CLEAN FUELS FROM MUNICIPAL SOLID-WASTE FOR FUEL-CELL BUSES IN METROPOLITAN-AREAS

Increasing volumes of municipal solid waste (MSW) pose disposal proble ms for many cities. Costs are rising as landfilling becomes more diffi cult. The production of clean transportation fuels (methanol or hydrog en) from MSW is one economically and environmentally promising option for dealing with these problems. An attractive feature is that elimina tion of essentially all air pollutant emissions is inherent in the pro cess. Current and future air emissions standards should be easily met. Methanol or hydrogen used in fuel cell vehicles (FCV) can help addres s problems of deteriorating urban air quality due to vehicle pollution and heavy dependence of the transport sector on imported petroleum. B uses are initial targets for commercial application of fuel cells. Cou pled with FCVs, MSW could become a major transportation energy resourc e. For example, less than 25% of New York City's MSW supply would be s ufficient to produce the methanol or hydrogen needed to fuel the entir e city's bus fleet, if the buses were fuel cell powered. Estimated bre akeven tipping fees required for hydrogen or methanol from MSW to comp ete with the cost of these fuels made from natural gas today are $52 t o $89/raw tonne MSW for hydrogen and $64 to $104/raw tonne MSW for met hanol (in 1991$), depending on the gasification technology considered. For comparison, the average tipping fee today in New York City is $74 /tonne (1991$). Because of the high fuel economies expected for fuel c ell buses, total lifecycle costs per bus-km could be lower than for co nventional diesel-engine buses.