Fuel Processing Technology 110 (2013) 94102

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Fuel Processing Technology

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The prospects of electricity generation from municipal solid waste (MSW) in Ghana:
A better waste management option
Cynthia Ofori-Boateng a,, Keat Teong Lee a, Moses Mensah b
a
b

Lignocellulosic Research Group, School of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
Department of Chemical Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 26 November 2011
Received in revised form 10 October 2012
Accepted 30 November 2012
Available online 21 January 2013
Keywords:
Ghana
Municipal solid waste
Electricity
Landll
Incineration
Waste-to-energy plants

a b s t r a c t
In 2010, the total generated municipal solid waste (MSW) in Ghana was 4.5 million tons. About 90% of the
total MSW generated is not effectively managed but dumped in unauthorized places creating serious burden
on human health. With a population growth rate of about 3.4% per year, Ghana is predicted to face big challenges in waste management. One effective way of managing solid waste is to recover the potent energy from
them through waste-to-energy (WTE) plants such as engineered landlling and controlled incineration. Cost
assessment of power generation based on MSW in Ghana showed that the average cost of electricity for landll gas power plants with already existing closed engineered landll emerged as the cheapest (USD 0.039/
kWh) compared to landlling without engineered sites and controlled incineration. Moreover, the average
domestic employment per megawatt energy generated is higher at approximately 185 for existing
engineered landlls compared to the other technologies. Engineered landll sites are under construction in
Ghana whose average power extraction would be between 1 and 2 MW. Thus a potentially sustainable
way of managing MSW in Ghana is through the construction of WTE plants to generate electricity.
2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The population of Ghana is estimated at about 24.7 million with a
growth rate of 1.822% (since 2010) according to 2010 population and
housing census [1]. With an overwhelming increase in birth rate
(27.55 births/1000 people) compared to death rate (8.75 deaths/1000
people) coupled with rapid urbanization (urban population of about
12 million with urban growth rate of 3.4% annual rate of change in
2010) and industrialization, waste generation has also increased tremendously especially in the urban areas [1]. In 2010, the average
amount of waste generated in Ghana was 0.51 kg per capita per day
with annual waste generation capacity of about 4.5 million tons [2,3].
Only about 10% of these wastes are managed well through proper incineration and landlling. Uncontrolled dumping of wastes at unauthorized
places, inappropriate technologies for landlling and incineration as
well as the weak enforcement of environmental regulations (i.e. the National Sanitation Policy) in Ghana has resulted in great burden on the
Ghanaian environment. The aim of this paper is to assess the feasibility
of three main electricity production technologies namely engineered
landlling, landlling without engineered sites and controlled incineration from municipal solid waste (MSW) generated in Ghana.

Abbreviations: MSW, Municipal solid waste; WTE, Waste-to-energy; EPA, Environmental Protection Agency.
Corresponding author. Tel.: +60 164302025.
E-mail address: cyndykote@yahoo.com (C. Ofori-Boateng).
0378-3820/$ see front matter 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fuproc.2012.11.008

Effective waste management has been a big challenge in most developing countries including Ghana. Collection and sorting of municipal
wastes at source in Ghana with the hope of reducing the indiscriminate
dumping of wastes has never been realized. Presently, MSW in Ghana is
mainly managed by either disposal in landll sites, recycling (only insignicant fraction), incineration or sometimes the combination of
any two of these methods. Sites for incineration and landlling are limited and mostly located in open areas within towns and cities creating
great sanitation problems. As a result of anaerobic digestion of organic
wastes in landlls releasing gases such as methane (CH4), NOx, and
SO2 coupled with the emission of particulate matter into the air during
incineration, the current methods of wastes management (landlling
and incineration) in Ghana become inappropriate.
When wastes-to-energy (WTE) plants which utilize MSW are
constructed according to the standards of the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), an environmentally sound MSW management is achieved
in a sustainable way. As a way of reducing the environmental burdens
caused by global warming as a result of fossil fuel combustion; and promoting cost effective means of waste management, the utilization of energy from MSW (especially non-hazardous wastes) incineration and
landll plants for the generation of electricity has received much attention in recent years [4,5]. Results of previous studies [610] on the tracking of the changes in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from MSW
management technologies in the United States and some developing
countries revealed that there are signicant reductions in GHG emissions
by technologies that are employed to recover energy and recycle materials. Controlled operations involved with incineration, composting,

