A Master Plan Realization for an Integrated and Sustainable Management System for Household and Similar Wastes in Morocco’s Landfills by Sizing a Methanation and Composting Unit

This work is a decision support contribution in Morocco’s household and similar waste management. This management based on total waste landfilling leads to several environmental impacts, such as the use of large land areas, also the gaseous pollutants released, such as methane. Our first action was to collect reference data on the composition of this waste through a physicochemical characterization in the landfill in the city of Mohammadia. We sorted the waste generated by four types of populations with different living standards. A quantity of 500 to 2315 kg was treated, which allowed us to classify the household waste studied into nine main components. The sorting results are (organic matter 54.94%, plastic 15,18%, paper and cardboard 9,72%, textiles 7,46%, sanitary textiles 5,82%, metals 2,20%, glass 1, 89%, Wood 1,82% and Other 1,28%). Thus, these results revealed organic matter dominance and an increase in the plastic rate, which did not exceed 8% in the past. Added to this, the physicochemical parameters results are (volatile matter 60,26%, Humidity rate 59,05%, a total organic carbon (TOC) 33,47%, and a lower heating value (LHV) 1840,3 kcal.kg-1). From these data, we can easily deduce that installing a sorting platform with a methanation and composting unit is the most suitable choice for recovering our waste. Therefore, we have chosen the methanation technology that meets the results obtained (dry batch and mesophilic) and sized this unit to assess its electricity production capacity that can be produced in our landfills. We carried out a scenario with a load factor of 0,9 and an electrical efficiency of 39%. The study results are 9 digesters to be built, 6.700 MW.y-1 of electrical energy produced, 14.523 tons.y-1 of refined compost, and 2.128.680 m3.y-1 of biomethane produced. By offering our own integrated and sustainable management system for household and similar waste, we have connected the landfill bins and the digesters to the same motor to avoid biogas leaks from the bins to the atmosphere and increase electrical efficiency by controlling the gas flow.