New report on MSW as biofuel feedstock looks at LCA and different technologies

In North Carolina, the Environmental Research & Education Foundation (EREF) has published two reports, which are the first to result from EREF’s Internal Research Program (IRP). The reports are “Using Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) as a Biofuel Feedstock” and “Anaerobic Digestion of MSW: Report on the State of Practice.”

Using a first-of-its-kind Life-Cycle Assessment model of biofuel production using MSW, the report includes an assessment of the environmental impacts associated with MSW conversion via landfill gas-to-energy, waste-to-energy, and gasification/Fischer-Tropsch and explores how current infrastructure could be used to support an MSW-to-biofuels industry. The project was done in partnership with North Carolina State University and Maverick Biofuels, with funding provided by the Biofuels Center of North Carolina.