Wastewater and Solid Waste as Feedstock for Energy Production

Abstract

AbstractDue to robust economic growth with expeditious urbanization, industrialization, and amplification of demography across the world, wastewater and solid waste generation and demand for food and drinking water have increased exponentially. It has been theoretically and experimentally proven that carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids present in wastes have the potential to be transformed into several types of fuels such ethanol, diesel, methane, hydrogen, electricity, and other advanced biofuels through chemical and biochemical routes. Solid waste mainly consists of carbohydrate, lignin, protein, and lipids and their chemical composition varies with its origin and source. Solid wastes and wastewater also include carbohydrate and protein. In the present chapter, we review the potential of solid waste and wastewater to serve as a cheap and sustainable feedstock for the production of fuel and energy.In the first section of the chapter, an introduction is made to present a scenario on energy production, and the first, second, third, and fourth generations of feedstock for biofuel production are discussed to analyze the need for solid waste and wastewater feedstock and technology for bioenergy production. Energy can be recovered in the form of biodiesel, bioethanol, biohydrogen, biogas, and electricity from different types of solid wastes generated from diverse sources including industrial, municipal, agricultural, or forestry wastes. We need a sufficient supply of treated feedstock for the production of biofuel on a commercial scale to fulfill the market demand. Renewable agricultural, industrial, and urban wastes, such as municipal solid wastes, flowers, vegetables, and other market wastes, slaughterhouse wastes, agricultural residues, and industrial/sewage treatment plant wastes, industrial effluents, sewage, and non-sewage wastewater, have been reviewed in the next section as ideal candidates for producing biofuel.The chapter further covers an overview of pretreatment of solid waste, conversion of solid biomass to energy through nonbiological technology, solid waste and wastewater as feedstock for second- and third-generation biofuel production, feasibility, and economics of wastewater and solid waste as a sustainable potential feedstock for biofuel production. The advantages and disadvantages of different generation biomass feedstocks along with their challenges and opportunities for commercial-scale biofuel production are also included.KeywordsSolid wasteWastewaterMunicipal solid wasteAgriculture wasteBioethanolBiodieselBiogasBiohydrogenBioelectricityPretreatment