COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURE - AIT

Chemical Engineering Department

Philippine Institute of Chemical Engineers – Junior University of Luzon Chapter
A.Y. 2023 – 2024

WASTE TO ENERGY

Introduction

Waste is defined as unwanted and unusable

materials and is regarded as a substance which is of
no use. Waste that we see in our surroundings is also
known as garbage. Garbage is mainly considered as a
solid waste that includes wastes from our houses
(domestic waste), wastes from schools, offices, etc
(municipal wastes) and wastes from industries and
factories (industrial wastes).

The world generates 2.01 billion tons of municipal solid waste annually, with at least 33
percent of that—extremely conservatively not managed in an environmentally safe
manner. Worldwide, waste generated per person per day averages 0.74 kilogram but
ranges widely, from 0.11 to 4.54 kilograms. Though they only account for 16 percent of
the world’s population, high-income countries generate about 34 percent, or 683 million
tons, of the world’s waste.

When looking forward, global waste is expected to grow to 3.40 billion tons by 2050,
more than double population growth over the same period. Overall, there is a positive
correlation between waste generation and income level. Daily per capita waste generation
in high-income countries is projected to increase by 19 percent by 2050, compared to
low- and middle-income countries where it is expected to increase by approximately 40%
or more. Waste generation initially decreases at the lowest income levels and then
increases at a faster rate for incremental income changes at low income levels than at
high income levels. The total quantity of waste generated in low-income countries is
expected to increase by more than three times by 2050. The East Asia and Pacific region
 COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURE - AIT
Chemical Engineering Department
Philippine Institute of Chemical Engineers – Junior University of Luzon Chapter
A.Y. 2023 – 2024

is generating most of the world’s waste, at 23 percent, and the Middle East and North
Africa region is producing the least in absolute terms, at 6 percent. However, the fastest
growing regions are Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East and North
Africa, where, by 2050, total waste generation is expected to more than triple, double,
and double respectively. In these regions, more than half of waste is currently openly
dumped, and the trajectories of waste growth will have vast implications for the
environment, health, and prosperity, thus requiring urgent action.

The amount of solid waste generated each year has been increasing much faster than our
population. Growing demand of energy also increases.

NUMEROUS ENVIRONMANETAL & ECONOMIC CHALLENGES:

1. Population Growth and Associate waste disposal need

2. Global Warming
3. Dependence on fossil Fuel

There is a common solutions for all of the above:

Energy-from-Waste (EfW) provides:

1. Safe, Economic Waste disposal

2. Green House Reduction
3. Renewable Energy
4. Waste minimization
5. Lessen the needs for Land Fills

SEVERAL METHODS FOR WASTE DISPOSAL

 COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURE - AIT
Chemical Engineering Department
Philippine Institute of Chemical Engineers – Junior University of Luzon Chapter
A.Y. 2023 – 2024

Composting is the natural process of recycling organic matter, such as leaves and food
scraps, into a valuable fertilizer that can enrich soil and plants. Anything that grows
decomposes eventually; composting simply speeds up the process by providing an ideal
environment for bacteria, fungi, and other decomposing organisms (such as worms,
sowbugs, and nematodes) to do their work.

Waste Minimization is reduction in the quantity of hazardous wastes achieved through a

conscientious application of innovative or alternative procedures. Simple adjustments to a
process producing wastes

Reuse refers to using items more than once.

Recycle means putting a product to a new use instead of throwing it away.

Landfill is a site where waste materials are disposed of.

WASTE TO ENERGY
 COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURE - AIT
Chemical Engineering Department
Philippine Institute of Chemical Engineers – Junior University of Luzon Chapter
A.Y. 2023 – 2024

• Waste-to-energy (WTE), also known as, energy-from-waste (EFW) is the process

of generating energy in the form of electricity or heat from the primary treatment
of waste, or the process of converting waste into a fuel source.

• WTE can occur through a number of processes such as incineration, gasification,

pyrolysis, anaerobic digestion and landfill gas recovery.

• The major forms of energy that can be derived from waste are thermal energy and
bio energy.
 COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURE - AIT
Chemical Engineering Department
Philippine Institute of Chemical Engineers – Junior University of Luzon Chapter
A.Y. 2023 – 2024

What it means?

Waste-to-energy technologies convert waste matter into various forms of fuel that can be
used to supply energy. Waste feed stocks can include municipal solid waste (MSW);
construction and demolition (C&D) debris; agricultural waste, such as crop silage and
livestock manure; industrial waste from coal mining lumber mills, or other facilities; and
even the gases that are naturally produced within landfills.
Waste to energy technologies can address two sets of environmental issues at one stroke -
land use and pollution from landfills, and the well-known environmental perils of fossil
fuels. However, waste-to-energy systems can be expensive and often limited in the types
of waste they can use efficiently; only some can be applied economically today.

