ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Life Cycle Assessment of Waste-to-Energy:
Energy Recovery from Wood Waste
in Malaysia
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1
Civil Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya,
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2
Institute of Ocean and Earth Science, Institute of Graduate Studies,
University Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Submission date: 2018-06-01
Final revision date: 2018-07-20
Acceptance date: 2018-08-02
Online publication date: 2019-03-05
Publication date: 2019-04-09
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2019;28(4):2593-2602
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ABSTRACT
This paper presents life cycle assessment for a biomass-fired power plant that utilizes recycled
wood waste as fuel. Life cycle analysis of the wood WtE plant was done using SimaPro software using
an Ecoinvent 3.4 database and ReCiPe Midpoint impact assessment method. The main concern
was given to climate change factor through the evaluation of GHG emissions of the wood WtE plant.
The results showed that 31.9 g CO2 eq of GHG emissions are emitted for every kWh of electricity
generated by the wood WtE plant. The emissions value was 96.1% lower than the electricity generated
by the national grid, which is 820 g CO2 eq of GHG emissions. In conclusion, WtE emerged as
a sustainable approach in disposing of solid waste while reducing GHG emissions and increasing
the share of renewable energy in energy mix simultaneously. A scenario was created to show
the relationship between the percentage of carbon emissions reduction that is in line with Malaysia’s
commitment to reduce GHG emissions by up to 45% by 2030, hence making the utilization of biomass
and solid waste a reliable source of renewable energy as targeted by SEDA Malaysia.