Urban Waste Management and Renewable Energy (W2E)

Population increase, industrial development and rapid urbanization cause an increase in the quantity and diversity of the generated wastes. Furthermore, the world’s limited resources are being depleted to meet human beings' increasing demands. In order to prevent global warming, environmental pollution and to conserve our limited resources for future generations, both scientific and professional community are seeking ways to dispose of industrial and urban wastes in an environmentally friendly manner and to recover resources from these wastes for further utilization. Renewable energy sources, particularly waste to energy systems, have also been emphasized more significantly during the last couple of decades as substitutes to fossil fuel sources. Therefore, more attention is now globally being directed towards management of urban wastes, subsequent recovery of resources and production of renewable energy.

The objective of this concentration area is to introduce the fundamentals and principles of urban waste management, waste to energy practices and renewable energy systems to graduate students, with a particular focus on recovery of resources from urban and rural waste and residues, including biological production of renewable energy (bioenergy) from biomass and management of hazardous wastes.