Municipal solid waste as a valuable renewable energy resource: a worldwide opportunity of energy recovery by using Waste-To-Energy Technologies

The generation rate of Municipal Solid Waste is expected to increase to 2.2 billion tonnes per year by 2025 worldwide. However, in developing countries, collection, transport and disposing of waste is still challenging while, in developed countries, emerging technologies are used to produce different by-products such as heat, electricity, compost and bio-fuels. This study assesses the different waste-to-energy technologies developed to date. This work is divided into four groups: biological treatment of waste; thermal treatment of waste; landfill gas utilization; and biorefineries. Furthermore, integrated solid waste management systems with waste-to-energy technologies are studied and some worldwide examples are provided.