Waste to Energy Conversion Methods

This annotated bibliography discusses different methods to convert waste into useful energy. It also covers challenges faced by the industry and techniques to extract nanoparticles from waste. The impact of waste on the environment and human health is also discussed. The article provides supplementary information to decide research objectives.

WASTE TO ENERGY CONVERSION METHODS
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Total word count: 2267

Present annotated bibliography is targeted towards the conversion of different types of waste
into useful form of energy. Articles related to different methods utilized to convert the waste
into energy are discussed in detail. Different types of waste (municipal waste, kitchen waste,
agriculture waste, animal dung, waste water etc.) has been studied and discussed. Different
challenges which come during the conversion of waste into energy like, lack of awareness,
lack of resources, government policies are discussed. Extraction of nano particles and nano
fibres from the waste are also discussed. Effect of the temperature, pressure, reaction time
and residence time on the nanoparticle size and surface area are discussed. Different
techniques like X-ray photon spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning
electron microscopy (SEM), N2 Isothermal adsorption and Raman spectroscopy are also
discussed to study the physical structure, morphology, composition analysis, chemical state
analysis etc. Utilization of thermal-chemical process to analyse the power consumption
required by the different process are also discussed.
Barrera, C. S. and Cornish, K., 2017, ‘Processing and mechanical properties of natural
rubber/waste-derived nano filler composites compared to macro and micro filler composites’,
Industrial Crops & Products, vol. 107, pp. 217-231.
Barrera and Cornish in 2017 targeted their study to analyse the mechanical properties of the
nanocomposites derived from waste. They utilized guayule and hevea natural rubber
with small sized nano particle in it as carbon black replacement. They measure tensile
strength and tear strength to compare the capability of the new created composites
with the carbon black (CB). They analysed morphology, swelling behaviour and
cluster behaviour of the composites. They also evaluated power consumption during
mixing of these composites. This article is useful to my research topic as it indicates
new way using the solid waste. They found that composites developed by them can
help in reduction of the overall manufacturing cost. They found that composites of
solid waste reinforced with hevea and guayule rubber have good mechanical
properties compared to carbon black (CB) material. This article is not the base of
research but it gives me the relevant information related to the composites which can
be utilized with solid waste to improve their mechanical properties.
Baladincz, P. and Hancsok, J., 2015, ‘Fuel from waste animal fats’, Chemical Engineering
Journal, vol. 282, pp. 152-160.
Baladincz and Hancsok in 2015 conducted their analysis on the fuel extraction from the
waster animal fats. They utilized brown greases a type of waste feedstock to find the
new possibilities of these waste in the fuel industry. They conducted experiments to
produce bio gas by isomerisation and hydrogenation. Both the experiments are
conducted around a temperature of 340ºC and pressure of 50bar in a 100 cm3 tubular
reactor. Before analysing the waste feedstock they purified them with acid solution.
This article is useful to my research topic as they have shown that waste can be
utilized to produce the fuel which has not been done before. They found decrement in
the yield due to high sulphur conversion to hydrogen sulphide. They found that
triglyceride conversion completed in the waste feedstock at mildest reaction also.
They found that increment in the pressure decreases the yield due to hydrocracking
reactions. They notice that due to increment in the desulphurisation, sulphur content of
the gas decreases with temperature increment. The noticed decrement in the viscosity
of the products with increment in the temperature may be due to conversion of

