Waste-to-energy in Kutai Kartanegara, Indonesia

Abstract: The thesis outlined in this report is a pre-feasibility study of the potential to use waste-to-energy technology in the region Kutai Kartanegara, Borneo, Indonesia. The project is collaboration between the Kutai Kartanegara government, Uppsala University, the Swedish University of agricultural sciences and technology consultancy Sweco. The current waste management system in Kutai Kartanegara consists of landfills in the cities and open burnings and dumping in the lesser developed sub-districts. This is a growing problem both environmentally and logistically. The electrification in the sub-districts is sometimes as low as 17 % and access to electricity is often limited to a couple of hours per day. The current electricity production in the region is mainly from fossil fuels. Data was collected during a two month long field study in Tenggarong, the capital of Kutai Kartanegara. From the collected data, various waste-to-energy systems and collection areas were simulated in Matlab. Results from the simulations show that a system using both a waste incineration and biogas plant would be the best solution for the region. The chosen system is designed to handle a total of 250,000 tons of waste annually, collected from Tenggarong and neighboring districts. The system will provide between 155 and 200 GWh electricity and between 207 and 314 GWh of excess heat energy annually. Some of this is used in a district heating system with an absorption-cooling machine. The system investment cost is around 42.5 MUSD and it is expected to generate an annual profit of 16 MUSD. The recommended solution will decrease the emissions of CO2-equivalents compared to the current waste system and fossil electricity production with 50%. The results in the study clearly show that there are both economic and environmental potential for waste-to-energy technologies in the region. But the waste management and infrastructure has to be improved to be able to utilize these technologies. By implementing waste-to-energy technologies, the supplied waste can be seen as a resource instead of a problem. This would give incentives for further actions and investments regarding waste management.