Prioritization of energy recovery technologies from municipal solid waste (Case study of Mashhad)

Thermal energy recovery technologies which used to burn solid urban waste are one of the relatively new and appropriate methods in waste management. Heat and gases are generated by burning waste that can be used to generate energy. In this research, a decision model based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method is Provided to select the best thermochemical system based on three technical, economic and environmental criteria. In this study, waste incineration, gasification, pyrolysis and plasma systems were evaluated. Collection of required information was obtained by reviewing reliable sources and preparing and completing questionnaires. The study area in this study is Mashhad city. The results of this study indicate that among the studied systems, plasma system (technology) is the best option for energy recovery from solid wastes in Mashhad, after that, waste incineration, gasification and pyrolysis systems are in the next categories, respectively.