triglyceride. They noticed isomerisation process helps in improving the cold flow
properties. They concluded that waste animal fat can be utilized to extract the fuel or
bio component. They concluded these waste products are cheap and possesses zero
iLUC value (indirect land use change value). This article is not the base of research
but it gives me the idea about the use of animal fats as a source of renewable energy.
Mueller, N. C., Buha, J., Wang, J., Uleich, A., and Nowack, B., 2013, ‘Modeling the flows of
engineered nanomaterials during waste handling’, Environmental Science: Processes &
Impacts, vol. 15, pp. 251-259.
Mueller et al. in 2013 conducted numerical modelling of the flow of the nanoparticle during
the waste handling. They considered four different engineered nanomaterials (ENM)
nano - TiO2, nano - ZnO, nano - Ag and carbon nano tube (CNT). The model
developed by them is based on the flow of mass/material from one box to another and
combines WIP (waste incineration plant) and sludge incineration. In their model they
considered three scenarios based on the removal rate, realistic scenario and min-
scenario for highest removal condition a d worst scenario for lowest removal
condition. They utilized two types of flow coefficients in their model one based on the
physical properties (substance specific) and second based on waste incineration
system (model-specific). This article is related to my research topic as it uses a
numerical methodology to analyse the use of waste. They found that nano - TiO2, nano
- ZnO and nano - Ag ENMs are flow as bottom ash in case of WIP. They found
different distribution for carbon nanotubes (CNT) compared to other nanoparticles.
This article is not the base of research but it talks about the modelling process which
can be helpful in deciding my objectives.
Marculescu, C., 2012, ‘Comparative analysis on waste to energy conversion chains using
thermal-chemical processes’, Energy Procedia, vol. 18, pp. 604-611.
Marculescu in 2012 conducted comparative analysis of the waste to energy conversion chains
with the help of thermal chemical processes for power generation applications. They
utilized three different processes to analyse waste to energy conversion, gasification,
direct combustion and pyrolysis. They utilized calcination oven and a tubular made of
stainless steel. They utilized heterogeneous waste consisting of waste from food,
packaging and agriculture. This article is useful to my research topic as it denotes a
different way of analysing the power generation with the help of thermal-chemical
processes. To determine the combustible material content they conducted the
combustion process. To calculate energy consumption they calculated devolatilization,
drying and gasification with unity raw waste flow rate. They conducted proximate and
elemental analysis on the three different heterogeneous wastes and found that all these
waste contains similar characteristics when compared with different woods. They
found maximum tar yield between 500-550ºC temperature limits. They concluded that
for complete carbonization of waste 30-45 minutes of minimum time is required. This
article is not the base of research but it gives me the relevant information related to the
topic.
Maroufi, S., Mayyas, M. and Sahajwalla, V., 2017, ‘Waste Materials Conversion into
Mesoporous Silicon Carbide Nanocermics: Nanofibre/Particle Mixture’, Journal of Cleaner
Production, vol. 157, pp. 213-221.
Maroufi, Mayyas and Sahajwalla, in 2017 presented an economic way of using two waste
material (E-waste glass and waste tyre) to extract nano size silicon carbide particle and

composite mixture from it. They conducted, XRD, XRF, XPS (X-ray photoelectron
spectrometer), SEM (scanning electron microscopy) and TEM analysis on the waste
material. This article is useful to my research topic as they discuss different techniques
to analyse different techniques to extract nanoparticles from waste material. XRD,
TEM and SEM analyses were conducted to analyse the physical structure and
morphology, XRD analysis was conducted for chemical composition analysis, XPS
analysis was conducted for chemical state analysis. They found 10-50 nm size
nanometric particle and 5 microns size nanofibres. They further analysed the silicon
carbide and found that 2 nm size pores with 67.3 m2.g-1 specific surface area. After
further increasing the analysis time from 150 to 270 minutes they found that surface
area of decreases. This article is not the base of my research but it gives me the
information regarding the methods which can be utilized to study sold waste.
Ramos, A., Monteiro, E., Silva, V. and Rouboa, A., 2018, ‘Co-gasification and recent
developments on waste-to-energy conversion: A review’, Renewable and Sustainable Energy
Reviews, vol. 81, pp. 380-398.
Ramos et al. in 2018 conducted review study on co-gasification and other techniques, used to
convert the waste material into energy. They analysed effect of different operating
conditions like, gasifier type, gasifying agent, bed materials, temperature, pressure,
particle size and resident time. This article is helpful to my research topic as it
discusses the different techniques which can be utilized to convert waste into useful
energy. From their analysis they found that gasification is the best techniques to covert
the solid waste into useful energy. They also concluded that pre-processing helps in
increasing the conversion rate and profitability. They found drying as the best pre-
treatment technique. They found that high bed temperature improves the combustion
and syngas yield. They found that fluidized beds are utmost appropriate biomass
reactors under different operating conditions. They concluded that co-gasification can
enrich the quality of final product. They finally concluded that conversion of wastage
into useful energy can help the human by reducing the use of conventional source of
energies and fuels. This article is not the base of my research but it gives me the
relevant information related to the topic.
Quek, A. and Balasubramanian, R., 2014, ‘Life cycle assessment (LCA) of energy and
energy carriers from waste matter - a review’, Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 79, pp. 18-
31.
Quek and Balasubramanian 2014 conducted review study on the life cycle assessment (LCA)
of waste matter energy carriers. They studied different processes of life cycle
assessment for different energy residue and sources of waste. They analysed waste
from agricultural industry, from kitchen cooking oil, manure of animal, wood waste
and solid waste from municipal. They targeted their study towards the impact of these
wastes into impact on human health, greenhouse gas emission, their conversion to
biofuels and their utilization. This article is helpful to my research topic as it discusses
about the impact of waste on the environment and human health. They found that solid
wastes utilization reduces the emission of greenhouse gases like carbon di - oxide
(CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4) when compared with fossil fuels. They
found that utilization of waste increases impacts on the human health due to emission
of heavy metals and bioenergy crops. They concluded that utilization of hydrothermal
can reduces the impact on the environment and human health. This article is not the