C. Ofori-Boateng et al. / Fuel Processing Technology 110 (2013) 94102

2. Status of electricity production and consumption in Ghana

Electricity in Ghana accounts for about 11% of the nation's nal energy consumption with about 4547% of the population having access to
grid electricity with a per capita electricity consumption of 358 kWh
per person [20]. Electricity in Ghana is produced and delivered from
two main hydro-power plants (namely Akosombo and Kpong
hydro-power plants) and six thermal plants (namely Takoradi Power
Company, TAPCO; Takoradi International Company, TICO; Sunon Asogli
Power (Ghana) Limited; Tema Thermal 1 Power Plant TT1PP; Tema
Thermal 2 Power Plant TT2PP; and the Mines Reserve Plant) with
total generation capacity of 10,166 GWh in 2010 [20,21]. The thermal
plants (which contribute about 41% of the total electricity generation
in Ghana) use light crude oil, natural gas and petroleum diesel as fuels
which give off greenhouse gases upon combustion. Moreover, the addition of thermal generation plants to hydro-power plants has pushed up
the Ghanaian end user tariff (EUT) to about 5.28.2 US cents per kWh
with a bulk supply tariff (BST) of about 4.8 US cents and a distribution
service charge (DSC) of about 3.4 US cents since 1998 [21].
In 2010, the total effective capacity of hydro-power generation was
about 970 MW while those for thermal plants and imports were about
555 MW and 200 MW respectively [21]. However, the total installed
capacity of electricity generation was about 1860 MW which was capable of providing a rm generation of about 9800 GWh (approximately
9800 million units of electricity). About 1225 MW new electricity generation plants with the potential of producing about 9130 GWh of electricity are proposed to commence construction in 2011 in Ghana [21].
However, in 2010, the total electricity demand in Ghana was
1592 MW [21]. Electricity generation from renewable energy sources
like solar, wind, biomass and mini-hydropower plants has not been
exploited in signicant extent. Renewable energy contribution to
the total energy mix in Ghana presently is less than 1%. As at 2001,
the total installed capacity of about 4000 off-grid photovoltaic (PV)
systems (mostly used as pico-solar units) was only about 1 MW
[21]. Biogas production in Ghana is mainly used for domestic purposes because they are produced in small amounts. However, the
Appollonia biogas plant (currently broken down) used to produce
biogas to generate electricity for the small community of Appollonia.
Presently, only about 4547% of the total population in Ghana is
able to reach electricity supply with more than 80% of the domestic
electricity supply being consumed in the main cities and urban
towns of Ghana [21] and this is estimated to increase by 1015% annually. This worst situation is further aggravated when there are

constant power shortages and uctuations as a result of inefciency

of the hydro and thermal power plants operating in Ghana.
3. MSW generation and management in Ghana
There are 10 regions, 49 main cities and 166 districts in Ghana [1].
According to the 2011 census, out of the total Ghana's population of
about 24.7 million, about 12.62 million (representing 51.1%) are
found dwelling in the urban areas. This is however projected to increase by 3.4% every year [1]. With regard to the average waste generation per capita per person (i.e. 0.51 kg in 2010) in Ghana, the
highly-dense population in the urban areas tends to place huge burden on the environment because about 90% of the total generated
wastes are disposed off inappropriately. MSW forms about 80% of
the total wastes generated in Ghana [2,22,23] with their organic matter content estimated to be about 68% [24,25]. Fig. 1 shows the main
compositions of MSW generated in Ghana in 2010. As population
keeps increasing with rise in economic growth, the standard of living
of the people changes hence the rise in waste generation. The composition of MSW largely depends on factors such as lifestyles, cultural
traditions, economic status, literacy rates, food habits, and climatic
and geographical conditions [26]. Table 1 shows the total amount of
MSW generated in the main municipal centers in Ghana. The method
of source sorting of MSW into the various classications of MSW are
not largely patronized in Ghana presently though there are few high
income residential areas who are under wastes sorting feasibility
study. This makes it very difcult for the wastes to be recycled or
composted as these may come with additional cost. As a result, over
70% of the generated wastes [24,25,27] are incinerated or dumped
into landll which are not engineered or properly managed thus endangering the health of human living around these areas. The scarcity
of land for efcient waste disposal, lack of awareness on waste effective management coupled with the non-implementation of stringent
environmental policies in Ghana has resulted in the indiscriminate
dumping of wastes at unauthorized places. Table 2 shows the main
MSW disposal methods that are employed in Ghana. In each of the
four metropolitan centers in Ghana, engineered landlls have been
commissioned in 2004 to help manage most of the MSW generated
within those metropolises.
MSW is any solid material predominantly food wastes, plastics,
glass, rubber and other inorganic wastes from the residential, commercial, institutional, and industrial establishments that arises from
human and animal activities that are normally discarded as useless
or unwanted [28]. MSW from industrial practices that cause threat
to human or environmental health (such as medical, commercial
and industrial hazardous or radioactive wastes) is not part of MSW
because it is typically dealt with separately based on environmental
regulations [29]. Tchobanoglous et al. [28] have further described
into details the composition of the various types of MSW. According
to the classication made by the Centre for Environment and

