Electricity Production from Waste and Solid Waste Management

Abstract

Reclaimable energy generated from waste is a major source of environmentally sustainable energy that has not been much explored in India. Excessive waste generation and poor solid waste management has led to accumulation of waste in water, on land polluting environment and causing various public health crisis. On the other hand, conventional fuels required for production of electricity is decreasing day by day and it is very essential to find out alternative sources of raw material which can be used as fuel for the production of electricity especially for developing countries with high population  like India. Energy recovery from waste constitute to an excellent system of energy which could be replenished as more waste is generated in time.  Combustion is one such  modern waste-to-electricity generation method technically  called as Incineration. It  is  a  high-quality controlled  treatment  of  Municipal  Solid Waste (MSW) which is very useful in populated countries like India, because it reduces the amount of waste to be dumped and in return offers wealth in form of energy. However, some drawbacks follows the advantages which include high economic investment along with special attention on  the following  issues like:  volume/quantity  of  waste  produced, heat of combustion of waste, site location, dimensions of the facility, operation and maintenance costs and investment. Disregarding the drawbacks of combustion this paper draws attention toward making sustainable environment and production of electricity for human welfare.

Keywords: Combustion, Municipal solid waste, Electricity, Public Health crisis