Effect of origin and production rate of MSW on the exergoeconomic performance of an integrated plasma gasification combined cycle power plant

Abstract This work studies how different scenarios of the municipal solid waste (MSW) management, moisture content, origin, and production rate affect the exergoeconomic performance of an integrated plasma gasification combined cycle (IPGCC) power plant. Several parameters associated with MSW management are considered as input for the exergy assessment of an IPGCC power plant simulated in Aspen Plus. The feedstock considered is waste from residential (1121 t/day), institutional (75 t/day), commercial (168 t/day), and industrial (104 t/day) sectors, as well as the mixture between them. Thus, for this analysis, several plant scenarios were formulated, according to the amount and moisture content (MC) of the MSW from different origins. Regarding the exergy analysis, the plasma gasifier (PG) and the gas turbine (GT) exhibited the largest exergy destruction ratio, with an average contribution of 36.2% and 40.3%, respectively. Furthermore, as MC increased from 26.6% to 57.9% (according to each waste type), the exergy destruction ratio of the PG increased by 23.5%, leading to a decrease in energy and exergy efficiencies of the IPGCC plant by 23.7% on average. The exergy cost of electricity ranged from 11.7 to 15 ¢US$/kWh. Therefore, the plants with a processing capacity from 100 to 1000 t/day require a MSW treatment fee between 96 and 57.6 US$/t to match the price of hydro-electricity in the Colombian energy market (6.92 ¢US$/kWh).