WASTE-TO-ENERGY: A PROMISING MARITIME TRANSPORT TECHNOLOGY

Abstract

Everything in the world, including the shipping industry, is powered by energy. There are numerous advanced energy-generation strategies, but it would be greatly valued if energy could be consistently derived from ship waste. Waste disposal is a difficult task in the shipping industry, so many studies are being conducted to find better ways to dispose of waste. According to regulatory agencies, India has a large source of both industrial and urban organic waste. The shipping industry, like any other, necessitates massive amounts of energy. On a daily basis, a massive amount of waste is generated, ranging from small crafts to ultra-large vessels (aerobic as well as anaerobic). So, there is a significant opportunity for capturing the energy from these waste, and both the difficulty of waste disposal and the depletion of conventional energy sources can be effectively addressed concurrently. This paper examines various means of generating energy from waste. Furthermore, the current state of Waste-to-Energy (WTE) in our country and around the world is discussed.

Motivation/Background: There is a perennial need for energy in all industry. This energy is pivotal in marine sector. There is huge amount of waste disposal into sea and IMO is keen on pollution control and de-carbonization. So, converting the waste serves two purposes viz. pollution control and green energy generation.

Method: Various techniques for generating energy from waste had been discussed.

Results: Waste-To-Energy is still a relatively unexplored technology in the shipping industry. Large cruise ships generate massive quantities of waste. This in and of itself represents a large avenue for WTE as a source of renewable energy on board ships. There are very few manufacturers venturing into the WTE segment to create power from ship waste. Scanship, a Norwegian ship waste management system manufacturer, has established a system that uses microwave-assisted pyrolysis to transform carbon-based waste generated on ships into biofuels.

Conclusions: WTE is also a relatively new concept in the shipping industry. Countries such as Norway, which is successfully operating WTE plants on land, are progressively migrating the technology and paving the way for others. More initiatives like these can radically decrease the amount of waste that ships discharge into the sea, resulting in a more comprehensive ecosystem for all life forms.