An overview of waste-to-energy: feedstocks, technologies and implementations

Waste-to-energy (WtE) is a key issue of a waste management system. From the perspective of the energy system, WtE will contribute to the development of a low-carbon society. However, due to the lack of reviews of the historical and evolutionary aspects, studies related to WtE have not been comprehensively summarized from either a quantitative or qualitative perspective. This study applied bibliometric analysis to review the research features and trends of WtE study. Results showed that seven productive countries, including the United States and China, have made great contributions to the WtE studies. In terms of research methods, life cycle assessment is the most popular method. The main research fields focus on greenhouse gas emissions, environmental impact, and energy technology innovations. The research topics showed that improve energy recovery efficiency and climate change impacts have received increasing attention in WtE research. This chapter provides a comprehensive review of WtE research and quantifies the research networks and key information.