Alternative energy from waste and biomass
List of Topics

VENICE 2024 HOT TOPICS AND NEW IDEAS FOR DISCUSSION! Read more >>>

The Symposium is encouraging the submission of papers dealing with the following topics and other relevant ones:

1. FEEDSTOCKS
Amounts, quality, properties, monitoring, source segregation, sorting and collecting systems, energy potential evaluation, etc.

• Municipal Solid Waste (Putrescible Organic Fractions, Paper and cardboard, Plastics, Food waste, Unsorted waste, Gardening, etc.)
• Special waste (Tyres, Automotive Shredded Residues, High calorific C&D waste, Residues from Circular Economy)
• Healthcare waste
• Organic Industrial and hazardous waste
• Residual oils (Lubricants, Cooking oils, Concentrated oils form bilge waters, etc.)
• Sludges (Sewage sludge, Kraft mill pulp sludge, etc.)
• Waste biomass (Agriculture and horticultural residues, Manure, wastes from Beverage and Food industries, Winery industries waste, Meet and Fish industries, etc.)
• Harvested Biomass (Wood from forests, agriculture crops, by-products from wood and agriculture, algae, seaweeds, vegetable oils, etc.)
• Others (Insects, larvae, etc.)

2. CONVERSION PROCESSES
Features, operation, technologies, efficiencies, emissions control, residues management, siting of plants, decentralisation, appropriate solutions for Developing Countries, etc.

• Mechanical treatment (Shredding, Sorting, Pelletising, etc.)
• Anaerobic digestion (hydrolysis, acidogenic fermentation, biohydrogen production, acetogenesis, methanogenesis)
• Biodrying for Solid Recovered Fuels (SRF) production
• Biorefinery unit operations (Distillation, Transesterification, Fermentation, Hydrogenation, etc.)
• Microbial fuel cell
• Chemical Treatment (conversion of plastics to fuels, Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC), Hydrogenation, etc.)
• Thermochemical treatment (Combustion, Pyrolysis, Gasification, etc.)
• Low temperature thermochemical processes (Torrefaction, Hydrothermal Liquefaction, Hydrothermal Carbonization)
• Integrated conversion processes

3. ENERGY OUTPUTS
Quality, purification, handling, storage, transport features, quality and energy valorisation

• Liquid fuels: ethanol, biodiesel, methanol, vegetable oil, pyrolysis oil, tars etc.
• Gaseous fuels: biogas (CH₄ and CO₂), producer gas (CO, H₂, CH₄, CO₂ , H₂), syngas (CO, H₂), substitute natural gas (CH₄)
• Solid fuels: charcoal, torrefied biomass, RDF/SRF, etc.
• Heat (steam production, district utilisation, building heating, industrial use, data centre waste heat reuse, etc.)
• Electricity (On site production, Electrofuels from renewable sources, etc.)
• Mobility fuels (gasoline, diesel, maritime fuels, SAF-sustainable aviation fuels)

4. POLICIES, STRATEGIES, REGULATIONS
Regional, National and international approaches, EU Strategies and directives, role of research, etc.

• Legal and administrative liabilities
• Role of alternative energy generation in Circular Economy strategies
• End of waste issues for alternative energy generation and use

5. GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE
Role of alternative energy from waste and biomass

• CO₂ capture Storage Utilisation
• CO₂ credits
• Carbon balance
• Reduction of GHG
• Energy saving etc.
  
  

6. ECONOMIC ASPECTS
Virtuous relationships between economy, scientific research and technologies, case studies etc.

• Capital and operational costs,
• Revenues, taxation and excise duties
• Financing opportunities
• Sales e-trading, business analytics
• Economic Perspectives in Developing countries

7. DECISION TOOLS
Sustainability achievement, cost-benefit assessment, alternative scenarios, evaluation grid, etc.

• Environmental impact assessment
• Sustainability achievement
• Material and substance flow analysis
• Energy flow analysis,
• LCA-Life cycle analysis
• Risk assessment, etc.

8. COMMUNICATION: WASTE TO ENERGY AND SOCIETY 
Role of communication, How to communicate, Public involvement, etc.

• Public perception in different national contexts
• Waste to energy in the media
• Waste to energy and social movements/ Local oppositions
• Communication tools
• Information campaigns
• Mediation and consensus/ Education/ Case studies

9. OTHER RELEVANT ISSUES
Problems definition, Critical aspects, Solutions, Case studies, etc.

• Digitalization and automation (AI-Artificial Intelligence), ML-Machine Learning, IoT -Internet of Things, Big Data, cloud and edge computing, robotic process automation, logistics, etc.)
• Architecture of biomass/waste-to-energy plants (volumetric footprint as a design tool for functional land planning, designing criteria, etc.)
• Ecotoxicological aspects and health issues (Occupational health, Emissions and human exposure, Epidemiological studies, etc.)
• Environmental impacts (emissions, odours, etc.)