Preface
This book provides information on waste generation and introduces the technologies to recover energy and resources from different waste streams as an environmentally friendly option for waste management. Economic development and
population growth have resulted in a rise in waste generation from residential,
industrial, and commercial establishments, which consequently increased environmental and health concerns in urban regions in many parts of the world. Waste
handling and management are critical challenges that societies are facing today. The
4R principle (reduce, reuse, recycle, and recover) has been widely used in solid
waste management, specifically, to reduce consumption at the source, reuse goods
as much as possible, recycle to the maximum, and recover energy or resources.
An important aim of this book is to introduce different types of energy and
resources that can be recovered from various waste streams such as municipal
wastewater and sludge, e-waste, waste plastics and resins, crop residues, forestry
residues, and lignin.
The book provides an overview of waste generation and characterization as well
as their health and environmental impacts. It also includes an introduction to
conventional and advanced technologies for waste management such as landfilling,
incineration, pyrolysis, hydrothermal liquefaction, fractionation, de-polymerization,
gasification, and carbonization. Each chapter discusses various technologies to
recover energy and resource from a specific waste stream via converting them into
high-value chemicals and materials.
The book can serve as an essential guide to dealing with various types of wastes
and the methods of disposal, recovery, recycling, and reuse. As such it is a valuable
resource for a wide readership, including graduate students, academic researchers,
industrial researchers, and practitioners in chemical engineering, waste management, waste to energy and resources conversion, and biorefinery.
London, Canada
Laleh Nazari, PhD, P.Eng
January 2021
Chunbao (Charles) Xu, PhD, P.Eng, FCIC, FCAE
Madhumita B. Ray, PhD, P.Eng
vii
This book provides information on waste generation and introduces the technologies to recover energy and resources from different waste streams as an environmentally friendly option for waste management. Economic development and
population growth have resulted in a rise in waste generation from residential,
industrial, and commercial establishments, which consequently increased environmental and health concerns in urban regions in many parts of the world. Waste
handling and management are critical challenges that societies are facing today. The
4R principle (reduce, reuse, recycle, and recover) has been widely used in solid
waste management, specifically, to reduce consumption at the source, reuse goods
as much as possible, recycle to the maximum, and recover energy or resources.
An important aim of this book is to introduce different types of energy and
resources that can be recovered from various waste streams such as municipal
wastewater and sludge, e-waste, waste plastics and resins, crop residues, forestry
residues, and lignin.
The book provides an overview of waste generation and characterization as well
as their health and environmental impacts. It also includes an introduction to
conventional and advanced technologies for waste management such as landfilling,
incineration, pyrolysis, hydrothermal liquefaction, fractionation, de-polymerization,
gasification, and carbonization. Each chapter discusses various technologies to
recover energy and resource from a specific waste stream via converting them into
high-value chemicals and materials.
The book can serve as an essential guide to dealing with various types of wastes
and the methods of disposal, recovery, recycling, and reuse. As such it is a valuable
resource for a wide readership, including graduate students, academic researchers,
industrial researchers, and practitioners in chemical engineering, waste management, waste to energy and resources conversion, and biorefinery.
London, Canada
Laleh Nazari, PhD, P.Eng
January 2021
Chunbao (Charles) Xu, PhD, P.Eng, FCIC, FCAE
Madhumita B. Ray, PhD, P.Eng
vii