Components of MSW

landlling, gasication, pyrolysis etc. of MSW present good options for

energy recovery since the volume of wastes generated is reduced
through the respective treatment method [1114]. Apart from the need
to minimize its local impact [15,16], a signicant problem with MSW incineration is the management of the ash produced from the combustible
materials. These ashes however can be transformed into value added
products such as concrete materials.
The world produces about 190 million tons of MSW annually of
which about 60% is normally burnt in more than 800 WTE plants to
generate electricity and steam for heating purposes [18]. About 400
WTE power plants in Europe currently generate energy from over
50 million tons of MSW [18] through various processes such combustion and anaerobic digestion. This energy, in a form of superheated
steam is converted to electricity to serve about 27 million people
and heat for 13 million people [18]. In Africa however, the production
of electricity from MSW remains largely untapped notwithstanding
the fact that large amounts of MSW are generated and not managed
properly. Kathirvale et al. [19] have reported that Malaysia has the
potential of processing about 0.55 million tons of MSW per year to
generate over 5.6 GWh/year electricity via controlled incineration
plant with energy recovery.

95

Others
Textiles
Metals
Glass
Plastics

Residential
Commercial

Paper
Organic materials
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Fig. 1. Components of MSW generated in Ghana [24,25]. Plastics include rubber, synthetic materials etc. Others include leather, ash, combustible and incombustible materials that cannot be classied. All values are estimated on wet weight basis.

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C. Ofori-Boateng et al. / Fuel Processing Technology 110 (2013) 94102

Table 1
Municipal waste generation potential in Ghana.
Source: [24,25].
Metropolitan center

Accra
Kumasi
Takoradi
Tamale
Average total

Quantity of MSW generated per day, (103 tons)

Collection efciency (%)

2000

2004

2007

2010

1.101.80
0.80
0.600.80
0.350.45
3.350

1.251.90
0.850.90
0.700.85
0.400.60
3.780

1.502.20
0.951.01
0.901.00
0.700.85
4.555

3.003.80
1.502.10
1.302.50
1.091.20
8.127

Development [30], MSW is composed of solid waste based on origin

(e.g. food, demolition and construction, and agricultural waste), characteristics (i.e. biodegradable and non-biodegradable) and risk potential (i.e. hazardous waste and non-hazardous wastes). Generally,
MSW can be grouped into ve namely biodegradable wastes (e.g.
food and kitchen wastes, yard or green wastes, and papers), hazardous wastes (e.g. toxic substances, electronic wastes, paints, and batteries), composite wastes (e.g. discarded clothing, waste plastics and
toys), recyclable wastes (.e.g. paper and non-biodegradable wastes
like glass, plastic bottles, and metals), and inert waste (wastes
which are not necessarily poisonous but can be harmful to humans
e.g. concrete, rock, and construction and demolition wastes). All
these groups of wastes are generated in abundance in Ghana especially in the four main metropolitan areas (i.e. Accra, Kumasi,
Sekondi-Takoradi and Tamale) where about 17% of the total population of Ghana lives. In Kumasi for instance, there are over twenty
(20) landll sites which treat MSW with most of them not engineered
to promote proper sanitation in the Kumasi metropolis.
In Ghana, even though there are environmental policies in place dictating how wastes are to be disposed, they are not enforced. Wastes can
be dumped anywhere at any time without the offender being
apprehended to face the law. The municipal authorities however may
lack the necessary strategies and facilities and above all nancial support to help implement effective waste management technologies in
Ghana. The rapid emergence of many manufacturing companies within
the main municipalities in Ghana has also affected the total amount of
MSW generated in the country. Most MSW from industries is recyclable
but due to lack of efcient technologies, capital for recycling etc., they
are also dumped in landlls and incineration sites. Over 40% of the
total MSW generated in Ghana comes from commercial establishments
including industries [23,24].
The main MSW management methods applied in Ghana include
recycling, composting, engineered landlling and incineration
(Table 2). Effective applications of these disposal and management
methods have not been achieved in Ghana over the years. Landlling
and incineration are done without proper capture of emitted biogas
or off-gas as well as useful products from the anaerobic digestion
and thermal treatment of the wastes.
Composting and recycling prior to the collection and sorting of materials have well been promoted and encouraged in many countries of
the world in order to reduce the total MSW generated [17]. Composting
is another option by which cities can promote MSW reduction.
Composting involves the combination of organic wastes with
Table 2
Methods of MSW disposal/management in Ghana.
Source: [24,25].
Disposal method

% total MSW

Dumping (either incinerated or landlled)

Waste collection by sanitary agents (incinerated or landlled)
Dumping in gutters and unauthorized places
Disposal by households (burning or burying)
Recycling
Composting

