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WASTE
INCINERATION
One of
the more exciting developments in sustainable energy is
waste incineration. The growing problem of waste
disposal has placed a considerable strain on ecological
systems world-wide, and waste incineration has the
advantage of attacking two problems at once,
transforming waste into a source of energy.
There are several types of energy generation from waste.
The first is simple burning; not too complicated, but
because the majority of waste product is organic, energy
is produced on nearly the same level as biomass
incineration. Burning also decreases landfill volume by
over ninety percent, and the weight of waste by over
seventy-five percent. Of course, this process requires
the separation of different products to prevent the
burning of plastics or other sources of toxic fumes.
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Secondly, a process known as gasification treats waste
with heat in an environment with limited oxygen. This
produces a gas known as syn-gas, which is then burned to
convert steam to water in the same way as other
electrical generating plants.
A third option is anaerobic digestion (sometimes
considered a biomass energy source), in which bacteria
are used to break down organic waste products in an
oxygen-free environment. This produces methane gas,
which can be burned as a gas fuel, or processed to
create a liquid vehicle fuel.
Waste energy production is possibly the most renewable
source of all, as it seems unlikely that waste
generation will slow any time in the near future. In
fact, waste creation increases every year with the
continuing industrialization of developing nations in
the world. Deployment of waste-based energy creation can
solve multiple problems at one time.
Published by Carol Foss - in the hope that it will make
a difference, however small. |
