Mathematical model for evaluation of cost-effectiveness of waste treatment technique with energy recovery

• Main Authors: Milutinović Biljana B., Stefanović Gordana M., Denčić-Mihajlov Ksenija Ž., Đekić Petar S., Boričić Aleksandra D.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: VINCA Institute of Nuclear Sciences 2016-01-01
• Series: Thermal Science
• Subjects: waste treatment technique with energy recovery; cost-effectiveness; socio-economic analysis; costs; revenues
• Online Access: http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/0354-9836/2016/0354-983616573M .pdf

A cost-effectiveness of a specific waste treatment technique is very important factor when making the decision to invest in a waste treatment facility. Waste treatment can bring economic benefit through the value of product: recycled materials, the compost, the generated electricity, or heat. However, the expected economic benefits depend on many factors: the investment costs and operating costs of the waste treatment facility, revenues, the market price of the product obtained by waste treatment etc. The investment and operating costs and the revenue also depend on the amount of treated waste. This paper presents a mathematical model for evaluation of cost-effectiveness in the waste treatment technique with energy recovery depending on the amount of waste, i. e. evaluation the minimum amount of waste to be treated for a cost-effective waste treatment technique with energy recovery. To develop the mathematical model, a socio-economic analysis was used. The model is applied to calculate the lower limit of cost-effectiveness in the waste treatment techniques with energy recovery: incineration and anaerobic digestion, in the city of Nis, Serbia, as a case study. The obtained results show that the amount of waste currently generated in the city of Nis is not sufficient for the cost-effective incineration treatment, but with the currently available amount of waste, anaerobic digestion is the waste treatment that can be operated without losses in the city of Nis.