31.3
52.0
10.2
3.0
2.0
1.5

8085
6570
6065
5060

microorganisms like bacteria and fungi that break down the wastes to
form compost. This can be further treated and used as organic fertilizer.
Although organic wastes form over 50% of total generated MSW in
Ghana [2,23], composting has never succeeded as an option for waste
treatment and disposal. There are a few food processing companies
like Blue Skies Company limited that have adopted this technology
which are even on small scale. However, there are individual farmers
who produce their own organic fertilizers in small quantities from the
remains of their harvest. Waste sorting at source can help promote
this technology in a way to minimize MSW that are mismanaged or disposed of anyhow in Ghana. Though some researches [31,32] have
reported high maintenance costs for composting plants, its sustainability can be achieved if local materials are employed in the building of the
major components such as the composting beds.
Papers, scrap metals and plastics are the main recyclable materials
that are generated in abundance in Ghana thus increasing the market
demand for recyclable materials. On the other hand, collection of
these wastes is difcult presently in Ghana due to lack of less costly
and appropriate technology for source sorting thus only a few companies are involved in MSW recycling. However, there are ongoing
waste management programs in Ghana initiated by Zoomlion Ghana
limited to help promote effective collection of wastes by supplying
homes with containers for all kinds of wastes. This step can further
be enhanced by encouraging wastes sorting at those sources (i.e. residences, ofces etc.) through public education. There are other few
private and public waste management rms that collect, dispose or
recycle MSW at designated landlls and other dumping sites. For instance, an initiative of Gbi Hanjer Ghana Limited, a waste management company from India is in preparative stage of installing a
2000 Mt/day of recycling plant in Ghana to recycle MSW in the Greater Accra region. Again, the government of the United Kingdom under
the grant from the Department for International Development (DFID)
has completed a rst phase of the construction of the largest
engineered landll to recover energy in Accra to serve over 3.5 million people. The design and construction phase is also funded by the
World Bank [24,25].
In Ghana, waste management has been the responsibility of the
Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development which supervise the decentralized Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies together with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
under the auspices of the Ministry of Environment and Science.
Though there are quite a number of sanitation laws in Ghana, due
to uncontrolled rise in population growth, nancial constraints in
constructing efcient disposal sites, the enforcement and implementation of these laws have not been realized. The prole of the generation and consumption of MSW in Ghana clearly indicate the
possibility of converting the wastes into energy via various WTE technologies of which three are highlighted in this study.
4. MSW management methods capable of producing electricity in
Ghana
Many technologies can be applied for the management all kinds of
wastes. However those that are applicable for MSW management for

C. Ofori-Boateng et al. / Fuel Processing Technology 110 (2013) 94102

the generation of electricity in Ghana include biochemical and

thermo-chemical conversion technologies [3335]. Fig. 2 summarizes
the procedures for generating electricity by these two technologies.
4.1. Thermochemical conversion technologies
4.1.1. WTE generation via incineration/combustion
MSW incineration involves the controlled burning of principally
mixed MSW at a temperature of 8701200 C (1600 to 2200 F) for
a sufcient time to oxidize about 99% of the organic matter in the
solid waste to produce high pressure steam for power generation.
Waste incineration reduces the volume and weight of the waste by
90% and 70% respectively [36]. Nevertheless, incineration plants
with energy recovery are found to release negligible amount of
toxic metals, dioxins and acid gases [9,15,16,36]. The incinerator ash
which forms about 10% of the original wastes is usually dumped at
landlls creating another environmental hazard. Air pollution from
uncontrolled MSW combustion is sometimes a concern with this
type of waste disposal method especially when there is no policy enforcement to reduce this pollution. In most parts of the world where
this technology are in operation, there exist scrubbers (devices that
spray liquids on smoke to reduce pollution) and lters (screens to remove ash and pollutant particles) for ue gas cleaning.
Controlled incineration systems for electricity and heat productions
are similar to most fossil-fuel red power plants. A typical controlled incineration system for energy production consists of waste storage chamber, boiler/incinerator, steam turbine/generator, ue gas cleaning
system/chimneys and residue treatment system [9,11,37,38]. WTE production via incineration can occur in four main stages namely waste
pre-treatment, waste combustion, gas scrubbing (including air pollution
control) and electricity/steam generation. The organic components of

97

the MSW are converted into syngas and other products while the mineral components are converted into slag or vitried slag or ash which
is a byproduct. In rare occasions, some amount of oxygen is supplied
to the combustor to provide heat to produce syngas. Steam is fed into
a steam turbine where it ows over series of turbine blades which
cause the turbine to rotate. The turbine is connected to an electric generator which rotates to produce electricity. The main alternatives are
to burn the wastes on a grate or to uidize it with air to achieve complete combustion. In order to increase the power production, condensing turbines can be used to cool steam [37,39]. The generated heat of
combustion is recovered in a waste heat boiler for steam generation.
The incineration process produces an effectively sterile ash residue
when pretreatment is done before combustion and this ash can be
transformed into other useful products.
MSW incineration system is a stable technology of energy production
from wastes which is capable of reducing the amounts of dioxin and
other dangerous substances produced. The heating value of the MSW is
an important parameter which greatly contributes to the efciency of
the incineration plant. The minimum low heating value (LHV) required
for the MSW to combust without the addition of other fuel is approximately 7000 kJ/kg MSW or 1.94 MWh/ton MSW [9,40,41].
Incineration of MSW operating at uncontrollably high temperature
can produce a net energy of about 544 kWh/ton MSW but environmentally more damaging. Combustion of MSW at uncontrolled temperatures produces chlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and corrosive gases that
could destroy the steam pipes and cause health related problems.
Thus with a controlled temperature of 250300 C, a lower efciency
of 15% to 16% is achieved [11,30]. On the other hand, in order to increase
the efciency of the system, a more heat-resistant material could be
used for the steam pipes to withstand these high temperatures. There
could also be a dual generating system which involves both gas turbines

Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of electricity generation from MSW by thermochemical and biochemical conversion technologies.

