Waste-to-Energy Technologies: a Literature Review

Application of Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Process to Select Waste-to-Energy Technology in Developing Countries: The Case of Ghana

“…The advantage of incineration over the other WtE technology is that it uses almost all types of MWS fraction and can reduce the volume of the waste by 80% and the solid mass by 70%. However, the initial costs to invest in such a plant is very high and could eventually lead to air and/or water pollution [14,15].…”

“…During the pyrolysis process, up to 80% of the carbonaceous fraction of the feedstock (here, MSW) used is recovered [14]. There are three types of pyrolysis reactions (slow, fast, and flash pyrolysis) depending on the operating parameters, such as temperature, heating rate, particle size, and residence time [15]. The proportion of each of the three fuels produced from the process depends on the type of pyrolysis used, as seen in the Table 1 [15,17,18].…”

“…There are three types of pyrolysis reactions (slow, fast, and flash pyrolysis) depending on the operating parameters, such as temperature, heating rate, particle size, and residence time [15]. The proportion of each of the three fuels produced from the process depends on the type of pyrolysis used, as seen in the Table 1 [15,17,18]. However, pyrolysis technology has some demerits.…”

“…Its capital, operation, and maintenance costs are high and it needs highly qualified professionals to operate. The adoption of this technology is very rare compared to other MSW management [14,15]. However, research by Higman and Tam [19] shows that, on a larger scale, pyrolysis is profitable economically and helps protect the environment by means of waste minimization and carbon capture.…”

“…Biochemical Technologies are processes in which biological agents or micro-organisms (yeast, for example) are used to convert organic parts of MSW into gas or liquid biofuel. The WtE technologies that fall under this pathway are anaerobic digestion, aerobic digestion, and landfilling [14,15].…”