**5. Discussion and conclusion**

It is been now well recognized that the earth resources need to be utilized in a sustainable manner as there is no other plant to live in. The UN SDGs and the Paris Agreements are some of the main indicators which reflect the commitment of world leaders toward sustainability. The main sustainability indicators such as energy and wastes are recognized so importantly that they have been placed among the 17 goals that the UN aims to achieve by 2030. The access to clean and modern energy does not mean that the people on the earth should be able to cook their food with gas or electric oven rather than burning the wood. This is one of the aspects, but the scope of clean energy is quite vast. It is not only to ensure access to clean and affordable energy but also to ensure the sustainability of such energy. For instance, making energy from fossil fuel is not sustainable because of two reasons. First, fossil fuels are not guaranteed to be available forever, and second, the emissions produced by such resources have other negative impacts that cause climate change and global warming. Even though, there is still doubt among the society that an increase of 1°C in the earth temperature is not a big issue. But in reality, such an increase creates a big difference by melting the glacier in the north and south poles. Such melting of glaciers not only expands the sea and but also disturbs the natural distribution of the dry and water portions on the earth's surface. The change in the natural distribution of wet and dry portions on the earth can cause the load variations on the earth plates which can increase the earthquakes. Apart from this phenomenon, the glacier on the earth's surface helps to reduce the temperature of the lower plates of the earth and thus reduce the chances of volcanic actions. It is therefore important to move toward renewable and sustainable resources for energy. Globally, some countries have reflected good progress in adopting renewable and sustainable energy resources, but in other countries including the GCC region, such progress is quite low.

Similarly, the UN under its Goal 12, which is related to the consumption of earth resources and production, aims to minimize the effect of such consumption and production. The waste produced during consumption and production has somehow similar effects as fossil fuels have. Such waste, if not properly disposed and

recycled, will produce emissions and will utilize a large area on the earth's surface that can be used for some other purposes. Currently, the waste produced per capita in different countries is not only non-sustainable, but in most countries, there is no proper arrangement of recycling of such waste. In this regard, the GCC countries not only produce the highest amount of waste per capita (~1.77 kg per capita per day), but in most of these countries, landfilling is the common practice to dispose such waste. In all GCC countries, there is only one waste-to-energy plant in Qatar which has a capacity of 2300 tons per day, while the productions of MSW in all GCC countries currently stand at 93,430 tons per day.

This chapter, therefore, attempted to present a comparative study by considering the electricity production from waste-to-energy plants, considering the current electricity production and MSW generation. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were utilized to achieve the aims and objectives of this research. The samples of the MSW collected from different entities including residential houses, shopping markets, hotels, and restaurants indicate a good volume (~50%) of combustible waste that can be used in a waste-to-energy plant. More than 70% of the interviewees confirmed that they are willing to segregate their MSW. The results further show that the current MSW generation in Oman stands at 1.3 ± 0.28 kg/per capita. This value and the current population of Oman are used to determine the total daily MSW generation in Oman. Since landfilling is used to dispose the total waste in Oman, the IPCC and ABC EIM guidelines were used to estimate the emissions from the total MSW. These calculations indicate the emission of 3,424,247 tons CO2/year or 1.58 tons CO2 per year per ton of MSW. Currently, Oman is producing 70% of electricity from oil and 30% from natural gas. The emissions from current electricity consumption (~70,633.37 million kWh per year) is estimated at 161.781 million tons CO2 per year. If the emissions from the MSW are also added to this emission, then the total emission from electricity consumption and MSW generation in Oman will be equal to 165.205 million tons CO2 per year. Considering the current energy consumption, MSW generation, and emissions from these variables, a waste-to-energy plant that has a capacity of 5000 tons per day is proposed to use the waste from Muscat, North AlBatinah, Al-Dakhiliya, South AlBatinah, South AlSharqiya, North AlShariqiya, and Al-Dhahirah governorates. Apart from producing 29.30 million kWh daily, this plant will be able to significantly reduce the emissions from the MSW and electricity production in Oman. The reduction in emission from this waste-to-energy plant is estimated at 24,527 million kg CO2 per year. Similarly, this plant will be able to provide jobs for at least 300 personnel. The literature review suggests that the initial costs of such a plant with a capacity of 5000 tons per day can be equal to the US\$1000 million. Similarly, the operating costs can be up to the US\$30 per tons of waste used in the plant. Currently, the progress of Oman toward a number of UN SDGs is not satisfactory. Such an initiative of waste-to-energy plants will help Oman to improve its performance in a number of areas, including energy, climate change, waste management, and economic growth.

