Characterisation of chemical composition and energy content of green waste and municipal solid waste from Greater Brisbane, Australia

• First detailed characterisation of Australian waste streams for energy recovery.
• Chemical characteristics of green waste were similar to those of woody biomass.
• The overall energy content (LHVwb) of municipal solid waste (MSW) was 7.9 MJ/kg.
• This MSW is suitable for consideration for use in waste-to-energy applications.

The development and deployment of thermochemical waste-to-energy systems requires an understanding of the fundamental characteristics of waste streams. Despite Australia’s growing interest in gasification of waste streams, no data are available on their thermochemical properties. This work presents, for the first time, a characterisation of green waste and municipal solid waste in terms of chemistry and energy content. The study took place in Brisbane, the capital city of Queensland. The municipal solid waste was hand-sorted and classified into ten groups, including non-combustibles. The chemical properties of the combustible portion of municipal solid waste were measured directly and compared with calculations made based on their weight ratios in the overall municipal solid waste. The results obtained from both methods were in good agreement.The moisture content of green waste ranged from 29% to 46%. This variability – and the tendency for soil material to contaminate the samples – was the main contributor to the variation of samples’ energy content, which ranged between 7.8 and 10.7 MJ/kg. The total moisture content of food wastes and garden wastes was as high as 70% and 60%, respectively, while the total moisture content of non-packaging plastics was as low as 2.2%. The overall energy content (lower heating value on a wet basis, LHVwb) of the municipal solid waste was 7.9 MJ/kg, which is well above the World Bank-recommended value for utilisation in thermochemical conversion processes.