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C. Ofori-Boateng et al. / Fuel Processing Technology 110 (2013) 94102

and waste incineration. Natural gas can be used to power the turbines to
produce electricity. The exhaust (of high temperature between 500 and
600 C) from the turbines is then used to further heat the steam produced by the incinerator to about 400 C. These systems can increase
the efciency to about 2030% [28,40,42].
The cost of investment and operation of incinerators is often high.
The high costs of power generated from this technology can be signicantly reduced if concessionary loans that attract low discount rates
and grants are sourced to nance such projects. A typical situation is ongoing in Ghana in which about USD 136 million MSW power plant at
Oti, near Dompoase in the Kumasi metropolis is undertaken by Cinergex
Solutions Limited, a Canadian rm, under a Build Operate and Transfer
(BOT) agreement with the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly [43].
Murphy and McKeogh [36] have reported that in any MSW incineration system, about 15% of the wastes is available as electricity.
Again, MSW from 1,000,000 person equivalent could power 12,400
cars; provide electricity for 30,900 houses and heat 15,100 houses
in Europe and United States [36]. The problem of power shortage
and uctuations could be resolved in Ghana through the production
of additional green energy through WTE plants which would as well
solve the waste management problem in Ghana.
In Ghana, presently, there are over 12 major controlled incinerators without energy recovery (excluding household incineration
sites) and about 232 unauthorized incineration sites scattered all
over the country [24]. A WTE incineration plant commissioned in Kumasi is expected to consume about 1000 tons of MSW from the Kumasi metropolis per day. This waste is expected to generate
between 30 and 52 MWh of electricity which is about 30% of the
power requirement of the metropolis [21]. It is also estimated that
an MSW power plant of 20 MW installed capacity, 25% efciency
and 85% availability consumes around 670,000 tons of dry waste to
produce about 150 GWh [21,43] of electricity considering a 4 GJ
(1.1 MWh)/ton caloric value of Ghanaian waste [24].
4.1.2. WTE generation via gasication
Gasication of MSW is a process in which there is partial combustion of the MSW at high temperatures in a controlled environment
which virtually converts almost all the MSW into gas and chars and
occurs in two stages [44]. During the rst stage, the MSW is partially
combusted to form producer gas (comprising CO2 and H2O) and char.
During the second stage, the CO2 and H2O are chemically reduced by
the char (or charcoal) to form mainly carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen gas (H2). The composition of the resulting gas is 1820% H2,
1821% CO, 23% CH4, 810% CO2, and the rest nitrogen [4547].
These two stages are separated in the gasier.
Gasication requires temperatures of about 750800 C and atmospheric pressure (1 atm) or higher. The density of the produced
gas is generally less than 5.6 MJ/m 3 which far lower than that for natural gas (38 MJ/m 3). Sometimes in a gasier, additional gas called
gasication agent (usually natural gas) is used in conjunction with
the MSW as fuel to convert the wastes into gas in a shorter time
[41,4850]. Gasiers are coupled with gas turbines (hybrid gasier/
gas turbine system) in order to produce electricity effectively at a
cheaper cost compared to fossil fuel derived electricity [46,49]. The
efciency of this system is found to be 4055% energy conversion.
Gasication using a minimum amount of oxygen can be represented by Eq. (1) [40,47]:
CH1:4 O0:6 0:2O2 CO 0:7H2 O:

In cases where no oxygen is used the gasication reaction can be

represented by Eq. (2) [40,47]:
CH1:4 O0:6 0:6CO0:4C 0:7H2 O:

