Turning Waste into Useful and Cost Effective Energy

The EPA has reported that humans create around 220 million tons of garbage each year. This ridiculous amount of waste is a huge environmental concern; the available options of dumping trash in landfills and sending waste to sea are becoming increasingly obsolete and environmentally damaging practices. Worldwide problems of dealing with waste are met with an equally concerning energy crisis. For decades scientists have suggested that these two problems, while seemingly independent, could have a common answer. By exploring the many options available, a variety of processes have been discovered to turn waste in useful and cost effective energy.

The earliest and most well-known form of waste to energy conversion is incineration. Since the 1970s, the practice of turning waste into energy has been widely adopted throughout Europe and Japan. At the time the process was fairly simply; garbage is burned to boil water, which in turn powers steam generators that produce electricity. Generally for every ton of human garbage burned, the energy equivalent of five hundred pounds of coal was produced. In the early days of waste incineration, the process created a great deal of harmful pollutants, because of the presence of plastics, metals, fails and chemicals scattered throughout urban waste. Additionally, the early effectiveness of incineration plants was hindered by poor sorting methods in more ways that pollution. Poor sorting often resulted in the presence of highly explosive waste, causing constant maintenance problems; it was not unusual for small explosions to stop plant processes multiple times per month. Modern incineration facilities have alleviated many of these problems however. Through the introduction of pH balancing smokestacks and other pollutant reducing technologies, modern plants do no more environmental damage than that of home fireplaces. The problem of explosive waste has been resolved with better sorting and recycling methods, which eliminate the presence of dangerous waste.

Though incineration is the most well established form of waste to energy production, there are several alternative options available. Gasification is a waste to energy process that has gained a great deal of support from environmental groups. By processing waste at very high temperatures without combustions, the gasification process has a byproduct of creating syngas. This form of gas is said to be more efficient than incineration, because electric power can be generated more affordably in engines and gas turbines. The only shortcomings of the method are the amount of energy needed and difficulty cleaning the reactors used in the gasification process. Another alternative waste to energy method is pyrolysis. This method involves processing organic waste material at temperatures above 800°F, which creates gas and liquid residue. This residue can be used as energy in the form of biofuel. Thermal depolymerization is another popular waste to energy method that creates an alternative to traditional fossil fuels. While very similar to the extreme heating process of pyrolysis, thermal depolymerization differs with its use of a hydro thermal process that creates light crude oil.

In terms of available landfill space, the growing energy crisis and an abundance of pollution, it is obvious that the current system of waste management is unacceptable. Many urban centers have acknowledged this fact and have invested millions of dollars into new age waste management facilities. In states such as California, Wisconsin and Florida, there have been pushes for facilities that use a variety of mainstream and alternative waste to energy strategies. With more states and countries following suite, the environment may soon see a significant increase in the benefits of converting waste into useful energy.