Theoretical Framework for Sustainable Organic Waste Collection for Large-Scale Biogas Production in Johannesburg, South Africa

The production of biogas on a large-scale is problematic for three major reasons; 1) cost of transport, storage and processing of waste biomass, 2) carbon footprint as characteristic of the logistical demands of waste biomass collection and transport 3) net energy of biorefinery. A global economy platformed on energy and commodities as produced from biomass feedstocks, contrary to the unsustainable production from the fossil refining analogue, is not only a possibility but potentially viable. Despite advancement in biorefining systems, a major bottleneck is the effect of the aforementioned challenges on the sustainability and economy of scale of biogas production, hence the need for optimized models for more efficient centralized production platforms. With a focus on sources of organic wastes in the the Johannesburg metropolis and documented knowledge of their co-digestibility, this work capitalizes on trends in smart transport to describe sustainable collection system for organic waste feedstocks for biogas production. Sensitivity analysis using spatiality correlated greenhouse gas (GHG ) emission indicators, energy demand, biomethane potential and other cogent variables was done towards achieving set sustainability objectives across pre-processing for anaerobic digestion of waste biomass feedstocks.