2.4.2. Incineration
The carbon cycle of municipal solid waste incineration is represented
by Eq. (4). Considering the carbon cycling, we assumed
that the main carbon emission to the air was carbon dioxide,
and the other carbon element was stocked in the incineration
bottom ash and fly ash. The carbon content data of a typical
municipal solid waste incineration plant were chosen as the reference
data of the study scenario, where the total carbon (TC)
was 26.3 g kg−1 and the organic carbon was 17.0 g kg−1 (Liu et al.,
2013). MSW incineration bottom is a type of industrial waste,
and fly ash is a type of hazardous waste; both of these need to
be disposed of in landfills, and they therefore form new carbon
stocks.
MSW + O2
incineration −→ CO2 + H2O + SO2 + ash (4)
2.4.3. Compost
The carbon cycle of municipal solid waste compost is represented
by Eq. (5). With a view on carbon cycling, we assumed that
all organic carbon is biologically degraded into carbon dioxide and
compost (including new bacteria cells, resistant organic matter)
and that all of the inorganic carbon remains in the compost. The
carbon biological degradation (transformed into carbon dioxide)
rate of compost is 67%, while the rate of remaining carbon in the
compost is 33% (Haug, 1993).