Waste to Energy Technology - Research Paper Example

Undoubtedly, the waste to energy technology will address the waste disposal issues as well as the growing energy needs of the world. Waste to Energy Technology Waste to energy, or interchangeably energy from waste, can be referred to the process of generating energy in the form of heat or electricity through the incineration of waste materials. Incineration is “the process of reducing combustible waste to inert residues by high temperature combustion” (Lettsome, 2008, p.191). However, many countries have set strict emission standards for this process as many traditional WtE plants released huge amounts of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and dioxins.

Modern incineration plants are eco-friendly and they release little toxic gases or other pollutants. As Ramboll (2006) points out, modern incinerators are capable of reducing the original waste volume by 95 to 96 percent depending on the type of waste material under incineration. The use of incineration technique for the conversion of municipal solid waste to energy is a conventional application of waste to energy technology. In the incineration process, generally an RDF is burned to boil water and thereby power stream generators for the purpose of generating electricity for home and business use.

However, the method of incineration of municipal solid waste for the generation of electrical energy was widely criticized since this process has been damaging the environment by causing acid rain. In response to this environmental concern, companies used technologies like lime scrubbers on smokestacks. The modern incineration plants are eco-friendly, because “many times more dioxin is now released from home fireplaces and backyard barbecues than from incineration” (Rosenthal, 2010). Today, a number of new and improved technologies have been developed to produce energy from waste materials without combusting them directly.

Majority of such technologies can generate more amount of electric power from the same volume of waste materials than through direct combustion method. As described in Bio Earth (2009), in new waste to energy technologies, corrosive components are separated from the converted fuels and therefore, this process contributes to higher combustion temperatures in internal combustion engines and boilers. Hence, they are more productive than conventional WtE plants. Some of those technologies have the potential to convert energy into liquid or gaseous fuels.

As reported in World News Inc (2012), gasification, thermal depolymerization, Pyrolysis, Plasma arc gasification PGP are some of the thermal WtE technologies whereas anaerobic digestion, fermentation, mechanical biological treatment are non-thermal technologies. The popularity of waste to energy technologies has considerably increased over the last decade. During this period, industrially important countries like China and Japan built a number of WtE plants in order promote their national productivity.

Global Group Consulting Services LLC operates across America and Caribbean in order to promote the application of potential waste to energy technologies and to resolve Municipal Solid Waste issues in small to mid-size cities. As Herndon (2011) reports, Fulcrum BioEnergy, Inc has been scheduled to commence the operations of its new $180 million WTE plant in 2010; and the project designers forecast that the plant may produce