Investigation of Solid Waste Generation Rate of Dhaka City and Characterization for Biofuel Conversion

Abstract

Municipal solid waste generation in urban areas of Bangladesh is a major environmental concern that threatens to achieve sustainable development goals in this country. A detailed study was carried out to investigate the solid waste generation rate of Amin Bazar landfill coming from 36 wards of Dhaka North City Corporation and characterized them using laboratory analysis to determine its potential for biofuel processing. The generation rates were examined using statistical analysis and characterization was performed using proximate, elemental, biochemical, and functional group assessment. It was found that the average waste generation in DNCC varied over a range of 621-10892 tonnes per month for 36 wards depending on geographic area, population density, and economic status with an overall average of 2510 tonnes per month. The proximate analysis suggested that the solid wastes contained lower amount of ash (2.2-3.7%) and higher amount of volatile matters (6.0-10.3%), indicating desirable properties of thermochemical conversion. FTIR analysis revealed higher proportion of carbohydrate (37.8-42.1%) and moderate portion of protein (17.6-20.3%) and lipid (15.4-17.3%), suggesting a high-quality biofuel material. This is supported by H/C and O/C molar ratio of 1.91-1.94 and 0.73-0.85 respectively. The heating value of 15.3-17.4 MJ/kg indicated the solid wastes an energy-efficient fuel. Elemental analysis represented lower NOx and SOx emission during combustion, referring to an environment-friendly fuel. Overall, the studied solid wastes will serve as a potential resource and can be used as an alternative to fossil fuel.