basis of my research but it is helpful in sense of providing the supplementary
information to decide my research objectives.
Dhar, H., Kumar, S., and Kumar, R., in 2017, ‘A Review on Organic 1 Waste to Energy
Systems in India’, Bioresource Technology, vol. 245(Part A), pp. 1229-1237.
Dhar, H., Kumar, S., and Kumar, R., in 2017 conducted review study on the systems utilized
in India that converts organic waste into kind of useful energy. They targeted their
study toward the use of municipal solid waste (MSW), animal dung, waste water and
waste from agriculture. This article is useful to my research topic as it indicates that
the lack of awareness and types of waste produced can also impact the solid waste
utilization industry. From their analysis they found that municipal solid waste found in
India is recyclable and compostable, it includes biodegradable (40 % to 60%),
recyclable (10 % to 30%) and inert gas materials (30 % to 50%). They also concluded
that anaerobic digestion (AD) is the commonly utilized waste to energy (WtE)
techniques. They also concluded that different city and areas results in different types
of waste generation. They also concluded that lack of awareness of the utilization of
waste into useful kind of energy is the main reason behind the successful
implementation of these projects and plants in India. This article is not the basis of my
research but it is helpful to provide relevant information regarding the solid waste
challenges.
Malinauskaite, J., Jouhara, H., Czajczynska, D., Stanchev, P., Katsou, E., Rostkowski, P.,
Thorne, R. J., Colon, J., Ponsa, S., Al-Mansour, F., Anguilano, Krzyzynska, L. R., Lopez, I.
C., Vlasopoulos, A. and Spencer, N., 2017, ‘Municipal solid waste management and waste-
to-energy in the context of a circular economy and energy recycling in Europe’, Energy, vol.
141, pp. 2013-2044.
Malinauskaite et al. in 2017 conducted their study on the economic and energy impact of
utilization of municipal solid waste and energy conversion. They conducted the
management of the municipal solid waste utilization policies in the Europe. This
article is useful to my research topic as it discusses that the policies taken and
implemented by the ministry or government can also impact the solid waste energy
conversion. They found that in the Europe waste is considered as nuisance not as a
source of renewable energy. They concluded that cooperation between the ministry
policies and the management authorities of waste utilization can result in better
utilization of the waste to energy conversion potential. They also concluded that long-
term goals, strategies and direction are required for achieving the set targets. This
article is not the basis of my research but it is helpful in sense of providing the
supplementary information to decide challenges in solid waste utilization.
Maroufi, S., Mayyas, M. and Sahajwalla, V., in 2017, ‘Nano-carbons from waste tyre rubber:
An insight into structure and morphology’, Waste Management, vol. 69., pp. 110-116.
Maroufi, Mayyas and Sahajwalla, in 2017 conducted their study on the structure and
morphology analysis of the nano - carbons obtained from the waste tyre rubber
(WTR). They conducted these analysis on high temperature conditions (1550ºC)
compared to the earlier low temperature of 900ºC in pyrolysis. They analysed
morphology and structure of these nano - carbons with the help of different methods
like, X-ray photon spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron
microscopy (SEM), N2 Isothermal adsorption and Raman spectroscopy. To extract the
nano - carbons from the waste tyre rubber they first cuts them into small wires, then

produced large granulators and lastly they converted them into powder by
pulverization. This article is useful to my research topic as it discusses the extraction
of structure and morphology of nano - carbons from the waste. They found that with
increment in the reaction time structures of the produced nano – carbons becomes
uniform. They also noticed that surface area of these nano – carbons increases with
increment in the residence time. This article is not the basis of my research but it is
helpful to decide my research objectives.