significant short-term CO2 emission reduction is most likely achieved through large-scale
implementation of carbon capture technologies in combination with waste incineration and/or
gasification. Carbon capture and storage proves to be the most potent short-term solution to waste
incineration GHG emissions. In the long-term, GHG emission reduction must be achieved by full
separation of the plastic waste from the residual fraction and subsequent recycling of this plastic
material. The methods and practices to achieve this, however, are not available at this time.