Recycling of solid waste for biofuels and bio-chemicals

Abstract

Global per capita solid waste generation has more than doubled over the first 15 years of this millennium and is expected to reach 2.2 billion tons per year by 2025, produced by 4.3 billion urban residents. As the human population is also forecasted to experience an unprecedented growth from currently* 7 to* 9 billion by 2050, the management of solid waste is becoming an increasingly pressing problem now and in near future. It is estimated that growing population will encounter food (* 70%), fuel (50%), and freshwater (30%) demands, resources that are already limiting in many regions of the world. Furthermore, vast ranges of chemical feedstock are also required to maintain current-day products and to meet their rates of production. The non-renewable and finite nature of the energy required for their production and destruction leads to an escalation of this spiral. Although waste generation is typically inversely …