A typical gasication system for WTE generation consists of gasier, gas scrubber which cleans or removes all harmful gases from the

produced gas and an energy recovery unit for the production of electricity etc. For a system like this, electricity production is more efcient when the wastes are combustible unlike rubber, glass etc.
Several types of wastes cannot be efciently combusted in this system
to produce the required gas for the intended purpose. In Ghana, waste
sorting is not done at source hence it is very difcult to separate the
wastes into their various compositions before gasication. This technology however would not be efciently applied in the Ghanaian situation presently.
Most gasiers are partial oxidation reactors in which only sufcient
air or oxygen is introduced to combust the waste to provide the heat for
electricity production. If the oxidant is air, the produced gas is diluted
with the nitrogen within the gas and although air is 79% nitrogen, the
stoichiometry of partial oxidation is such that the nal product gas
has about 50% nitrogen as a diluent [40,47,50]. As a result the heating
value of the fuel gas derived from air driven partial oxidation gasier
ranges from 4 to 6 MJ Nm3 [50]. Pre-treatment or initial drying [51]
of the wastes as well as the quantity of oxidant used can help increase
the heating value of the gas produced. This is achieved due to the reduction of heat demand for the process which is high when the wastes are
high in moisture content. In using pure oxygen as the gasication agent,
nitrogen diluent is eliminated thus a medium caloric value (MCV) gas
(1020 MJ Nm3) is produced [46,47]. An alternative strategy is to
carry out the gasication process with the help of indirect heat whereby
a high caloric value of the gas is achieved. Efcient gasier design and
post-gasication processing to remove tar and particulate contaminants from the gas stream may help produce clean gas in order to
save the environment. Moreover, co-ring and co-gasication (gasication of solid waste with coal or biomass in the same gasier) have also
emerged as effective technologies for waste management systems in
deprived communities [47]. Advanced power systems based on Integrated Gasication Combined Cycles (IGCC) are also employed as high
efcient power generation from gasied MSW but make use of coal as
supplementary fuel [52]. Most gasication power applications will involve a gas turbine-based generation cycle which operates at compression ratios of 1020 and inlet pressures of 1.02.5 MPa [46]. On the
other hand, the gasier can be operated at low pressure in which the
cleaned gas is compressed to the pressure required for gas turbine application. A tar reformer is therefore used to reduce the quantity of tar
that is produced. Usually a combination of heat exchange (to reduce
the gas from tar reformer exit temperature to residual tar dew point)
and wet scrubbing is used.
4.1.3. WTE generation via pyrolysis
Pyrolysis is the thermal decomposition of wastes in the absence of
oxygen. The products of pyrolysis include bio-char, bio-oil and gases
(methane, hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide). At low
temperatures below 450 C, pyrolysis may produce bio-char while
at temperatures above 800 C, great amount of gases may evolve
[53]. However, at an intermediate temperature and under relatively
high heating rates, the main product is bio-oil.
Pyrolysis oil has many advantages over gasication and incineration due to the ease of handling, storage and combustion in an
existing power station when special start-up procedures are not necessary. Again, pyrolysis produces lesser byproducts (1040%), multiple products (liquid, solid and gas) and has the least economic
burden and environmental problems compared to incineration
[53,54]. On the contrary, there are some major drawbacks associated
with pyrolysis. Small particle size of the feed is required for pyrolysis
thus the MSW needs to be threshed into smaller sizes (2 mm particle size) before pyrolysis in order to obtain a best yield and appropriate products after the reaction [53].
The processes involved in pyrolysis can be grouped as slow pyrolysis, fast (or ash) pyrolysis at high temperatures and ash pyrolysis
at low temperatures. Flash pyrolysis is currently the most widely used
pyrolysis technology. Slow pyrolysis takes several hours to complete

C. Ofori-Boateng et al. / Fuel Processing Technology 110 (2013) 94102

and results in bio-char as the main product [54]. On the other hand,
fast pyrolysis yields about 60% bio-oil and takes seconds for complete
pyrolysis. In addition, it gives 20% bio-char and 20% synthetic gas or
syngas [53,54]. Pyrolysis can produce a net energy of 571 kWh/ton
MSW from either the gas or bio-oil produced [8,55]. Fig. 3 summarizes the production of electricity from fast pyrolysis of MSW.
Table 3 summarizes the operating parameters and composition of
major products formed from the three discussed thermo-chemical
conversion technologies.
4.2. Biochemical conversion technologies
In biochemical conversion processes, micro-organisms (either
added or secreted by the substrate) are used to breakdown the
wastes into various components in the form of solid, slurry or gas.
Biochemical conversion of wastes can be grouped into three namely
anaerobic digestion/fermentation, aerobic digestion and composting.
These technologies are termed the most economical and environmentally safe means of obtaining energy from MSW.
Elango et al. [42] have reported the high potential of MSW as feedstock for anaerobic digestion for biogas production. The levels of organic matter produced per capita vary considerably from developed
to developing countries. For instance, in Ghana, the putrescible
MSW is about 90% compared to about 60% for United States
[7,9,29,56]. The reduced levels of putrescible in MSW in the U.S are
as a result of the increased proportions of plastics, metals and glass,
mostly from packaging materials.
For a period of 35 weeks at temperatures between 55 and 66 C
in a controlled anaerobic condition (such as one in a biogas digester),
methane is produced. The amount of this methane is about 25 times
higher than that obtained from landlls (uncontrolled operation parameters) [8]. Anaerobic digestion of organic wastes is a highly feasible technology for energy production in Ghana. However, due to the
problem of wastes sorting at source, this technology would not be
feasible on large scale.
4.2.1. WTE generation via landlling and engineered landlling
The process of organic waste decomposition in landlls is slightly
synonymous to anaerobic digestion in biogas digesters. However, the
biochemical decomposition in biogas reactors is done in a more controlled manner due to its fast rate of reaction coupled with temperature stabilization [46]. Microorganisms that live in the organic
materials such as food wastes and paper cause these materials to

Fig. 3. Simplied ow diagram of fast pyrolysis of MSW for electricity generation.

