Wale Aboyade's thesis - lumes

Akinwale Aboyade, LUMES Thesis, 2003/2004
Nigeria and the city of Lagos in particular, giving an overview of the physical and socio-economic
characteristics therein. Chapter two follows with the literature review. Here, salient issues in MSW
disposal management as it affects sustainable development and the link to climate change are
discussed. A brief introduction is also given to climate change, its causes and the issues that led to the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol. The
data and material gathered from field studies are presented in chapter 3 in a descriptive format of the
existing state of relevant aspects of MSW management and energy sectors as well as progress under
climate change policy implementation in Nigeria. The study results and discussions are presented in
chapter 4 and conclusions and recommendations follow in chapter 5.
1.3 Objectives
This study will evaluate the opportunities for climate change mitigation in the MSW disposal sector in
Nigeria by assessing the feasibility of a landfill gas capture project in Olusosun solid waste disposal
site in Lagos as an example.
In achieving this objective, the following research questions shall be addressed
What is the level of methane emissions arising from current practices in MSW disposal given
the biophysical potentials?
Is there enough potential to make a LFG recovery project technically viable?
What are the pertinent regulations and practices in the local, energy and climate sectors and
markets that could affect the performance of a landfill gas capture project in the site under
study?
Given these opportunities and constraint, would such an intervention be economically viable?
Under what scenarios therefore, could the project best be implemented?
1.4 Scope
The scope of the study is as shown in the conceptual map below (Figure 1.1) describes boundaries of
the study (the outer black box). Components outside the box are considered outside the boundaries of
this study even though it is recognized that they do have influence on interactions within the study for
instance, increased recycling and reuse policies will imply less waste gets to disposal sites. Also, the
study focuses the use of LFG for flaring and for electricity generation only, the other applications of
LFG captured, like heating and as fuel for transport vehicles are only mentioned, but not considered in
the analysis. The smaller dotted lined boxes in figure 1.1 represents the various sectors to be analyzed;
the blue colored box represents the energy sector, while the green and red boxes represented the
climate change and MSW sectors.
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