SURMAT : decision support tool to select municipal solid waste treatment technologies : case study in Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam

The aim of this thesis is to enable taking more sustainable and cost-effective decisions on MSW management in developing cities. For this purpose, a tool named SURMAT was developed and applied using data of Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam (chapter 6). In order to prepare the tool for modeling of the MSW management in Ho Chi Minh City, an analysis of the current MSW management system (chapter 2), a selection of technologies (chapter 3, 4) and a costs analysis of the selected technologies (chapter 5) have been conducted. Various possible solid waste management strategies for Ho Chi Minh City for period of twenty years were elaborated and discussed focusing on minimization of costs and maximization of electricity production from wastes (chapters 6 and 7). SURMAT supports in a systematic way the optimization of logistics and choice of treatment technologies in dependence of specific situation-bound constraints, such as land availability and production of useful products from wastes. SURMAT is simple to operate and well adaptable to new situations. It can help to generate guidelines or master plans for urban solid waste management. The methodology applied to develop this decision support tool can be used to set up other tools for MSW management or for other domains.