A Review on Waste to Energy Conversion System

Ferozuddin Md. Manoharsha M. Viswanth K. Nagesh G.

18071D4307 18071D4306 18071D4305 18071D4302
Electrical Engineering Electrical Engineering Electrical Engineering Electrical Engineering
VNR VJIET VNR VJIET VNR VJIET VNR VJIET
Hyd,IN. Hyd,IN. Hyd,IN. Hyd,IN
ferozuddin5017@gmail.com

Abstract— Waste contributes to environmental, health,

economic, and climate problems. Yet waste is not inevitable,
but rather a consequence of perception. Organizing physical,
biological, and social scientists, engineers, and economists
around the theme of waste elimination will reap a harvest of
clean energy, a more natural environment, better health
outcomes at lower costs, and a more equitable society. The
price of action will be high; the price of inaction will be even
greater.

Keywords—waste to energy, sustainability, biodegradable

waste, solid waste, waste management.

I. INTRODUCTION
Latest statistics from World Bank [6] show that, in
2016, the world generated 0.74 kilogram of waste per capita
per day. And annual global waste generation has already
reached 2.01 billion tones. However, in such magnitude of
waste, at least 33% was not managed by an environment
friendly way. Unmanaged waste or poorly managed waste,
which is contaminating rivers and oceans, transmitting
diseases, harming animals and aggravating global warming,
requires urgent actions.
Managing of Solid Waste is itself a very big and
significant part of any developing urban area, because with
this health of environmental is attached. Environmental
health play a very important role in the development of any
urban sector. Solid Waste Management system includes
various elements which are assimilated and dependent on
each other, therefore performance of entire system is
affected if any one of the operation fails the whole system
collapse. [9]
The energy recovery from wastes could be an
important lever for the energy transition involving the
mobilization of all alternative energy sources[1].
Thermochemical conversion contributes to the reduction of
greenhouse gases and limits the use of fossil fuels[2]. In
addition, the sale of the produced energy makes it possible
to reduce the costs of treating agricultural wastes.
II. THE PROBLEM
A. Present Scenario
Municipal garbage and management in most places in
India is an issue of processing. 35,600 metric tons (MT)
which is only a quarter of the 143 thousand MT of garbage
generated every day in Indian cities gets processed. The
balance is dumped in the open [3]. State wise solid waste
generation and management is shown in Fig.1. Overflowing
of garbage bins in cities has become a common scene due to
growing urban population.
Fig. 1. Times of India news July 2018 [3]
B. Chemistry behind composting of organic kitchen waste
Composting is a process of aerobic thermophilic
microbial degradation or an exothermic biological oxidation
of different kinds of wastes which lead to a stabilized,
mature, odor free, hygienic product, which are pathogens
free. Compost is rich in humic substances which can be used
as manure[4]. Compost is an effective way to balance and
restore organic matter in the biosphere[5]. Aerobic
composting is very efficient and fast method. Organic waste
undergoes breakdown by microbes. To maintain proper
temperature and enhance decomposition turning and mixing
compost is very important which also adds oxygen to matter.
III. PHASES OF COMPOSTING
The organic materials passes through different phases
like mesophilic, thermophilic, cooling and maturation which
will be observed through temperature regime. Population of
bacteria is highest during the mesophilic and further reduces
during thermophilic to cooling till maturation of
composting [7].
To make composting efficient and maintain balance,
mixture of bacteria and fungi are essential. Fungi like
Trichoderma viride, Aspergillus spp and bacteria like
Bacillus spp are included in waste binder. When there is high
concentration of Bacillus spp the composting process is
shifting from mesophilic to thermophilic stage. Cellulolytic
activity of microorganisms enhances the composting process.
Composting process starts initially at ambient temperature
and raises up to 40 to 50 Degree Celsius during thermophilic
stage. Usually organic carbon decreases but total nitrogen,
phosphorous and potassium increases near maturity of
compost [7]. As composting proceeds, the pH rises, above 7,
but it will usually fall without any interference. The pH of
finished compost is usually between 6.5 and 7.5. Carbon and
nitrogen ratio (C/N) plays important role in composting.
Carbon provides energy source and Nitrogen helps cell
growth and function [10]. 30:1 C/N ratio is optimal. If C/N
ratio is not optimal waste generates ammonia gas due to
excess nitrogen causing foul smell [7].
A. Step-I
Use a compost tumbler suitable for quantity of your
household Kitchen waste. UV stabilized Polyethylene foam
sandwiched layer retains the heat inside the tumbler. There
are many companies in market who cell UV resistant outdoor
quality tumblers. For example spinform plastic is one
company in India who sells compost tumblers
(www.spinformplastic.com). Use of Polytetrafluoroethylene
(PTFE) is one way of stabilizing tumbler for outdoor harsh
conditions. Tumbler can be in range of 25kg to 50kg. Dump
all biodegradable kitchen waste daily in to tumbler. Note that
seeds, coconut shells should be avoided. Leafy vegetable
stems can be shredded before dumping to accelerate reaction.
Lime shells and pomegranate cover can be cut into small
pieces before dumping for faster decomposition.
B. Step-II
Add coco peat powder three to four times the quantity of
the waste. This will absorb excess water content from waste
and keeps it odor free. If you have backyard trees or garden,
dried leaves and small branches can also be used instead of
coco peat. This acts as carbon for compost. This is useful for
bacteria to decompose organic matter.
For each kg of food waste 1 to 2 grams of waste binder
(Compost kinetizer) is required. Usually during start of
compost cycle you can add waste binder. This would suffice
for half monthly cycle up to 15 days. If you feel that the
temperature inside is not around 40 to 50 degree Celsius,
you can add few grams to enhance reaction.
C. Step-III
Rotate the compost tumbler daily once you add waste.
This will mix and homogenize compost. Also the leachate
which is byproduct during compost will be evenly
distributed as excess of this will leak through the tumbler
sometimes and has foul smell. If you feel the waste is too
wet you can add coco peat at any time.
D. Step-IV
After about 25 to 30 days you fill find the ready compost
manure as shown in Fig. 7. This manure is dry and having
soil like texture. This is black in color and also smells like
soil.
TABLE I. ANALYSIS OF COMPOST MANURE
E. REACTIONS IN COMPOSTING PROCESS
The reduction in NH4+ (Ammonium) and NO3-
(Nitrate) ion concentrations indicates compost maturity.
When composting process is completed ammonia got
converted to Nitric acid by following reaction.
NH4+ + 2O2= NO3 + 2H+ + H2O
2H+ + 2NO3- = 2 HNO3
IV. TECHNOLOGIES AND TREATMENT OF WASTE
Different treatment methods of solid wastes are classified
and energy can be recovered. Much emphasis is given on
biological and thermal treatment, landfill gas utilization and
bio refineries techniques.
A. Gasification
Fig. 2 represents the gasification process which produces
energy from waste that has been developed over the recent
years. This process involves incomplete oxidation and
reduces the waste mass by 70% and 90% of the volume and
its main product is fuel gas. A case study indicates that this
thermal treatment of waste is a feasible option for WTE
conversion, limiting greenhouse emissions and reducing
landfill disposal options. The main advantages are reduction
of organic contaminants, lessening of mass and volume of
waste which saves land, diminution of emissions, and
environmental compatible for green energy production. High
range of working temperatures (700-900°C) is needed.
Biogas produced from gasification process is clean and
efficient to produce energy in a gas turbine or engine. This
fuel is a combination of hydrogen, carbon dioxide and
methane which is an impending source of electricity in a
turbine-based power plant.
Fig. 2. Gasification Process
B. Incineration
Firstly, waste is directly burned in the combustion
chamber at 800-950°C using flue gas and pre-heated air
shown in Fig. 3. Then, the produced superheated steam is
used within a co-generation system to produce energy and
heat. The electric energy is generated by a turbine coupled to
a generator. Emission of greenhouse gas is the highest
environmental impact of MSW incineration. Therefore
proper controlling of these detrimental emissions is
mandatory. Some superior technologies like implementing
an amalgam plant using incineration and gasification have
been developed to diminish these volatile heavy metals.

