Energy Generation from Solid Waste: A Literature Review

This article presents a literature review on energy generation based on solid waste exploitation. It discusses the potential of biomass, environmental impact, power generation, and renewable energy. The study analyzes research trends and highlights countries like Malaysia, India, China, and Norway that are implementing new energy generation options. The article emphasizes the need for efficient standards and technologies to generate clean energy in the Colombian context.

Energy generation from solid waste. A literature
review
Ivanhoe Rozo Rojas Laura Isabel Vásquez
Facultad de Ingeniería Facultad de Ingeniería
Universidad Católica de Colombia Universidad Católica de Colombia
[e-mail] [e-mail]
Abstract — The article presents a literature review about
energy generation based on solid waste exploitation. In recent
years, climate changes have affected the environment by the
human life-style. Engineering should facilitate transformation
processes of solid waste as energy and power generation source to
reduce the negative impacts by the high-level production.
Publication source was based on ScienceDirect® and Scopus®
and we realized a bibliometric data analysis in a timeline between
2013 to 2018 using original articles to identify research trends.
Some countries such as Malaysia, India, China and Norway have
demonstrated their interest on research and implementing new
energy generation options to decrease use and generation of fossil
energy. Implementation of efficient standards and technologies to
generate clean energy is required in the Colombian context. It is
recommended to contrast academic studies and government
studies to contrast points of view.
Keywords— Biomass, environmental impact, solid waste, power
generation, renewable energy.
I. INTRODUCTION
Solid waste is constituted as those materials that are
discarded after their use or finished their useful life. Most of
these can be reused or they can be transformed to have a more
adequate management, for example, from the generation of
biomass from residues of the wood sector creating solid fuels.
Other types of biomass are biogas or bioethanol, which are
obtained with the treatment of organic waste [1]. However, in
Colombia and in some countries, it is not possible to have an
adequate use of these which directly affects the environment.
Given the climatic changes that occur in the planet as a result
of the lifestyle that has been carried out in recent years, it is
sought that from the engineering point of view different waste
transformation processes can be created in energy generating
sources. alternative to create solutions against the impacts that
are presented by the high levels of waste produced daily and
which do not have an adequate control and management.
Period of time from 2013 to 2014, Colombia increased the
generation of waste from 25,054 Ton / day to 26,528 Ton /
day respectively, according to the national report of the
Superintendencia de Servicios Públicos Domiciliarios. It is
also evident that more than 81% of these wastes are disposed
of in sanitary landfills and are not used for exploitation
compared to other countries where solid waste and biomass
are transformed into energy. [2]. According to Aryama
Raychaudhuria y Sadhan Kumar Ghosh [3], in countries such
as Malaysia, biomass is the energy source with the greatest
potential to preserve the environment. On the other hand, in
India most of the available biomass is used in rural households,
contributing 10.5% of the total generation which is 12.83% and
in Pakistan its power is biogas from biomass. The main objective
of this study is the projection of the potential use on the
generation and use of renewable energy from solid waste
considering the needs of creating "green" business opportunities
and solutions to the problem that afflicts the Colombian
populations.
II. METHODOLOGY
The methodology was structured in stages and activities as
follows:
A. Information sources
x Main information sources: We used information from
scientific articles and books that analyze the problem at
local, national and global level in problems of energy
generation using solid waste. The Science Direct and
Scopus databases were used for the acquisition of the
articles.
x Secondary sources of information: It was necessary to
have information from state and private entities such as
unions, associations, among others.
B. Search equation
Search equation used in the literature review includes three
parameters as follows:
The identification of the keywords, assemble the search
equations and the identification of the time window. First, we
identified the keywords (verified in the UNESCO Thesaurus)
with which the search equation was created “energy” AND
(“waste” OR “trash”) AND “biomass” AND (“management
waste” OR “renewable energy”) AND (“environment” AND
“sustainable”), that was typed in Science Direct and Scopus
to make a bibliometric analysis based on a period of time from
2013 to 2018 using Journal documents.
