Finding Energy Solutions in Landfills

• There is certainly no shortage of garbage in the world. In fact, according to National Geographic, each one of us on average will generate 64 tons of solid waste during the course of our lifetimes. This is material that will enter into the world's landfills.
  
  There are different techniques for extracting energy from landfill waste. Some of these methods are only in the research phase, while others have been in use for decades. Researchers at the National University of Singapore have been studying the possibility of using celluloid material from landfills, primarily waste cardboard and paper, to generate biofuel in the form of ethanol. In a paper titled "The Biofuel Potential of Municipal Solid Waste," the authors state: "Our results suggest that cellulosic ethanol from waste biomass is a promising clean energy solution that could simultaneously meet part of our energy needs, mitigate GHG (Greenhouse Gas) emissions, and mitigate the impact of increasing material consumption." Their research shows that there is enough landfill material worldwide to produce 82.93 billion liters of ethanol.
  
  Another method of deriving energy from municipal waste is to incinerate the material and capture the energy released during this process. Wheelbrator Technologies Inc. has been doing just this since opening their first commercially viable waste-to-energy facility in 1975. The company has pioneered a number of different technologies in the control of emissions, incinerator design and dealing with residual ash generated during the combustion process. Working at full capacity, a state-of-the-art waste to energy plant can convert 1,500 tons of municipal waste into 40,000 kilowatts of clean power--enough to provide power to 40,000 homes.
  
  

Deriving Ethanol from Wastewater

• In addition to municipal solid waste, massive amounts of wastewater are generated by modern societies. Qteros and an Israeli-based commodity recycling company, Applied CleanTech (ACT), have joined forces to create a means to produce ethanol from municipal wastewater. ACT's technology extracts certain celluloid compounds from the wastewater and converts them into solid pellets. Qteros then uses microbes to convert those solid pellets into ethanol. The process yields approximately 120 to 135 gallons of ethanol from a ton of solid material and takes about four days to complete.
  
  

Reduce Waste; Increase Energy

• The conversion of municipal solid and liquid waste into a viable energy source confronts two huge problems facing our world. These technologies may provide the answer to reducing landfill waste while simultaneously generating the energy we need to fuel economic growth and individual prosperity.