Waste-to-Energy Recovery from Municipal Solid Waste: Global Scenario and Prospects of Mass Burning Technology in Brazil

Abstract

Inadequate disposal of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) is one of the greatest environmental issues confronted nowadays. One of the techniques used for its final disposal is incineration, otherwise known as mass burning. Although this procedure remains very controversial in Brazil, some recent studies published in Europe reveal a large amount of misinformation about it. It has been widely used in European countries, Japan, and a few U.S. cities and has been increasingly and significantly adopted in China. Therefore, this article aims to carry out a literature review on the evolution of waste-to-energy recovery from Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) worldwide and the progress of mass-burning technologies, particularly in the Brazilian context. For such a purpose, global scientific databases were selected and some of their results allowed us to present how the main WtE recovery technologies function, as well as their benefits and impacts. Moreover, it was possible to systematize the main regulatory frameworks on the theme in Brazil and to reveal the country’s electricity generation capacity, in addition to depicting the progress of Waste-to-Energy Plants (WtEPs) undergoing licensing processes in the state of São Paulo.