Therefore, an analysis of the documents was carried out
using the Vantage Point® software for the treatment of the
information obtained with the purpose of detecting
characteristics such as higher-trending words and categorization
of the information and, thus, selecting articles that had greater
relevance and impact in the framework of the literature review.
In this case, the trends that have a number greater than or equal
to 20 articles related to the keyword were taken.
978-1-5386-8131-2/18/$31.00 ©2018 IEEE

III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Using the search equation based on the criteria
mentioned in the methodology, 715 articles were obtained in the
ScienceDirect® database and 42 articles in Scopus® database.
Choosing the articles that achieve the purpose of the study were
selected 28 from Journal publication.
In graph 1 according to the Scopus® database it is
identified that the countries with the highest scientific
production are in this order: Malaysia (7), India (6), China (4),
Canada (3), Indonesia (3), United Kingdom (3), United States
(3), Australia (2), Nigeria (2) and South Africa (2), followed by
these countries are 11 more countries each with one (1) article
each to date.
Colombia is not included in the list of countries with the highest
scientific output on the subject. Malaysia has the largest number
of documents followed by India, where they have used these
publications where different cases are related in Malaysia. In the
case reported by [3] it is mentioned that biomass energy is the
greatest potential source to satisfy energy needs, for which the
government has introduced strategies to increase the emergence
and use of new renewable energies, "in the tenth plan from
Malaysia, a new goal of 985 MW was established to generate
electricity from renewable energy sources in 2015. "
Gráfica 1. Documentos por país
Fuente: Scopus (2013-2018)
According to Chart 1, India is the second country with
the highest scientific output of the research article type or
review article. In this country, 10.5% of the energy supplied
is renewable and 12.83% is generated from biomass, most of
the solid waste such as animal waste, wood and crop residues
are used in the mostly rural households [3].
India is one of the largest economies in the world and
approximately in its geography is one sixth of the world's
population which demands to consume large amounts of
energy, but in its real environment not all its inhabitants have
access to electricity. At this moment, India is one of the
countries whose objective is the modernization of the country
and to develop in various environmental aspects, for which
reason they carry out various investigations. In China,
mandatory regulations have been implemented in the energy
sector that led them to "almost half of the new global
electricity generation capacity installed in 2014
outside renewable "according to the International Energy
Agency, likewise they cite India, the second country of this
analysis" which focuses one of the in-depth studies of the
WEO-2015 (World Energy Outlook) which contributes with
the highest proportion of growth, around a quarter of the
world's energy demand "[4].
Due to the climatic changes that occur each time, it
has been shown that in recent years the search for different
solutions to global warming has increased and the serious
effects that this produces, we look for the decrease of the
causes of this phenomenon and as It is clear in this case that
we seek to find techniques for the transformation of solid
waste into renewable energy in exchange for fossil fuels.
According to the criteria established in the analysis
carried out in the Vantage Point® software, eight (8)
categories are obtained as shown in Figure 1.
Figura 1. Categorías de tendencias.
According to Figure 1, the categories with the highest
number of documents are: Renewable Energy (55), biomass
(44), biogas (34), bioenergy (30), Sustainability (29), energy
(25), cycle evaluation of life (25) and biodiesel (20). Figure 1
presents the trends with greater relevance and with specific
studies and techniques that are carried out in other countries.
It is evident that renewable energy is consistent with the
Biomass trend regarding the transformation of this where
different types of energy are generated in a sustainable and
renewable way, being beneficial for the environment. One of
the reported cases includes the generation of thermal energy
from biomass in Sri Lanka with the purpose of reducing fuel
costs and as a mitigation project for climate change [5]. In this
sense, the authors state that biomass can be transformed into
energy by applying different thermochemical and combustion
processes such as pyrolysis, with which better quality articles
can be produced in comparison with other thermochemical
conversion processes [6].
Trends towards renewable energies address the potential of
their use for the future in order to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions and impacts on human health and the environment.
