Energy From Waste Technology

Not long ago, I was involved in the revolutionary field of creating Energy from Waste (EFW).
I was excited to have a hand in something that could leave a lasting legacy for the future generations.

Why?
Having a great interest in the subject of human impact on our planet, I’m troubled by the traditional methods of waste disposal that are costly, have a profound impact on the environment, our food chain and the future of our children.

Since we constantly generate waste, we have been disposing a very significant resource of renewable energy. The organic portion of the waste consisting mostly of Hydrogen, Carbon and Oxygen has a significant energy value that is literally convertible to cash.

Making energy from waste - What a clever concept!

 Instead of burying or incinerating the waste, feed it into a process that converts this organic matter into a gas, gas to electrical energy and other useful by-products without the environmental impact of the more traditional methods.

You ask what is this organic matter full of energy?
The organic materials, or your feedstock – consist of food waste, paper, plastics, carpet, wood, biomass even tires or coal can be used for the energy from waste conversion process.

Municipal solid waste also contains inorganic materials such as rocks, glass, metals, etc. things that will not burn if lit on fire under the normal circumstances.
Inorganic materials are sorted out prior to entering the process or pass right through it without much chemical interaction.

I mentioned word combustion under normal circumstances. I used the term on purpose, because this process doesn’t use combustion and I wanted to drive the point home. Combustion happens only in the presence of oxidant such as air.
Combustion in EFW process is mostly not desired, because oxidation at high temperatures creates toxic chemicals that you later have to get rid of at a great expense, not to mention that combustion significantly reduces the calorific value of your product – a synthesis gas, also called Syngas...

Here comes an important point and my opinion: EFW process should be an anaerobic process that happens in an absence of air. It is a thermal decomposition where complex molecules of solid waste are broken down to simpler gases such as Hydrogen, Methane, CO, CO2 and very small amounts of other more complex hydrocarbons (HCs).

The Syngas is then cleaned up of the more complex HCs and nowadays used as a fuel to run internal combustion engine generators or combined cycle co-generation, using gas and steam turbines. These giant machines are optimized to run on Syngas with extreme reliability and very low emissions. A small portion of electricity generated is used to run the process with the balance sold to the energy grid.

Really cool fact about the whole concept is that we are only scratching the surface. The potential for various methods of Syngas utilization and creation of future technologies on this foundation is immense. For example, Instead of using the Syngas for generating electricity, we could be using it to produce a pure Hydrogen, which can be used as a fuel for your future hybrid electric / fuel cell vehicle. Other alternatives include turning Syngas into Natural Gas substitute that can be feed back into Natural Gas distribution network. There is a great potential for production of various liquid fuels and other useful chemicals.

The waste heat from the plants can be used to generate more electrical energy, use it to heat greenhouses or other buildings. The waste CO2 can be re-used as a plant fertilizer or used to grow micro-algae. Micro-algae are great potential source of medicinal oils, liquid fuels, fertilizer, animal feedstock and who knows maybe a source for engineered food in the near future.

While this energy from waste technology is not easy or cheap to develop, the potential for closing the loop in our product creation, consumption and renewal cycle is there, which is very, very significant. It is of strategic importance to human kind to get this technology right to reduce our environmental footprint, assist with getting us off the fossil fuels, have renewable source of energy and yeah, somewhere I mentioned the food. For animals to start with...

I urge our government to continue supporting organizations in EFW business, helping them to complete the development and commercialization of this disruptive technology. We need to nurture and support these programs any way we can as an investment into our collective future, not to mention it makes an incredible economic sense and as an opportunity to put people to work in a new, greener economy.

I’m confident that EFW can turn into a major success story, put us on the course of more sustainable and responsible living. In the long term EFW programs will assist our shrinking planet with the cleanup and self healing, ultimately benefiting all its inhabitants.