Fig-3- Incineration Process
C. Energy evaluation of an integrated MSW incineration
system
The bottom ash (BA) is solidified with cement and
water and there is no emission of methane as it cannot
decompose. The main scope of this paper is to recover
energy and reutilize it without any active input power
supply. The bottom ash is firstly pretreated by drying and
then sterilized. A ball milling machine is used for proper
filling. Proper screening is a must and this process
continues. The screened BA and other materials are properly
mixed (34% BA, 15% cement, 15% gravel, 36% sand.
Sodium hydroxide (NaOH), Sodium silicate (Na2SiO3), and
Sodium sulfate (Na2SO4) has the percentage of 0.81%,
0.86% and 3% of the mass of BA respectively), and then the
mixture is poured into brick model with high pressure.
Fly ash was recovered from the Heat Recovery Steam
Generator (HRSG) and Electrostatic Precipitator (ESP)
systems, while waste lime was unruffled further downstream.
Waste lime collected were dried and then pulverized. The
powder form fly ash had a wide range of particle size. To
guarantee homogeneity in composition and dimension, these
dregs were passed through a 212 mm sieve. Differential
Thermal Analysis (DTA) was carried out on the raw Blend-Z
to simulate thermal activities occurring during heating. The
analysis started from ambient temperature to 14750C at a
heating rate of 100C/min which measured the %weight loss
of the wastes.
MSW incineration (MSWI) plays the most crucial role in
managing this huge waste and its energy recovery
techniques. MSW comprising of food waste, paper, plastics,
glass, textiles, scrap metals, wood, etc., cannot naturally
degrade, therefore proper MSWI techniques are implemented
for recovering energy.
V.CONCLUSION
The waste absorbent hygiene products prove to be
a valuable renewable energy resource which can be
recovered by this incineration method. Direct incineration of
these wastes produces superheated steam which needs
proper filtration before recovering energy for turbines and
generators. Therefore, in this paper two novel filtration
techniques are introduced where doubled filtration is
proposed before emissions. Also efficient techniques will be
proposed in the near future for utilization of green gas from
landfills for alternating renewable energy recovery which
has not yet been browbeaten till date. This paper provides a
solution with energy recovery from waste, to manage MSW
in an effective and efficient way. Huge tonnes of waste are
generated per year which needs proper incineration for
alternating energy recovery for sustainable development of
the society. This amount of municipal waste can be recycled
for proper inventory and renewable energy can be
recovered. The working temperatures can vary from 300 to
800 °C in pyrolysis processes. Another thermal treatment
technology, gasification, can reduce up to 90% of the
volume of waste mass. This design methodology is
compatible for the environmental sustainability for
electricity generation at high range of working temperatures
(700-900°C). This design methodology along with proper
management systems of MSW is proposed where a novel
incinerator can be manufactured at extremely low cost for
rural areas.
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