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[December Free Report] USE OF WASTE RESOURCES AS ENERGY |
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by Rethabile Makatla | 21-12-2022 16:17
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Over the last four decades, we human beings have tripled our consumption of the earth’s natural resources, said a recent report from the United Nations Environment Programme. And according to the World Resources Institute “one half to three quarters of annual resource inputs to industrial economies is returned to the environment as wastes within just one year.” Every year globally, tons of garbage or municipal solid waste is produced. Municipal solid waste consists of paper, cardboard, food, grass clippings, leaves, wood, leather, plastics, metals and petroleum-based synthetic materials. To sustainably manage or reduce this waste, it must be burnt in waste plants to produce a new energy. Burning the waste in waste-to-energy plants does not only reduce volume of municipal solid waste, but can also harness its embedded energy and put it to good use. Most of these plants are mass burn facilities. Waste is stored in large bunkers, then transported to a moving grate in a furnace where it is burned at over 850˚C for at least two seconds to ensure complete combustion. The heat from the furnace heats water in a boiler, creating steam that turns a turbine to drive a generator that makes electricity. The electricity then enters the grid. Some plants combine electricity generation with a district heating system, using the excess steam to create heat used to heat homes. About a small percentage of what is left after burning is a non-hazardous bottom ash; some of it is used for cover at landfills to reduce leachate or is landfilled. In some parts of the world, this ash is often used in the construction industry or for road building. Besides sustainably managing waste, waste-to-energy plants provide other benefits, such as gate fees (the fee per ton paid by the municipality to the facility for receiving the waste), the electricity and/or co-generated heat that is produced, the value of scrap metal collected, and potentially, carbon credits for renewable energy.
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2 Comments
Hello, this is your mentor Minkyung.
Thank you for sharing information on the use of waste resources as energy. It is always amazing to hear about the technological advances humans have made. I hope technological advances are used to reduce the impact of human actions on the environment, just as the ones you introduced in your report.
Great job writing December report ;)
Posted 31-12-2022 12:22
Hi, Rethabile Makatla!
This is your mentor, Yoon.
Thank you for introducing ways to generate energy from waste. Turning waste to energy is addressed as thermal recycling, which people now don't see as a type of recycling. Still, I believe it is better than dumping these wastes under the ground.
Nice job on writing the free report.
I am looking forward to reading your following report!
Posted 23-12-2022 17:20