The literature relates a case applied in Kazakhstan where
renewable energy resources are becoming an increasingly
attractive option to meet demand and generate energy in a
sustainable manner, considering pollution and the level of fossil
fuel consumption [7]. In Italy, an investigation was carried out
which is related to the Biomass, Sustainability and Biogas
categories, which seeks to contribute the energy problem from
renewable energy sources and related technologies in order to
satisfy the need of current consumption with environmental
implementations that help to save energy and the use of
renewable inputs [8], this would lead to a Sustainable Future
related to Renewable Energy where the economic, educational

and environmental effects of developed and developing
countries are mentioned based on the types of renewable energy
resources used in these countries generating employment and
likewise a more sustainable way of life as currently sought [9].
There are different aspects that are addressed from an
environmental approach and that are based on the trends
studied, a particular case between these is the word Energy
which is directly linked in all articles generated, this is directly
related to the Evaluation of the life cycle where different types
of energy are known such as wind, solar, hydroelectric,
geothermal, nuclear, among others, which seek to penetrate in
the most sustainable way so that they can be replaced by
renewable energies with a life cycle approach taking into
account the three dimensions of sustainability: environmental,
economic and social, seeking a common improvement, this is
mainly due to the high costs and environmental impacts
associated with fossil fuels [10].
In Africa, wood biomass is expected to be one of the main
sources of energy seeking to satisfy its demand. Almost 81% of
sub-Saharan Africa and almost half of the world population
depend on the energy of the woody biomass used for domestic
activities, but, if the use of woody biomass increases in China,
India and a large part of the developing countries, they cannot
reach the consumption of Sub-Saharan Africa according to
some projections made, which calculates that in the coming
decades it will increase more and more [11]. This would not be
sustainable since it would imply the use of different natural
resources to satisfy certain needs, which would not be friendly
to the environment because it has been observed that there is
unconscious utilization of the energy sources of the wo ody
biomass and there is no regularization of energy policies, for
this reason it is necessary that before carrying out any project,
estimates and clear calculations are made so that the
environmental objective is met. Over time an unstable trend of
research in the subject is evident as shown in Figure 2. Data are
presented in a window of time between the years 2000 to 2018
to have a broader view of the change presented in this topic of
study. It is clear that a decrease is seen in 2018 as the data is
taken until the month of May (Graph 2).
Graph 2. Documents per year
Source: Scopus (2000-2018)
According to Forbes magazine, the REN21 organization
in 2014 carried out a study on which countries generate more
renewable energy and the following was obtained:
Países % of generation
Norway 65.50%
Sweden 52%
Latvia 37%
Finland 37%
Costa Rica 33%
Table 1. Countries that generates renewable
energy. Source: Forbes Staff.
According to Table 1, Norway provides 65.5% of the total
power generation capacity with renewable energy. One of its
main advances in the use of this is the supply of biofuel for
aircraft at airports [12]. According to the literature, in Narvik,
a city in northern Norway calculated the demand for the use of
fossil fuels for public transport and seek to satisfy this need
from biomass sources to achieve renewable energy, identify
that these come mainly from forests and of municipal waste.
The calculated demand is met with a potential to produce
more than three times biofuel for public transport, meaning
that what is left over can be used for other sectors [13].
Sweden ranks second thanks to the government of this
country betting on energy production using natural heating
through bio-heating panels. On the other hand, Latvia, which
is the third country in this ranking, provides heating in the
environments and water heating through solid biomass as dry
plant material from plants [12]. Finland ranks fourth with 37%
and Costa Rica occupies 33%, for which REN21 determines
that by 2014 "renewable energies make up approximately
27.7% of the world's power generation capacity" [12]. In
Colombia, 0.13% of electricity produced is by renewable
energy sources, 70% is by water sources, 30% is generated
using gas, coal and diesel in thermoelectric plants, that is to
say that the applied energy model is not the best since many of
these resources are vulnerable to climate change and come
from unconventional sources [14] that impact the environment
and deplete natural resources without taking advantage of
solid waste.