99

Table 3
Technologies of thermochemical conversion of MSW for electricity generation.
Source: [11,52].
Technology

Temperature

Residence time

Flash pyrolysis
Incineration or Combustion
Gasication

Moderate
Low
High

Short
Long
Long

Product
composition, %
Liquid

Char

Gas

75
30
5

12
35
10

13
35
85

decompose releasing methane in large amount and CO2 in small

quantities. Landll gas normally comprises 50% methane and 50% carbon dioxide with an energy content of 1819 MJ/m 3 [9,57]. The biogas emitted from landlls is trapped, scrubbed and combusted in
order to produce electricity. Landll gas is normally trapped from
drilled wells within the landlls via pipes. The raw gas (or mixture
with natural gas) is then fed into combustion turbines or combined
cycle turbines to generate electricity. In landlls, the decomposition
reaction is not monitored. Also, landll runoffs, landll gas emissions,
the nearby ground water quality as well as the water table level closer
to landlls are not monitored.
Presently, landlls are engineered in order to minimize environmental pollution. Sanitary (engineered) landlling has become an acceptable and recommended technology MSW leading to the
generation of energy. All the residues from all the other possible
MSW management options are dumped in landlls after the conversion process thus landll is considered to be a better option for
MSW management. The MSW that enters as the raw material or
feed is spread out and arranged on waterproof materials and left to
decompose. After some days, these layers of wastes are compacted
and covered periodically with soil or another inert material. Thus
leachate from the landll does not contaminate nearby ground
water or stream due to the presence of the waterproof material. The
leachate is however collected, treated and disposed of. Methane and
carbon dioxide start to come out after few weeks of landlling but
are in small amount. For a longer period of time, the landll gas can
be captured and used to produce electricity.
In Ghana, a couple of engineered landll sites have been commissioned long ago in the main municipal centers with the hope of developing them into electricity generation systems but this aim has been
nibbed in the bud. Though engineered landlling has been found to
be a better option for MSW management and electricity production
system, unstable economic trends may alter this advantage.
Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, with substantial amounts
being derived from unutilized methane production from landll sites.
Its recovery therefore, not only results in the stabilization of the landll
site allowing faster reuse of the land, but also serves to lessen the impacts of biospheric methane emissions on global warming [5759].
4.2.2. Anaerobic digestion/fermentation under controlled conditions
Biogas technology has emerged as a key environmental technology for integrated solid and liquid waste treatment concepts and climate protection in industrialized and developing countries. Within
the anaerobic conversion or fermentation of MSW, over 90% of energy
available in the wastes is retained within the biogas as methane and
the rest are sludge. This process takes place in enclosed systems or reactors called digesters. With these systems, a ton of MSW can produce
100 m 3 of biogas for electricity production [42]. Table 4 summarizes
the composition of landll and reactor gas from the decomposition
of MSW.
Biogas can be utilized to power combustion engines for motive
power or electricity generation, space heating, water heating and process heating. If compressed, it can replace compressed natural gas for
use in vehicles, where it can fuel an internal combustion engine or
fuel cells. The gas is a clean and efcient fuel which burns without

C. Ofori-Boateng et al. / Fuel Processing Technology 110 (2013) 94102

Table 4
Composition of landll and digester gas from the biochemical conversion of MSW.
Source: [46].
Composition of gas

% in landll gas

% in digester gas

Methane (CH4)
Carbon dioxide (CO2)
Carbon monoxide (CO)
Nitrogen (N2)
Hydrogen (H2)
Hydrogen sulde (H2S), mg/m3
Oxygen (O2)
Chlorine (Cl2), mg/m3
Fluorine (F2), mg/m3

55.0
45.0

3.1

88.0
0.8
22.0
5.0

45.060.0
35.050.0
0.00.3
1.05.0
0.03.0
0.10.5
Trace

smoke or smell and it's used for direct combustion in cooking or lighting applications.
There are several small scale biogas digesters under operation in
Ghana. This is the most used technology for organic waste (mostly
sewage) management in Ghana whereby the gas produced is used
for cooking and lighting. However, this technology may not serve as
an efcient technology for MSW management and electricity generation because MSW contains different compositions of wastes which
are not sorted at source. Thus the producer gas required for electricity
generation would be minimal or insignicant rendering the whole
technology cost ineffective.
5. Feasibility study of WTE plant operations in Ghana
The four major factors that justify the feasibility of electricity or energy
production from MSW are (1) the amount of MSW generated, (2) characteristics and quality of the wastes, (3) the type of technology used for the
energy production and (4) economic conditions of the location of the
WTE plant. For instance, in 2010, Ghana produced about 4.5 million tons
of MSW which could produce about 2 GWh electricity/year by controlled
incineration and 1.01.5 GWh electricity/year by landlling according to
the Ghanaian MSW characteristics [2,22,60].

