Abstract:
With the accelerated urbanization process in China, the volume of municipal solid waste (MSW) transported for treatment has been increasing annually, leading to a progressively severe “waste besieging cities” phenomenon. Although waste classification has been preliminarily implemented in China, the complex composition of sorted MSW poses significant challenges. Conventional incineration methods result in substantial resource waste and severe secondary pollution, which greatly restricts the refined and low-carbon utilization of MSW. There is an urgent need to develop a refined utilization scheme for classified MSW within the framework of carbon emission constraints.This study proposes an integrated approach that couples anaerobic digestion of food waste, high-temperature co-pyrolysis of fibrous waste, and catalytic pyrolysis of waste plastics. The gaseous, liquid, and solid products generated after refined utilization can be directly utilized as resources. The results indicate that, taking 300 tons of MSW from the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region as a case study, the proposed refined utilization scheme achieves a carbon reduction potential of 39.35% compared to traditional incineration scheme. The produced biogas, pyrolysis gas, and hydrocarbon-rich gas can replace 20.57 tonnes of coal-derived natural gas and 26.95 tonnes of coke oven gas, while the fuel oil can substitute 15.31 tonnes of diesel. To evaluate the macro-level emission reduction benefits of the proposed scheme, a scenario analysis was conducted based on 2023 national MSW data. The results indicate that the nationwide implementation of this refined utilization scheme could achieve an annual reduction of approximately 79.58 million metric tons of CO
2 emissions compared to conventional incineration technology. Further regional analysis reveals significant disparities: North China demonstrates the highest relative reduction rate, with a potential of 45.87%, while in terms of absolute reduction, Guangdong Province contributes the most, reaching 17.19 million metric tons. The research results provide a carbon emission reduction potential analysis for the refined utilization scheme of classified MSW, offering fundamental data and theoretical references for the formulation of low-carbon MSW management policies in China under the “dual carbon” goals.