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Waste to Energy
 12th October, 2022  Mains

Disclaimer: Copyright infringement not intended. 

Introduction

Landfills have become a common feature of the

landscape in many Indian cities. Increasing
population, urbanisation and industrialisation are
some of the main reasons for increased waste
generation. A 2018 World Bank report also
underlined the connection between economic
development and waste generation.

The increasing industrialization, urbanization and

changes in the pattern of life, which accompany
the process of economic growth, give rise to
generation of increasing quantities of wastes
leading to increased threats to the environment.

During the budget session in 2022, Ministry of

Environment, Forest and Climate Change informed
that the total quantity of solid waste generated in
the country was 1,50,761 tonnes per day in
2019-’20. The same World Bank report from 2018
states that India’s per capita waste generation lies
at 0.57 kg per day as compared to 0.52 kg in South
Asia and 0.74 kg at the global level. India,
however, is yet to find a sustainable way to deal
with this burgeoning waste in every city.

In recent years, technologies have been developed

that not only help in generating substantial
quantity of decentralized energy but also in
reducing the quantity of waste for its safe disposal.

The Government is promoting all the technology

options available for setting up projects for
recovery of energy in the form of
Biogas/BioCNG/Electricity from agricultural,
Industrial and urban wastes of renewable nature
such as municipal solid wastes, vegetable and
other market wastes, slaughterhouse waste,
agricultural residues and industrial/STP wastes &
effluents.

To deal with challenges, state governments are

also relying on waste-to-energy plants. The
Ministry of New and Renewable Energy’s website
says that the total estimated energy generation
potential from urban and industrial organic waste
in India is approximately 5,690 megawatts. But our
capacity to manage waste has not grown with the
pace of our capacity to generate waste. There is a
huge gap between the quantity and quality of
waste we are generating, and the capacity of the
municipality to manage that waste.

A report titled “To Burn or Not To Burn”, by the

Centre for Science and Environment that was
published in 2019, says that plants of a combined
capacity of 382.7 megawatts are proposed in India.
According to the report, the plants with a capacity
of 69.2 megawatts are operational, the ones with a
capacity of 84.3 megawatts are under construction
and 66.35 megawatts plants are non-functional.

Types of Waste

There are different types of waste which are

generated from our daily or industrial activities
such as organic waste, e-waste, hazardous waste,
inert waste
etc. Organic waste refers to waste which degrades or bro
are essentially carbon based compounds; though they ma
rate. Organic waste has significant portion in
overall waste generation in industrial/urban/
agricultural sector and therefore it can be used for
energy generation.

The organic fraction of waste can be further

classified as non-biodegradable and
biodegradable organic waste

Biodegradable waste consists of organics that can

be utilized for food by naturally occurring micro-
organisms within a reasonable length of time. The
biodegradable organic comprise of agro residue, food pro
leaves from garden waste, paper, cloths/ rags etc.),
waste from poultry farms, cattle farm slaughter
houses, dairy, sugar, distillery, paper, oil extraction
plant, starch processing and leather industries.

Non-Biodegradable organic materials are organics

resistant to biological degradation or have a very
low degradation rate. This primarily includes
woody plants, Cardboard, cartons,  containers,
wrappings, pouches, discarded clothing, wooden
furniture, agricultural dry waste, bagasse, rice husk
etc.

Waste-to-Energy (WtE)

Waste-to-energy (WtE) or energy-from-waste

(EfW) is the process of generating energy in the
form of electricity and/or heat from the primary
treatment of waste, or the processing of waste into
a fuel source. WtE is a form of energy recovery.

HOWWASTE-TO-ENERGYWORKS

WASTECOLLECTION

WASTE

TOPLANT

FUEL

GAS

ELECTRICITY

WASTEPROCESS
CONVERTEDHEATEDPROCESSED

Technologies available

Waste-to-Energy (WTE) technologies to recover

the energy from the waste in the form of Electricity
and Biogas/Syngas are given as below:

BIOMETHANATION

Biomethanation is anaerobic digestion of  organic

materials which is converted into
biogas.  Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a bacterial
fermentation process that operates without free
oxygen and results in a biogas containing mostly
methane (~60%), carbon dioxide (~40%) and other
gases. Biomethanation  has dual benefits. It gives
biogas as well as manure as end product.

