IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v16y2023i4p1909-d1068859.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Research and Innovation Needs for the Waste-To-Energy Sector towards a Net-Zero Circular Economy

Author

Listed:
  • Alessandro Dal Pozzo

    (Laboratory of Industrial Safety and Environmental Sustainability, Alma Mater Studiorum—Università di Bologna, Via Terracini n.28, 40131 Bologna, Italy)

  • Mathieu Lucquiaud

    (Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Sheffield, Sir Frederick Mappin Building, Mappin Street, Sheffield S1 3JD, UK
    School of Engineering, The University of Edinburgh, The King’s Buildings, Edinburgh EH9 3JL, UK)

  • Johan De Greef

    (ChEMaRTS, Leuven Group T Campus, Department of Materials Engineering, KU Leuven, Andreas Vesaliusstraat 13, 3000 Leuven, Belgium)

Abstract

This perspective article aims to identify key research priorities to make the waste-to-energy sector compatible with the societal goals of circularity and carbon neutrality. These priorities range from fundamental research to process engineering innovations and socio-economic challenges. Three focus areas are highlighted: (i) the optimization of flue gas cleaning processes to minimize gaseous emissions and cross-media, (ii) the expansion of process control intelligence to meet targets for both material recovery and energy recovery, and (iii) climate neutrality, with the potential for negative emissions via the removal of atmospheric carbon dioxide across the full cycle of the waste resource. For each area, recent research trends and key aspects that are yet to be addressed are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Alessandro Dal Pozzo & Mathieu Lucquiaud & Johan De Greef, 2023. "Research and Innovation Needs for the Waste-To-Energy Sector towards a Net-Zero Circular Economy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-14, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:16:y:2023:i:4:p:1909-:d:1068859
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/4/1909/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/4/1909/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Birgen, Cansu & Magnanelli, Elisa & Carlsson, Per & Becidan, Michaël, 2021. "Operational guidelines for emissions control using cross-correlation analysis of waste-to-energy process data," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    2. Magnanelli, Elisa & Mosby, Jostein & Becidan, Michael, 2021. "Scenarios for carbon capture integration in a waste-to-energy plant," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    3. Dong, Jun & Jeswani, Harish Kumar & Nzihou, Ange & Azapagic, Adisa, 2020. "The environmental cost of recovering energy from municipal solid waste," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 267(C).
    4. Izabella Maj, 2022. "Significance and Challenges of Poultry Litter and Cattle Manure as Sustainable Fuels: A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(23), pages 1-17, November.
    5. Harald Ian D. I. Muri & Dag Roar Hjelme, 2022. "Sensor Technology Options for Municipal Solid Waste Characterization for Optimal Operation of Waste-to-Energy Plants," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-24, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Govindan, Kannan, 2023. "How digitalization transforms the traditional circular economy to a smart circular economy for achieving SDGs and net zero," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Johan De Greef & Quynh N. Hoang & Raf Vandevelde & Wouter Meynendonckx & Zouhir Bouchaar & Giuseppe Granata & Mathias Verbeke & Mariya Ishteva & Tine Seljak & Jo Van Caneghem & Maarten Vanierschot, 2023. "Towards Waste-to-Energy-and-Materials Processes with Advanced Thermochemical Combustion Intelligence in the Circular Economy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-19, February.
    2. Wojciech Rzeźnik & Ilona Rzeźnik & Paulina Mielcarek-Bocheńska & Mateusz Urbański, 2023. "Air Pollutants Emission during Co-Combustion of Animal Manure and Wood Pellets in 15 kW Boiler," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-17, September.
    3. Xing, Zhou & Ping, Zhou & Xiqiang, Zhao & Zhanlong, Song & Wenlong, Wang & Jing, Sun & Yanpeng, Mao, 2021. "Applicability of municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) system integrated with pre-drying or torrefaction for flue gas waste heat recovery," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    4. Jakub Mazurkiewicz, 2023. "Loss of Energy and Economic Potential of a Biogas Plant Fed with Cow Manure due to Storage Time," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-22, September.
    5. Jun Li & Lixian Wang & Yong Chi & Zhaozhi Zhou & Yuanjun Tang & Hui Zhang, 2021. "Life Cycle Assessment of Advanced Circulating Fluidized Bed Municipal Solid Waste Incineration System from an Environmental and Exergetic Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-16, October.
    6. Nitad Jaisue & Nipon Ketjoy & Malinee Kaewpanha & Prapita Thanarak, 2023. "The Barriers Analysis for Waste-to-Energy Project Development in Thailand: Using an Interpretive Structural Modeling Approach," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-19, February.
    7. Wienchol, Paulina & Korus, Agnieszka & Szlęk, Andrzej & Ditaranto, Mario, 2022. "Thermogravimetric and kinetic study of thermal degradation of various types of municipal solid waste (MSW) under N2, CO2 and oxy-fuel conditions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 248(C).
    8. Lee, Seonho & Kim, Jiwon & Byun, Jaewon & Joo, Junghee & Lee, Yoonjae & Kim, Taehyun & Hwangbo, Soonho & Han, Jeehoon & Kim, Sung-Kon & Lee, Jechan, 2023. "Environmentally-viable utilization of chicken litter as energy recovery and electrode production: A machine learning approach," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 350(C).
    9. Ortiz, C. & García-Luna, S. & Carro, A. & Chacartegui, R. & Pérez-Maqueda, L., 2023. "Negative emissions power plant based on flexible calcium-looping process integrated with renewables and methane production," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    10. Chaturvedi, Krishna Raghav & Sinha, A.S.K. & Nair, Vishnu Chandrasekharan & Sharma, Tushar, 2021. "Enhanced carbon dioxide sequestration by direct injection of flue gas doped with hydrogen into hydrate reservoir: Possibility of natural gas production," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    11. Tatarczuk, Adam & Szega, Marcin & Zuwała, Jarosław, 2023. "Thermodynamic analysis of a post-combustion carbon dioxide capture process in a pilot plant equipped with a heat integrated stripper," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 278(PA).
    12. Bruna Barreto Przybulinski & Rodrigo Garófallo Garcia & Maria Fernanda de Castro Burbarelli & Felipe Cardoso Serpa & Vivian Aparecida Rios de Castilho Heiss & Ana Carolina Amorim Orrico & Claudia Mari, 2023. "Characterization and Energy Potential of Broiler Manure Reared under Different Flooring Materials," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-12, August.
    13. Izabella Maj & Krzysztof Matus, 2023. "Aluminosilicate Clay Minerals: Kaolin, Bentonite, and Halloysite as Fuel Additives for Thermal Conversion of Biomass and Waste," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-17, May.
    14. Lerbinger, Alicia & Petkov, Ivalin & Mavromatidis, Georgios & Knoeri, Christof, 2023. "Optimal decarbonization strategies for existing districts considering energy systems and retrofits," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 352(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:16:y:2023:i:4:p:1909-:d:1068859. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.