ENERGY FROM WASTE

Energy generation from waste material has been practised for over a decade now and the processes of generating energy from waste are still evolving gradually. In this post, we will know more about this topic.

Introduction

Waste materials when dumped and decomposed in a scientific and organised way can produce useful energy that can be stored for future use. The process of generating energy from waste particles has widely been practised around the world due to the excessive collection of waste caused due to the growing population around the world. According to estimations by scholars and researchers, around 2.12 billion tons of waste are dumped in waste pits every year around the world. As the numbers are massive it was necessarily important for people to generate energy from decomposed waste to make proper use of waste dumped by the world’s population. There are several questions regarding the generation of energy from waste, for example, people might think about how energy can be generated from waste materials? What does the term incineration of waste mean? All these questions will be answered by the end of this post.

Discussion

What is energy from waste?

Waste is generated from almost every part of the daily life of the human population. For instance, it is generated from household, manufacturing, packaging and various other workplaces. According to statistics, the UK generates around 26, 411 million tonnes of waste in a year of which around 40% are recycled and the rest are left untreated. Inappropriate treatment of waste can create major health issues and can be dangerous for the atmosphere as well. Therefore, it is important to utilise waste to create energy or electricity implementing modern technologies. Implementation of new technologies to treat waste and generate energy from them are important and need to be handled effectively to acquire energy from waste.

Solid waste materials contain methane and CO2 and releasing them on water bodies and landfills can cause contamination of soil and water. A permanent solution to handling this issue is to use this waste to generate energy. Efficient processing and treating of waste prior to its final disposal can reduce waste by 90%. Besides, it can produce fuel gas for lighting and cooking and electricity.

What types of energy can be generated from waste?

Proper treatment and processing of waste can eventually help to produce various forms of energy such as heat, fuel and electricity. Solid wastes are usually converted into gas to produce energy. Generating electricity from solid wastes collected from landfills have widely been practised around the world due to the increasing demands for electricity. This can be considered to be a renewable and sustainable source of generating electricity and so this practice needs to be improved to generate more energy and electricity from solid waste in future. There are several ways through which fuel, energy and electricity can be generated from solid and liquid wastes generated by humans. For instance, RDF (Refuse-Derived Fuel) facilities can help to process energy from solid waste before direct combustion. Besides, incineration of waste is one of the most common processes that is used to generate energy, fuel and electricity from waste materials.

What is waste incineration?

Incineration of waste is the process in which waste materials are treated to combust substances present in solid waste which eventually helps to create energy and fuel from solid wastes. Incineration of waste is also known as thermal treatment of waste as it involves the combustion of waste at high temperatures. In this process, solid waste is burnt in order to turn the solid materials into ash, fuel and heat. It can be stated in this context that waste incineration helps to produce heat energy and fuel gas. Methane gas is produced and collected by incineration of solid waste which can be used as cooking gas and for lighting.

What is plasma pyrolysis?

Plasma pyrolysis is one of the most common processes of generating energy from plastic waste which is commonly used in industrial sectors. This process is also effective to process organic and agricultural wastes from industries to produce significant energy. Plasma pyrolysis is a modern technology of producing energy from solid wastes generated from industries. The disposal of plastic waste is a matter of concern around the world as the rate of plastic waste generation has been increasing especially in developing countries like India. This factor has been causing negative impacts on the environment and so modern technologies such as plasma pyrolysis have been developed to reduce the adverse impacts of plastic disposal on the environment.

This process involves the disintegration of organic compounds into non-leachable solids and gases residues in an environment that is oxygen-starved. This technology was first discovered and used in the 1990s, and it emerged as a technology that provides a complete solution of destroying plastic, medical and other hazardous wastes safely and generating useful energy from them.

How does plasma pyrolysis generate energy from waste?

Plasma pyrolysis is a technology in which high temperature is produced with the help of a plasma torch in an oxygen-starved environment to destroy the plastic waste effectively in an environmentally friendly manner. This technology utilises a large fraction of electrons, ions along with excited molecules with high radiation that allows decomposition of chemical wastes. In this technology of destroying plastic and organic waste to produce energy, both chemical and physical reactions take place rapidly in the plasma zone of this machine.