Average cost of electricity, USD/MWh

100

250
200
150

L1
100

L2
W

50
0
3

12

15

Discount rate, %
Fig. 5. Sensitivity analysis results showing the variations in discount rates with cost of
electricity produced from MSW in Ghana [60].

WTE power plants (utilizing only MSW) were considered namely

landll power plant (L1), landll power plant with already existing
engineered closed landll site (L2) and controlled waste incineration
(W). The analyses were done based on economic conditions in 2007
in Ghana and the average costs of construction of the plants which
are expected to increase by a factor of 2.7 by the year 2020. Fig. 4
shows the average cost of electricity generated by the three main
power plant schemes in Ghana. This clearly indicates that engineered
landll power plants are more economical compared to the others.
Factors such as the amount of generated gas, operating cost and
maintenance cost were taken into consideration.
Landll power plant with existing engineered landll sites (L2)
creates the least number of jobs (i.e. 13 person/year) during construction while waste to energy incineration creates the highest number of jobs (i.e. 2632 person/year) during operation [60]. This
indicates that the construction and operation of the waste incineration (W) and landll (L1) plants (i.e. 510 person/year) are labor
intensive.

According to a report by the Energy Commission of Ghana [21,60],

the estimated cost of operating a landll in Ghana is about US$
250,000/month excluding the cost of land use and facility closure
[60]. The average waste collection costs is also estimated at about
US$ 350,000/month with the people generating the wastes and the
municipal authority bearing 15% and 85% respectively [25]. The total
annual waste management cost is approximately US$7.2 million.
For a cost benet analysis carried out by Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly [25] and Energy Commission of Ghana [60], three potential

The various parameters considered are discount rate (315%),

specic investments (25%) and capacity factor. Figs. 5, 6 and 7
show the cost of electricity production at different discount rates,
specic investment variations and capacity factors respectively.
Fig. 5 shows that the cost of incineration plant with energy recovery
(W) is the most sensitive to discount variations with almost US
$ 200/kWh power at 15% discount while that of landll power plant

51.03

18.9

10.53

L2

3.9

2020
2007
25.7

L1

9.52
0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Average cost of electricity, US cent/kWh

Fig. 4. Cost of electricity generation from possible WTE production technologies in
Ghana [60].

Average cost of electricity, USD/MWh

5.2. Sensitivity analysis

Type of WTE technology

5.1. Cost assessment

250
200
150

L1
100

L2
W

50
0
70

80

90

100

110

120

130

Specific investment variation, %

Fig. 6. Sensitivity analysis results of specic investment variations with cost of electricity generated from MSW in Ghana [60].

Average cost of electricity, USD/MWh

C. Ofori-Boateng et al. / Fuel Processing Technology 110 (2013) 94102

1800
1600
1400
1200
1000

L1

800

L2

600

400
200
0
10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Load duration, %
Fig. 7. Load duration curve for electricity generation from MSW in Ghana [60].

with already existing engineered landll site emerged the least sensitive with US$ 46/kWh electricity generated at the same rate.
Again, from Fig. 6, the costs of electricity were found to increase
with increase in specic investment for landll with already existing
landll site exhibiting low values and waste incineration plant having
the highest cost. This means that delayed execution of the projects
would signicantly increase the investment cost hence increase in
the cost of electricity generated.
The capacity factor curve in Fig. 7 illustrates the effect of annual
operational hours on the cost of electricity generated from the three
technologies. The results show that the average cost of electricity
from waste incineration is the most sensitive to variations in annual
operational hours with landll power plant with existing engineered
site being less sensitive. Increasing the capacity factor of the waste incineration plant from 80% to 90% reduces the average cost of power
generated from that plant by 11.15% [60].
6. Conclusion
Electricity generation from MSW is highly feasible in Ghana considering the large amount of waste generated which are not managed efciently. Even though the costs of these power plants are high at
present, the rationale for putting up these plants should be waste management to improve environmental safety. It was found out from the
various feasibility studies that landlls with already existing engineering
sites have the potential of being the most economical method of managing waste as well as producing electricity. Moreover, anaerobic digestion
(landlling) has the advantages of producing energy, high quality fertilizer and also preventing the transmission of disease through good sanitation. It is therefore recommended in this study that if any project
would be taken up in Ghana as a waste management technology, an
engineered landll power plant is highly considerable.
Acknowledgment
The authors would like to thank the Universiti Sains Malaysia (Research University grant no. 854002 and USM fellowship) for the nancial support given.
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