Recycling & Waste Management

Waste to Energy

Submit Abstract Register Now

How to Produce Energy from Waste

The most common and popular method for waste to energy generation is ‘Incineration‘. Incineration is also a very highly debated technology, due to the concerns it raises regarding safety and environmental impact. In simple terms it stands for a type of waste treatment process, where the organics from the waste collected are burnt at high temperatures. Waste treatments that are conducted involving high temperatures are called Thermal treatment. The heat generated from this thermal temperature is then used to create energy.

Several countries in the world, especially in Europe are experimenting with Incineration as an alternate means of energy production; Sweden, Germany and Luxembourg to name a few.

Thermal technologies:

Depolymerisation  and pyrolysis Often said to be a replication or representation of the conditions under which fossil fuels were created, Depolymerisation has its own sets of benefits and limitations.

Gasification is another developing process employed for waste to energy generation. Gasification converts carbonaceous substances into carbon dioxide, carbon mono oxide and some amount of hydrogen. Pyrolysis is another waste to energy process, used majorly in industrial processes.  Pyrolysis employs agricultural waste or organic waste from industries .Plasma arc gasification as the name suggests uses plasma technologies to obtain syngas or synthesis gas. A plasma torch is used to ionize gas and there after obtain synthesis gas. The process generates electricity while compressing the waste.

Non-thermal technologies:

Fermentation is also being developed as a form of management. Waste to energy is an emerging innovative set of technologies aimed at better sustenance of the environment, with minimum damage to the ecosystems. With these technologies developing by day and their acceptance increasing amongst households and industrial set-ups worldwide, waste to energy is seen as a development tool for emerging countries. The MBT technology stands for Mechanical Biological treatment. The technology uses domestic waste as well as industrial and commercial waste to generate products.