Low-carbon and environmental-friendly municipal solid waste treatment technologies for energy utilization: A review

Abstract

The efficient treatment and clean disposal of municipal solid waste (MSW) are crucial to urban environmental protection and economic development. Existing municipal solid waste treatment technologies mainly include landfill, incineration, pyrolysis, gasification, hydrothermal method, (aerobic) compost, (anaerobic) digestion/fermentation, etc. The production of domestic MSW is increasing, as well as the energy demand of the society, and thus the conversion from MSW to energy is of great importance. Under the goal of carbon neutrality, the treatment of MSW should develop toward greening, protecting environment and reducing carbon emission. It should not only achieve efficient utilization of MSW, but also accelerate the pace of reducing carbon emissions and guide innovation in green technology. This paper briefly described the classification and characteristics of waste to energy technologies. The research and application progress of main technologies were summarized, and the opportunities and challenges were analyzed towards low-carbon and environment-friendly development. Finally, the applications of sorting, artificial intelligence and green hydrogen technologies for MSW treatment were reviewed. This paper provides useful information from the views of energy conversion and carbon reduction, benefiting the development of MSW treatment.

Keywords

• municipal solid waste
• energy conversion technology
• carbon reduction
• pyro-gasification
• application and development