Waste to energy

Abstract

Rising energy costs, increasing landfill prices and the environmental imperative to reduce atmospheric emissions of fossil CO2 are all compelling medium and large energy users throughout Australia to consider decentralised onsite power generation options. In addition to the rollout of household and community-scale photovoltaic (PV) and wind, waste-to-energy technologies such as landfill gas and biogas-based power plant are now well established in Australia. However, various other waste-to-energy technologies, operating elsewhere, have yet to take off. This presentation provided an overview of waste to- energy processes, including examples of currently operating commercial processes as well as recent research to highlight the interesting mix of processes and economics that make up the waste-to-energy landscape.