Exergy Life Cycle Assessment of a Waste-to-Energy Plant

In this paper, thermodynamic performances of a Waste-to-Energy power plant are evaluated by means of Exergy Life Cycle Assessment (ELCA). Environmentally Extended Input-Output Analysis is proposed as the computational structure of ELCA, allowing to account for the embodied exergy of electricity production and for the Exergy Return on (non-renewable Exergy) Investment (ExROI). Results of the analysis reveal that non-renewable resources requirement of the WtE plant is not negligible. Nonetheless, the plant is able to produce a net amount of electricity that pays back such resources requirements about a hundred times.