The information in ScienceDirect® and Scopus® do not
detect studies and research done in Colombia, which is
evidenced by the low level of research in renewable energy
renovables and the waste that is given to untapped
resources that are sent to landfills, mostly generating gases
such as methane. Colombia, due to its geographical
location, has large energy sources, an example of this is
the possibility of creating solar energy, since it is above
the average of global solar radiation, wind energy due to
the speed of the winds and the geothermal potential of the
volcanic zones. [14] and likewise energy through solid

waste including biomass due to the amount of forests it
has and the amount of municipal resources that are
generated daily.
IV. CONCLUSIONS
Internationally, Malaysia, India, China and Norway are
some of the countries that have shown interest in researching
new alternatives for generating energy, producing the largest
number of publications in the 2013-2018 period. Comparing
these indicators with the International Energy Outlook, it can
be inferred that research in renewable energy generation
contributes to the reduction of energy from fossil fuels since
electricity demand has been reduced as efficiency standards
are implemented and renewable energy alternatives increasing
the benefit for the care of the environment. It is identified that
the main resource for the generation of renewable energy is
biomass which can be transformed through thermochemical
and combustion processes, this is one of the sources of clean,
quality energy and it is economically viable since it
contributes to the decrease in fuel consumption costs and
energy consumption, establishing itself as a mitigation project
for climate change. Colombia has the resources, but it does not
have environmental policies of this nature nor the sufficient
management of the ministries that support and invest in
scientific and research projects for the implementation of new
processes in favor of the environment, which is necessary for
the beginning of the development of the country.
V. REFERENCES
[1] "Inforeciclaje," [Online]. Available:
http://www.inforeciclaje.com/residuos-solidos.php. [Accessed 07 05
2018].
[2] Superintendencia de Servicios Públicos Domiciliarios, "Disposición
Final de Residuos Sólidos," Bogotá D.C., 2015.
[3] A. Raychaudhuria and S. Kumar Ghosh, "Biomass Supply Chain in
Asian and European Countries," Elsevier, vol. 35, pp. 914-924, 2016.
[4] International Energy Agency, "World Energy Outlook (WEO),"
Cedex, Paris, 2015.
[5] S. Punchihewaa, C. Chandrakumar and A. Kulatungaa, "Adaptation
of Biomass Based Thermal Energy Generation of Sri Lankan,"
Procedia CIRP, vol. 40, pp. 56-61, 2016.
[6] J. Ward, M. Rasul and M. Bhuiya, "Energy recovery from biomass by
fast pyrolysis," Procedia Engineering, vol. 90, pp. 669-674, 2014.
[7] M. Karatayeva and M. Clarke, "Current energy resources in
Kazakhstan and the future potential of renewables: A review," Energy
Procedia, vol. 59, pp. 97-104, 2014.
[8] R. Diego, P. Gianfranco, C. Vincenzo, D. Daniele, C. Sirio, V.
Michela, ZucchiattiNicola and G. Rino, "An assessment of the
potential and sustainability of Renewable Energy Sources in Friuli
Venezia Giulia," Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, vol. 223,
pp. 857-864, 2016.
[9] A. Sari and M. Akkaya, "Contribution of Renewable Energy Potential
to Sustainable Employment," Procedia - Social and Behavioral
Sciences, vol. 229, p. 316 – 325 , 2016.
[10] E. Santoyo-Castelazo and A. Azapagic, "Sustainability assessment of
energy systems: integrating," Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 80,
pp. 119-138, 2014.
[11] M. Bildirici and F. Özaksoy, "Woody Biomass Energy Consumption
and Economic Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa," Procedia Economics
and Finance, vol. 38, p. 287 – 293, 2016.
[12] Forbes Staff, "Los 5 países que generan más energías renovables,"
Forbes México, 2015.
[13] A. Mustafa, R. Kaur Calay and M. Mustafa, "A Techno-Economic
Study of a Biomass Gasification Plant for the Production of Transport
Biofuel for Small Communities," Energy Procedia, vol. 112, p. 529 –
536, 2018.
[14] WWF Colombia, "WWF," [Online]. Available:
http://www.wwf.orf.co/que_hacemos/campanas/energias_renovables/.
[Accessed 08 05 2018].