Waste-to-Energy (WtE): Sustainable Approach of Waste Management

The rapid growth of the global population and corporate interests has exacerbated issues related to rising energy consumption, inadequate waste management, and environmental degradation. The 5Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Recover, and Recycle) form the basis of contemporary methods that effectively address these challenges. There is a practical solution for materials that cannot be recycled: transforming waste into energy (WtE). In WtE, the system processes include biological conversion (anaerobic digestion, fermentation), thermal conversion (incineration, gasification, and pyrolysis), and physicochemical conversion (transesterification). While the ecological processes involved in WtE include microbial decomposition (the breakdown of organic waste by microorganisms), thermophilic digestion (high-temperature decomposition of organic waste), and photodegradation (the breakdown of organic waste by light). Therefore, this chapter systematically evaluates various waste-to-energy processes, emphasizing their capacity to reduce waste