Prospective for power generation of solid fuel from hydrothermal treatment of biomass and waste in Malaysia

There is growing interest for utilization of biomass and waste for the significant environmental benefits, energy security and long-term fuel sustainability. Malaysia has enormous biomass resources that is currently under-utilized for electricity generation. The variation in the chemical composition, moisture and alkali contents across different biomass feedstocks requires pre-treatment to avoid problem during thermochemical conversion processes. On the other hand, the problem associated with municipal solid waste limit the application for useful fuel due to heterogeneous in nature and high moisture content. This paper reviews the prospective waste to energy technologies in Malaysia using hydrothermal treatment for production of solid fuel from biomass and municipal solid waste. The selection of thermochemical conversion technologies will be based on the fieldwork, characterization and laboratory experiments, environmental and economic evaluations. The overall objectives are to enhance the physical and chemical properties of the biomass and waste and to increase the thermal efficiency of power plant as part of nation renewable energy mix to reduce dependency to fossil fuels particularly coal. The effective use of biomass and waste can supply the required fuel for future electricity generation.