Study of Waste to Energy from Municipal Solid Waste

Abstract

For several countries, producing huge volumes of waste is a major concern. Moreover, the transport and storage of these volumes are both users of land and energy, and thus the treatment of these wastes has become a recent and urgent concern. Waste control involves recycling, sustainable storage of waste, and conversion of items with a fair calorific value to energy. The idea of waste-to-energy introduced economic and environmental gains and the adoption of green energy. Improper handling of urban solid waste (MSW) not only has a detrimental effect on the environment but also raises threats to public health and causes other socio-economic problems worthy of discussion. Therefore, there is an urgent need to strengthen waste collection, sorting and safe disposal. Waste-to-energy (WTE) technologies such as pyrolysis, gasification, incineration, and biomethanation can turn MSW into an acceptable source of renewable energy into usable energy (electricity and heat) in a healthy, environmentally beneficial manner. The concept of waste-to-energy has brought economic and environmental benefits and the introduction of renewable energy. Using waste as a sustainable energy source will achieve environmental protection and compensate for other energy shortages. The ultimate goal of this work is to give a deep understanding of the process available for conversion of waste to energy along with the benefits of these processes. This work also focuses on the amount of waste generated on the campus of Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee and how much energy can be obtained from the waste of 5.5 tons per day that is generated on campus using thermo chemical process like incineration.