Circular Economy Modeling for Waste and Energy Management in A Developing Country: The Case of Greater Beirut Area

Abstract

Lebanon's energy system depends largely on imported fuels. Lebanon presented its commitment to increase by 30% its share of Renewable Energies (RE) by 2030. GBA lacks an integrated Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM) system. The waste composition in the Greater Beirut Area (GBA) is made of 52.2% organic waste which can be exploited for the production of green Hydrogen (H₂) by gasification alongside. Energy Production from green H₂ will be assisted by the integration of PV solar systems installation especially for the residential sector which is steadily increasing. The main objective of this study is the implementation of a Circular Economy (CE) model which links the waste management best practices to the production of green energy for long-term sustainability targets in GBA. In the base of the CE modeling goal, 4 configurations of electrical power supply for GBA were simulated using HOMER-Pro software. With a Nominal Discount Rate of 10%, the off-grid solar PV system presents the lowest Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) of 0.47 $/kWh, followed by the PV + Fuel Cell (FC) system with an LCOE of 13.43 $/kWh, while the FC's LCOE is the higher one. For PV and FC systems the renewable energy penetration is high. This energy production configuration should be accompanied by avoiding 12-18% of waste generation, it will have a significant impact in reducing the waste management cost by about 11,147,051$. The proposed CE model is of great benefit for long-term sustainability development in GBA. The opportunity of employing fuel cells in the future is high due to the trend of its cost decreasing.