This technology can be conveniently employed in a

decentralized manner for  biodegradation of
segregated organic wet wastes such as wastes
from kitchens,  canteens, institutions, hotels, and
slaughter houses and vegetables markets.

The biogas generated from Biomethanation

process can be burned directly in a
gas  boiler/burner  to produce heat for thermal
application industries and cooking or burnt in a gas
engine to produce electricity. Alternatively, the
biogas can be cleaned to remove the carbon
dioxide and other substances, to produce BioCNG.
This can be injected into the national gas grid to be
used in the same way as natural gas, or used as a
vehicle fuel.

By using Biomethanation process, 20-25kgs of

Cattle dung can generate about 1m3 of biogas and
further 1m3 of Biogas has potential to generate 2
units of electricity or 0.4kgs of BioCNG.

INCINERATION

Incineration technology is complete  combustion of

waste (Municipal Solid Waste or Refuse derived
fuel) with the recovery of heat to produce steam
that in turn produces  power through steam
turbines.

The flue gases produced in  the boilers have to be

treated by an elaborate air pollution control
system. The resultant ash from incineration of solid
waste can be used as construction material
after  necessary processing while the residue can
be safely disposed of in a landfill.

This technology is well established technology and

has been deployed in many projects successfully at
commercial level in India to treat solid wastes
like  Municipal Solid Waste and Industrial solid
Waste etc. and generate electricity.

GASIFICATION

Gasification is a process that uses high

temperatures (500-1800o  C) in the  presence of
limited amounts of oxygen to decompose materials
to produce synthetic gas (a mixture of carbon
monoxide (CO) and hydrogen
(H2)).  Biomass,  agro-residues, Segregated MSW
and RDF pellets are used in the gasifier to produce
Syngas. This gas further can be used for thermal or
power generation purposes

The purpose of gasification of waste is to generate

power more efficiently at lower power level (<
2MW) and also to minimize emissions and hence it
is an attractive alternative for the thermal
treatment of solid waste.

PYROLYSIS

Pyrolysis uses heat to break down combustible

materials in  the absence of oxygen, producing a
mixture of combustible gases (primarily
methane,  complex hydrocarbons, hydrogen, and
carbon monoxide), liquids and solid residues.  The
products of pyrolysis process are: (i) a gas mixture;
(ii) a liquid (bio-oil/tar); (iii) a solid residue (carbon
black). The gas generated by either of these
processes can be used in boilers to provide heat, or
it can be cleaned up and used in combustion
turbine  generators.  The purpose of pyrolysis of
waste is to minimize emissions and to maximize
the gain.

 

Waste-to-energy pros and cons

As with any waste management process, there are

pros and cons to WtE. Below are some of the main
waste-to-energy advantages and disadvantages:

Waste-to-energy pros

Waste-to-energy is used for a reason and

compared to traditional waste management
methods it certainly has some benefits, including
the use of an otherwise wasted resource, a
reduction in landfilling, and the opportunity for
resource recovery.

Waste-to-energy is better than traditional

incineration

Waste-to-energy is often promoted as “clean

energy” when compared to wasteful incineration
practices of the previous decades. In this regard, it
is utilizing energy that would otherwise be wasted,
while not technically increasing the amount of
waste burned. That said, this argument only holds
if incineration is the only option, whereas most
responsible waste management plans are now
looking toward less damaging, more circular
solutions that contribute less to climate change.

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.

Waste-to-energy processes at specialist

incineration plants can greatly reduce the volume
of waste that is landfilled. According to the US
Energy Information Administration, WtE plants are
able to reduce the volume of waste by about 87%,
burning 2,000 pounds of garbage to ash weighing
between 300 and 600 pounds. That said, this
benefit is still based on the assumption that such
large quantities of waste will continue to be
produced—or continue to be allowed to be
produced.

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.

OVALUER

WASTE-TO-ENERGYAND
THECIRCULARECONOMY

Recycling Renewable
Energy
Composting

Repurposing Local/cost
Waste-To-Energy -EffectiveEnergy
Minimizing
Landfills

Reduced
Sharing Emissions

Waste-to-energy cons

The disadvantages of waste-to-energy are

numerous and have become more apparent in
recent years. They include the pollution and
particulates it generates, the destruction of useful
materials, and the potential to disincentivize more
sustainable waste management solutions and
renewable energy sources.

