Waste to Energy: Agricultural, Forest and Municipal Solid Waste Logistics and Conversion to Produce Biofuels and Bioproducts

Dear Colleagues,

According to the United States (U.S.) Energy Information Administration (EIA), about 267.8 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW), is generated on an annual basis in the U.S. (EIA, 2017). Approximately 29% of this waste ends up being recycled, 7.6% is processed at waste-to-energy facilities, and 63.5% is landfilled. But MSW is an abundant, valuable, and very underutilized source of domestic energy.

In the integrated sustainable waste management model, generation, separation and collection, and transport play a significant role in supplying MSW feedstock for energy production. Also MSW composition changes from municipality to municipality and with time. The low bulk density, variable moisture, particle size, and shape and chemical composition of the MSW result in difficulties in storage, transportation, feeding and conversion.

This Special Issue will publish papers related to MSW logistics, which include the unit operations necessary to move MSW from waste management plants to biorefineries and ensure the delivered MSW meets the specifications of the conversion process. The various unit operations, such as collection and separations, which can help to separate the fractions desirable for the conversion, is essential. The raw and fractionated MSW has variable size and shape chemical composition and is low in density. The drying, grinding, and densification of MSW and its fractions are critical to producing a product with: (i) better handling and transportation efficiencies throughout the supply system and biorefinery infeed; (ii) precise particle size distribution for improved uniformity and density; (iii) improved compositional quality due to fractionation of the structural components; and (iv) enhanced specifications that meet the conversion and supply system requirements. Also, thermal, and chemical pretreatment of MSW helps to reduce the variability in terms of chemical composition and energy properties. The techno-economic analysis and conversion performance for biofuels and bioproducts are also within the scope of this Special Issue.

Dr. Jaya Shankar Tumuluru
Guest Editor

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