INTRODUCTION

Biodegradable waste plays an important role in creating a recycling

society. Possibilities of obtaining biogas from biodegradable waste
can be an alternative to energy production from fossil fuels.
Biodegradable essentially means that an item can be broken down into
increasingly smaller pieces by bacteria, fungi or microbes to be
reabsorbed by the surrounding environment ideally without causing
any pollution.
 BIODEGRADABLE WASTE:
Biodegradable wastes includes any organic matter in waste which can be broken
down into carbon dioxide, water, methane, compost, humus, and simple organic
molecules by micro-organisms and other living things by composting, aerobic
digestion, anaerobic digestion or similar processes. It mainly includes kitchen waste
(spoiled food, trimmings, inedible parts), ash, soil, dung and other plant matter .

Waste management according to (Eknem,2013) is concern with the interplay among

generation, storage, collection, treatment and disposal of waste. The authors further referred
to it as the collection and proper handling of wastes from point where they are generated to
where they are disposed of to achieve maximum environmental safety . It is a common
observation that waste management is at the lowest ebb in most towns and communities in
Nigeria(Opara,2009). This is evident on the alarming rate at which heaps of solid wastes
including biodegradable waste occupy our localities
WASTES-TO-ENERGY-TECHNOLOGIES-(WTET)
Waste-to-energy technologies convert waste materials into different types of fuels. Advanced
WTET produces biogas, syngas, liquid bio-fuels or pure hydrogen; and these fuels will then
be used directly or to come up with electricity. WTET is that the use of, physical
thermochemical and biological technologies to recover energy from the wastes
PHYSICAL CONVERSION
Physical WTET treats the waste physically to convert it in to fuel pellets/refuse-derived fuel
(RDF). The fuel pellets consists of the most part of organic materials taken from solid waste
streams, like plastics and perishable waste.
THERMOCHEMICAL-CONVERSION
The principal strategies of thermochemical conversion is combustion in excess air, chemical
change in reduced air, and transmutation within the absence of air.Thermochemical
change, that takes place at extraordinarily warm temperature, is additionally hogging
limelight and is within the early stages however will produces up to thirteen,000 °F
temperature. This warm temperature breaks down the wastes into syngas. All variety
of waste, together with even concrete, steel,
and deadly chemicals is regenerated to energy, however the technology would need high
energy inputs at the beginning which is the sole disadvantage.
BIOLOGICAL-CONVERSION
Biochemical processes, like anaerobic digestion and fermentation, produces clean
energy within the style of biogas(methane) and alcohol severally.
Fig. 1. Waste-to-energy pathways
Examples of biodegradable waste
Fruits,vegetables flowers, plant, animal, water, paper etc.
In waste management, it also includes some inorganic materials which can be decomposed by
bacteria. Such materials include gypsum and its products such as plasterboard and other simple
sulfates which can be decomposed by sulfate reducing bacteria to yield hydrogen sulfide in
anaerobic land-fill conditions. Biodegradable waste can be found in municipal solid waste
(sometimes called biodegradable municipal waste, or as green waste, food waste, paper waste
and Sources biodegradable plastics).
Other biodegradable wastes include; human
waste, manure, sewage, sewage sludge and slaughterhouse waste. In the absence of oxygen,
much of this waste will decay to methane by anaerobic digestion
Benefits of Conversion of Biodegradable waste to energy

Conversion of waste to electricity will reduce overdependence on fossil fuels as

energy sources. It can reduce gas emission and pollution caused by the burning of
fossil fuels.also the production of good quality compost and biogas that contribute
to enhanced soil quality and resource efficiency,as well as a higher level of energy
self-sufficiency

Uses OF BIOGAS to scale back its Dependence On Fossil Fuels.

5.1 The primary energy consumption in most country’ sis derived from fossil fuel, petroleum,
and different liquids (97%), ancient biomass and waste (typically consisting of wood,
charcoal, manure, and crop residues are used for power generation), coal, and renewable
accounted for less than a marginal quantity of consumption (3%) in 2017. Considering the
quantity of waste generated daily globally if the renewable waste is properly utilized, it can
serve as an alternative to solve the issues of electricity shortage within.
5.2. The biogas has high measure and hot price ranges between 4700-6000 Kcal. it's ignition
temperature of 640–840 C0. If it's generated on tiny scale from the regionally generated
waste then it's extremely suggested for domestic use, e.g cooking etc. It is utilized in lamps,
as per studies one KWh of electricity is generated from 0.7m3 of biogas, which
may light electrical bulbs of sixty watt rating for one hour.
5.3. The helpful product from AD has high purity methane series gas and pure greenhouse
gas appropriate to be used within the soft-drink business, high purity liquid plant food, and
high purity solid plant food to be used in small scale plantation within the
•
• How anaerobic digestion of waste work
• Anaerobic digestion is a process in which
bacteria breakdown organic matter such
as food waste, without oxygen . As the
bacteria consume the food waste , they
give off biogas which rises to the top of
the digester. This consists mostly of
methane, the primary component of
natural gas.
•
•
Conclusion
Biodegradation uses a lot of technologies for conversion of waste to energy but the most
applicable is the use of anaerobic digestion by microorganisms the problem of this method is
that it is costly and consumes a lot of energy.
Municipal waste in open land fills is a problem facing developing countries and the only way
to protect the environment as well as utilizing the waste is by waste-energy conversions
The thermal conversion technology is a projected WTET for the assembly of
biogas /energy and this will play a pivotal role to scale back dependence on the fossil fuels
and therefore reduces the environmental impact of methane gas in promoting climate change.
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