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.

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.

WtE could disincentivize recycling

Another of the waste-to-energy cons is the

potential for it to disincentivize recycling or other
more sustainable waste management methods. If
people, organizations, or governments believe that
waste-to-energy is a viable sustainable energy
source and waste management technique, they are
less likely to engage with or invest in more
impactful solutions, such as reduction, reuse, or
recycling. This can already be seen with the
classification of many WtE power plants as
“renewable energy”.

It fuels an unregulated waste trade

Today, many developed countries send their waste

to developing countries for processing, often as
part of a broader waste management plan that
claims to improve recycling rates. In some cases,
waste is recycled, but often it is simply incinerated
or used in waste-to-energy facilities. China’s
National Sword Policy highlighted the scale of this
practice.

Unfortunately, while Western countries will claim

this practice as part of their recycling targets, the
unregulated nature of this trade often means
improper disposal, with WtE a major factor. In fact,
it has even been shown that hazardous wastes not
meant for incineration are commonly shipped
abroad where they are burned before being
landfilled.

Primitive methods: outweighs the benefits.

There are two traditional paths for un-diverted

waste: landfill and incinerator. Neither is ideal,
however, during the 19th century there was an
attempt to improve the situation. Engineers in
Europe saw an opportunity for energy recovery in a
range of waste streams, and rather than simply
burning trash to dispose of it, it was determined
the heat from waste incineration could be used to
power turbines—and so, waste-to-energy was
born.

However, more than a hundred years later, those

same primitive methods are still at the core of our
waste disposal, and as people seek cleaner energy
and more sustainable waste management, the
problems of waste-to-energy have started to
outweigh the benefits.

Not economically viable

Pollution coming from waste-to-energy plants is

another issue and the poor quality of waste put
into the plants is making them unviable. Most of
these plants are established at competitive
bidding, which means they have to provide energy
at Rs 5 or Rs 7 per unit. If supplementary energy is
needed, they are not economically viable and get
closed down.

More than half of the waste-to-energy plants have

shut down today, which says that technology
improvements do not work with the quality of
waste that is being generated today. To add a
comparative perspective, solar and wind energy
cost somewhere between Rs 2 and Rs 3 per unit
while the tariff of thermal energy is in the range of
Rs 4.5 to Rs 6.

Other waste-to-energy systems

Incineration is not the only waste-to-energy

method, and there is an increasing number of
techniques that are being implemented to make
waste processing more sustainable. Some of the
other notable WtE methods include:

Gasification

While as a process, gasification has been used for

centuries, it has only been applied to waste in a
serious way in the past few decades. It works by
processing biomass at extremely high
temperatures without combustion, which produces
combustible natural gas – also called syngas. This
gas is then used as a fuel source.

Fermentation and distillation

Biomass can be fermented and distilled to create

ethanol. This can then be used as an alternative
fuel for engines or other applications. As with
other WtE methods, this can only be used for
organic waste and other similar waste streams.

Anaerobic digestion

This is a process in which microorganisms break

down biomass in an oxygen-free environment. It
produces biogas high in methane which can then
be used as a fuel source to produce electricity and
other applications.

Plasma gasification

Plasma gasification utilizes a plasma torch at

extremely high temperatures (generally between
5,000 and 7,000 °C, but can be higher or lower) in
a single reactor to turn feedstock (biomass, coal,
municipal waste, etc.) into that very same syngas
(mainly made up of hydrogen and carbon
monoxide) we just talked about. This breakdown of
molecules and change of chemical composition
due to plasma torching is also referred to as
plasma pyrolysis.

Not only is the resulting syngas used as fuel and

cleaned prior to use, but plasma gasification also
creates valuable by-products. The glass-like
byproduct of the process, i.e. the slag that remains
from the melted waste of plasma falsification, is
safe to use as a construction material. If you’re
worried about toxins, don’t! Plasma torches have
been utilized to destroy toxic waste and chemical
weapons in the past.

The downside here is that dioxins still get released

as the syngas cools down. Still, they’re
significantly less in comparison to the dioxins (and
1
furans) that are formed at traditional incinerator
plants.