Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 1.1
Biomass potential in the EU [5].
Biomass potential (MTonnes oil equivalent)
2010
2020
2030
Organic wastes
100
100
102
Energy crops
43-46
76-94
102-142
Forest products
43
39-45
39-72
Total
186
215-239
243-316
Food crops can indeed be used to produce energy (e.g. biodiesel from vegetable
oil), materials (e.g. polylactic acid from corn) and chemicals (e.g. polyols from
wheat). However, it is becoming widely recognised by governments and scientists
that waste and lignocellulosic materials (e.g. wood, straw and energy crops) pro-
vide a much better energy production opportunity than food crops since they
avoid competition with the food sector and often do not require as much land and
fertilisers to grow. In fact, only 3% of the 170 million tonnes of biomass produced
yearly by photosynthesis is currently being cultivated, harvested and used (food
and non-food applications) [3]. Indeed, according to a report published by the
USDOE and the USDA [4], the US alone could sustainably supply more than one
billion dry tons of biomass annually by 2030. As seen in Table 1.1, the biomass
potential in Europe is also enormous.
1.3 The Challenge of Waste
Waste is a major global issue and is becoming more important in developing
countries, as well as in the West. According to the World Bank, world cities gener-
ate about 1.3 billion tonnes (Gt) of solid waste per year, and this is expected to
increase to 2.2 Gt by 2025 [6]. Globally, solid waste management costs will
increase from today's $200 billion per year to about $375 billion per year in 2025.
Cost increases will be most severe in low-income countries (more than five-fold
increases) and lower-middle income countries (more than four-fold increases).
Global governments need to put in place programmes to reduce, reuse, recycle or
valorise as much waste as possible before burning it (and recovering the energy)
or otherwise disposing of it.
Few countries have a constructive waste management policy whereby a signifi-
cant proportion of the waste is used in some way (see Figure 1.3); reliable data are
however not easily available from developing countries, other than anecdotal evi-
dence such as from India where many people apparently make a living from waste
[7]. The increasing costs of traditional fossil reserves, along with concerns over
security of supply and the identification of critical raw mineral materials by the
European Union (EU) is beginning to make people realise that the traditional
linear economy model of extract-process-consume-dispose is unsustainable [8].