Two type of process in Waste-to-Energy

1. Thermochemical process
2. Biochemical process

THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESS: This technology is used to recover energy from

municipal solid waste by using high temperature

a. GASIFICATION: The gasification process breaks down the solid waste or any
carbon based waste feedstock into useful by-products that contain a significant
amount of partially oxidised compounds, primarily a mixture of carbon monoxide,
hydrogen and carbon dioxide. The main product of the gasification process is a
syngas.
 COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURE - AIT
Chemical Engineering Department
Philippine Institute of Chemical Engineers – Junior University of Luzon Chapter
A.Y. 2023 – 2024

 Syngas can be used in a number of ways, including;

 Being burned in a boiler to generate steam for power generation or
industrial heating.
1. It can be used as fuel in a dedicated gas engine.
2. After reforming, syngas can be used in a gas turbine. Syngas can also be used
as a chemical feedstock.

b. PYROLYSIS: It is defined as the thermal decomposition of carbon-based

materials in an oxygen-deficient atmosphere using heat to produce syngas, No air
or oxygen is present and no direct burning takes place. The main goal of pyrolysis
is to increase thermal decomposition of solid waste to gases and condensed
phases.
 COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURE - AIT
Chemical Engineering Department
Philippine Institute of Chemical Engineers – Junior University of Luzon Chapter
A.Y. 2023 – 2024

c. INCINERATION: It is the most common and oldest WTE process that involves
the combustion of organic material such as waste with energy recovery. It has
typically 4 phase: pretreatment, combustion, energy recovery, cleaning.

BIO-CHEMICAL PROCESS: This technique utilize microbial processes to

transform waste and are restricted to bio-degradable waste such as food and yard
waste.

a. ANAEROBIC DIGESTION (AD): AD is a process by which organic material is

broken down by microorganisms in the absence of oxygen. The anaerobic
digestion process occurs in multiple steps.
 COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURE - AIT
Chemical Engineering Department
Philippine Institute of Chemical Engineers – Junior University of Luzon Chapter
A.Y. 2023 – 2024

Waste Utilization

TRAP METALS are now

almost systematically extracted
from the bottom ash. Metal
quality Is very high and rising
market prices mean good
Income stream for operators

Reusable bottom ash is

a useful construction
material. Using it offs
the need to extract raw materials, which has considerable environmental impacts.
It is disposed of when no demand exists or if waste contaminated it.

PROS & CONS OF WASTE TO ENERGY

1. PROS

a. WASTE MINIMIZATION

Many countries rely on this trash disposal and energy generation method
because it is very effective at eliminating waste. In the United States,
waste-to-energy incineration plants can reduce the volume of trash by
more than 85%. In other words, most garbage at a WtE plant can be
burned and utilized as electricity. To put this into perspective, for
every 100 pounds of municipal solid waste, an incineration plant can burn
85 pounds of it to generate energy.
 COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURE - AIT
Chemical Engineering Department
Philippine Institute of Chemical Engineers – Junior University of Luzon Chapter
A.Y. 2023 – 2024

b. AVOID LANDFILLING
Landfills are the last resort when it comes to waste management, causing
numerous issues such as the production of greenhouse gases, the usage of
large pieces of land, the potential for pollutants to seep into the ground and
groundwater, and more. Unfortunately, according to the Environmental
Protection Agency figures from 2018, around 146 million tons
of Municipal Solid Waste – that’s around 50% of all MSW – was sent
to landfill.

c. RESOURCE RECOVERY
Another benefit of waste-to-energy over landfilling is the opportunity to
recover valuable resources such as metals post-incineration. They can then
be sent for recycling and kept in the economy. This is even true of mixed
materials, which are notoriously hard to recycle. Incineration burns away
materials such as plastics leaving the metals behind, which can be
considered better than landfills where recyclable materials are simply
buried.

d. HELP ENVIRONMENT
Waste to energy help the environment by reducing the amount of waste in
the surroundings, waste has been one of the problem that the country is
facing, that why WtE help not only the people but also the environment.
 COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURE - AIT
Chemical Engineering Department
Philippine Institute of Chemical Engineers – Junior University of Luzon Chapter
A.Y. 2023 – 2024

2. CONS
a. HIGH CO2 EMISSIONS
Almost all the carbon content in the waste that is burned for WtE is
emitted as carbon dioxide, which is one of the most notable greenhouse
gases. That said if the waste-fuel is biomass – i.e. of natural origins, such
as food waste, paper and paper board, wood, natural cloths like cotton –
then the CO2 it contains was originally drawn from the atmosphere.
However, plastics and other oil-based products, which are also burned in
WtE, are equivalent to any other fossil fuel and emit damaging greenhouse
gas emissions.

b. POTENTIAL TO DESTROY RECOVERABLE MATERIALS

While waste-to-energy gives the opportunity to recover some resources,
such as metals, it tends to destroy far more. In the US, incineration for
WtE is most commonly completed through a process called “mass-burn”,
whereby MSW is burned wholesale rather than being separated. In turn,
the WtE process can destroy resources that could otherwise have been
recovered, including minerals, wood, plastics, and more. This is especially
true if there is not a rigid separation process for municipal solid
waste ahead of incineration.

c. DISCOURAGES RECYLING AND OTHER WASTE REDUCTION

MEDTHODS
While WtE does present the chance to recover valuable resources and use
them for recycling, it is often not. The most common method in the United
States used for WtE is mass burn systems. This means that most municipal
 COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURE - AIT
Chemical Engineering Department
Philippine Institute of Chemical Engineers – Junior University of Luzon Chapter
A.Y. 2023 – 2024

solid waste (MSW) is burned without sorting through it. Unfortunately,

this results in losing many materials that people could have recycled.
d. HIGH COSTS
Installing waste-to-energy incineration plants incur heavy initial costs.
Building a WtE plant means new infrastructure and equipment are needed
in addition to other things — permits and construction materials. All of
this can be expensive.