Technological developments in the energy generation from municipal solid waste (landfill gas capture, combustion, pyrolysis and gasification)

Despite substantial socioeconomic and technological progress, the world’s population relies on conventional fuels such as coal for domestic use. Hence, reserve fuels based on fossils are being depleted rapidly and day by day the demand of required energy becomes more, hence, need to find alternative energy resources. Energy from waste is one of the best and alternative options to fulfil the demand of energy required for future. Energy from waste is a potential resource for energy generation that is both economically viable and environmentally friendly. The energy generated from waste will be either of electricity or fuel by converting the nonrecyclable waste materials through various physio-chemical processes known as waste-to-energy technologies. In this chapter, review of technological developments in the energy generation from municipal solid waste (MSW) has been discussed. Initially, brief introduction of major parameters of MSW management has been reviewed and then detailed study of MSW generation, characterization, collection and treatment options in India have been reported. Different pathways have been reported in literature for conversion of MSW into energy. Various pathways to convert wastes to energy are combustion, gasification, pyrolysis and landfill gas recovery and have been discussed in detail along with its environmental impacts. Overall, it can be said that technologies based on conversion of waste to energy ensures effective MSW management, which is a prospective energy source to meet the demand of energy.