Waste-to-Energy and Renewable Electricity
Pyrolysis is suitable for high calorific value wastes, such as non-recycled plastics (35 MJ/kg). It will not be viable for urban wastes <12 MJ/kg) and certainly not for wastewater biosolids (<5 MJ/kg). You cannot make a silken purse from a sow’s ear.
In 2008, WtERT at Columbia University was the first research organization to advocate in Abu Dhabi , to media and policy makers, that Masdar City must include recycling + waste to energy (WTE) in 2008.
IN DEPTH: Bee’ah and Masdar Double Down on Waste to Energy in UAE (On Waste Management World)
New York State over decades has conserved an enormous amount of greenfield land, produced renewable electricity, and recovered metals by combusting millions of tons of urban wastes in 10 (ten) WTE plants. The current NYS legislators are hard at work to push the State backward to the 20th century.