Review and Analysis of Waste to Energy for Urban Areas of Nepal

Abstract

The rapid population growth in urban areas and change in lifestyle causes the increased trend of the rate of municipal solid waste generation. Municipal solid waste management is a serious environmental concern and a serious issue for the metropolitan cities of Nepal due to insufficient technical, financial and managerial resources. The traditional practice of burning waste has an adverse impact on the environment. The paper presents an overview of different types of waste-to-energy technologies for urban waste management, and anaerobic digestion is one of the most efficient methods. It is seen that about 2.8 MWh/day of electricity can be produced from the waste collection of Kathmandu Metropolitan City through the anaerobic digestion process. The finding signifies the huge potential in Kathmandu valley for the generation of energy from the waste which is the necessary and appropriate step towards developing a sustainable urban waste management system in Nepal.