Physicochemical properties and energy potential of combustible municipal solid waste from Lomé, Togo

Abstract

This study aims to fill the knowledge gap regarding the physicochemical properties of combustible municipal solid waste (CMSW) from Lomé under its wet and dry seasons. Over both seasons, waste characterisation campaigns were conducted followed by the proximate and ultimate analyses of CMSW samples composed of putrescible, miscellaneous combustible (MC), plastic, textile, and paper & cardboard fractions. In addition, the energy and oxide contents from CMSW were measured with a calorimeter and X-Ray Fluorescence analyser respectively. The results showed that putrescible had the highest weight proportion with significant differences among waste fractions over wet and dry seasons (p-value 1.90E–07 putrescible (2.73 MJ/kg) > textile (0.86 MJ/kg) > MC (0.67 MJ/kg) > paper & cardboard (0.18 MJ/kg). The content of silicon dioxide (75.88 wt%) and manganese oxide (0.02 wt%) were the highest and lowest from plastic, respectively. Therefore, CMSW showed important energy value though highly contaminated by fines.

Keywords

• MSW characterisation
• proximate analysis
• elemental composition
• ash content
• energy content