Introduction

Energy from Combustion: 

WASTE TO ENERGY

 

The Industrial Revolution was a period of time in history where production processes became automated. A scientist living in that era named Sadi Carnot contrived the Gedanken experiment of producing energy out of nothing, now famously known as the Carnot engine.

Image 1: Carnot Engine invented by Sadi Carnot

After the establishment of the laws of thermodynamics, it became clear that energy cannot be spontaneously created from nothing, by nothing, and Carnot engines can only exist in our imaginations.

Fast forward to the current time period where widespread interconnections allows the exchange of ideas and technology. A simple act of brewing French press coffee involves pouring hot (not boiling) water over grounded coffee beans require energy to heat up the water and grind coffee beans. Extrapolating this simple act to the many indispensable processes the globalised world needs to function, it is evident that the use of energy is an integral part of our lives.

Energy is primarily attained through the combustion of non-renewable sources such as petroleum, coal, and natural gas. Eventually, these sources of energy will run dry. The result of planning for the future when such resources are close to being depleted introduced the race to search for renewable sources of energy. Indeed, research has been done in areas such as using wind turbines, photovoltaic cells, and nuclear fission for generation of energy, and much progress has been made since it had been kickstarted.
Shifting our focus to everyday human activities, which includes eating, transportation, and the research for renewable sources of energy, we observe that the byproduct of all human activities is typically unwanted and unusable, most of the time discarded. Since it cannot be used in advantageous ways, it is hence classified as waste. We question if there are possible methods of converting the byproduct of human activities into usable forms of energy. In this project, we examine how energy can be harnessed from the combustion of waste.

Image 2: How do we not let the waste go to waste?

 

 

References:

Carnot Engine:
http://galileo.phys.virginia.edu/classes/152.mf1i.spring02/CarnotEngine.htm

Coffee beans:
http://www.illy.com/wps/wcm/connect/en/coffee/how-prepare-french-press-coffee

Image 1: Watt_steam_engine. (2017). Retrieved from https://www.nagaitoshiya.com/wiki/en/Watt_steam_engine.jpg

Image 2: (2017). Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/news/image/3659796-3×2-940×627.jpg

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