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**Author details**

United Kingdom

Department of Civil Engineering, Surveying and Construction Management, School of Engineering and the Environment, Kingston University, London,

© 2020 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,

\*Address all correspondence to: tariqumar1984@gmail.com

provided the original work is properly cited.

Tariq Umar

*A Comparative Study of MSW to Emery in Oman DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93745*

*A Comparative Study of MSW to Emery in Oman DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93745*

*Biotechnological Applications of Biomass*

GCC countries currently stand at 93,430 tons per day.

recycled, will produce emissions and will utilize a large area on the earth's surface that can be used for some other purposes. Currently, the waste produced per capita in different countries is not only non-sustainable, but in most countries, there is no proper arrangement of recycling of such waste. In this regard, the GCC countries not only produce the highest amount of waste per capita (~1.77 kg per capita per day), but in most of these countries, landfilling is the common practice to dispose such waste. In all GCC countries, there is only one waste-to-energy plant in Qatar which has a capacity of 2300 tons per day, while the productions of MSW in all

This chapter, therefore, attempted to present a comparative study by considering the electricity production from waste-to-energy plants, considering the current electricity production and MSW generation. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were utilized to achieve the aims and objectives of this research. The samples of the MSW collected from different entities including residential houses, shopping markets, hotels, and restaurants indicate a good volume (~50%) of combustible waste that can be used in a waste-to-energy plant. More than 70% of the interviewees confirmed that they are willing to segregate their MSW. The results further show that the current MSW generation in Oman stands at 1.3 ± 0.28 kg/per capita. This value and the current population of Oman are used to determine the total daily MSW generation in Oman. Since landfilling is used to dispose the total waste in Oman, the IPCC and ABC EIM guidelines were used to estimate the emissions from the total MSW. These calculations indicate the emission of 3,424,247 tons CO2/year or 1.58 tons CO2 per year per ton of MSW. Currently, Oman is producing 70% of electricity from oil and 30% from natural gas. The emissions from current electricity consumption (~70,633.37 million kWh per year) is estimated at 161.781 million tons CO2 per year. If the emissions from the MSW are also added to this emission, then the total emission from electricity consumption and MSW generation in Oman will be equal to 165.205 million tons CO2 per year. Considering the current energy consumption, MSW generation, and emissions from these variables, a waste-to-energy plant that has a capacity of 5000 tons per day is proposed to use the waste from Muscat, North AlBatinah, Al-Dakhiliya, South AlBatinah, South AlSharqiya, North AlShariqiya, and Al-Dhahirah governorates. Apart from producing 29.30 million kWh daily, this plant will be able to significantly reduce the emissions from the MSW and electricity production in Oman. The reduction in emission from this waste-to-energy plant is estimated at 24,527 million kg CO2 per year. Similarly, this plant will be able to provide jobs for at least 300 personnel. The literature review suggests that the initial costs of such a plant with a capacity of 5000 tons per day can be equal to the US\$1000 million. Similarly, the operating costs can be up to the US\$30 per tons of waste used in the plant. Currently, the progress of Oman toward a number of UN SDGs is not satisfactory. Such an initiative of waste-to-energy plants will help Oman to improve its performance in a number of areas, including energy, climate change, waste manage-

**270**

ment, and economic growth.
