An Evaluation of Waste Management for Energy Recovery for Bahrain

The Kingdom of Bahrain is a group of small islands in the Arabian Gulf with a population of approximately 1.37 million people. The country has a high human development index score of 0.824 (47th rank) and is classed as a high-income country. Bahrain built its economy mainly on oil, although more recently this has changed to finance and tourism. Access to electricity and water is universal. However, with the economic expansion comes waste production, and Bahrain is considered to have one with high levels of municipal solid waste (MSW) generation in the world. It has been recorded that in 2015 a total MSW of 1057.70 kg/person/year or approximately 4000 tonne/day was produced, rising to an estimated generation of 1183.46 kg/person/year in 2017. This MSW is sent to the Asker landfill site 25 km from the capital city. In addition, sewage effluent for the entire island is sent to the Tubli water treatment works. Designed to cope with 200,000 m3 per day, it now handles in excess of 300,000 m3 much of which goes following secondary treatment into Tubli Bay. In this chapter, we report on current waste management strategies in Bahrain juxtaposed against recognized waste hierarchy systems. We characterize waste constituents and model the energy potential of these wastes. Wastes identified include organic fraction MSW, agricultural residues, food waste, tyres, and sewage. We consider different energy recovery solutions from these wastes including thermochemical technologies and anaerobic digestion. Technology comparisons are made to enable optimal energy returns. Based on these findings, we propose a holistic waste strategy for energy recovery for Bahrain.