Title: Multiple regression analysis for the estimation of energy content of municipal solid waste

Authors: G.D. Agrawal, A.P.S. Rathore, A.B. Gupta

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering Malaviya National Institute of Technology Jaipur-302017 (Rajasthan), India. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering Malaviya National Institute of Technology Jaipur-302017 (Rajasthan), India. ' Department of Civil Engineering Malaviya National Institute of Technology Jaipur-302017 (Rajasthan), India

Abstract: A regression equation is proposed to predict the Higher Heating Value (HHV) of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) from the waste data of 86 cities of 35 countries. A mathematical model is developed, by using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS-10.0), to correlate the energy content of waste with the variables derived from its physical composition. Performance of the proposed multiple regression model is superior to available models. For validation, the proposed model is applied to the waste data of Jaipur City (India), nine cities of EEC countries and also to the MSW of USA. Energy content values obtained by proposed regression model and Modified Dulong|s Equation (MDE) are closer to the measured mean energy content values for EEC countries compared to the values obtained by Khan|s method. Objective of the paper is to propose a simple model, which can replace the lengthy MDE and which has universal applicability for the predication of HHVs.

Keywords: multiple regression model; higher heating value; municipal solid waste; energy content; waste management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEWM.2007.015690

International Journal of Environment and Waste Management, 2007 Vol.1 No.4, pp.376 - 390

Published online: 07 Nov 2007 *

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