The Thailand government directives indicate minimum targets as follows: 10% of the waste
has to go to recycling, 20% to composting, another 20% to AD and 15% to incineration [35].
Considering these directives for minimum waste going to a particular treatment, results for
this scenario are shown in Figure 3. The non-recyclable organics fraction is split between AD
with CHP, composting and incineration, plastics between mechanical recycling and
incineration, and paper between recycling and incineration. Note how the system includes all
the processes, except pyrolysis, in order to comply with the constraints set by the government
directives. Despite the significant amount of heat being generated, no market for this excess
heat was considered due to the hot weather in Thailand. However, heat generated is enough
to cover heating demands within the biorefinery. It is possible to adjust the heat to power
ratio parameter set for the CHP facility to reduce or eliminate surplus heat, this however was
not explored in the current study. About 1974 t/y of waste from paper recycling is sent to AD
with CHP, which then increases electricity, heat and compost productions. 36,719 t/y residues
from mechanical recycling are sent to incineration. Even after meeting internal demands, the
biorefinery system provides an net electricity surplus of 131,914 MWh/y. This shows one of
the advantages of the biorefinery approach integrating recycling processes as compared to
stand-alone processes for waste treatment.