Waste-to-Energy (WtE) Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

Market Overview

The waste-to-energy (WtE) market is expected to register a CAGR of 7.35% during the forecast period of 2021 – 2026, reaching a market size of USD 69.94 billion by 2026, up from USD 43.66 billion in 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic affected the market negatively in the form of supply chain disruptions and delays in project implementation. However, the market is expected to recover from 2021, owing to the increasing efforts to promote waste-to-energy plants by various countries across the world. In addition to this, an increasing amount of waste generation and growing concern for waste management to meet the need for sustainable urban living, and increasing focus on non-fossil fuel sources of energy are driving the demand for the waste-to-energy market. The market growth is expected to be restrained by the expensive nature of incinerators, particularly as energy prices decline and several plants are unable to cover operating costs. Furthermore, several European and Asia-Pacific countries are planning to focus more on recycling, which saves three to five times more energy, thus, restraining the waste-to-energy market.

• Thermal technology is expected to dominate the waste-to-energy market in the coming years, owing to the increasing development in incineration and gasification technologies, as well as the increasing amount of waste generated, especially from the emerging economies of Asia-Pacific.
• Emerging waste-to-energy technologies, such as Dendro Liquid Energy (DLE), which is four times more efficient in terms of electricity generation, with additional benefits of no emission discharge and effluence problems at plant sites, are expected to create significant opportunities for the market players, over the coming years.
• Asia-Pacific dominated the market across the world, with the majority of demand coming from the countries such as China, India, and Japan.

Scope of the Report

The global waste-to-energy (WtE) market report include:

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Key Market Trends

Growing Demand for Thermal-Based Waste-to-Energy Conversion

• Thermal technology is expected to account for the highest market share in the global waste-to-energy market during the forecast period, owing to the increasing development of waste incineration facilities across the world.
• It is estimated that plants, which utilize cogeneration of thermal power (heating and cooling), together with electricity generation, can reach optimum efficiencies of 80%.
• In the present scenario, incineration is the most well-known waste-to-energy technology for municipal solid waste (MSW) processing. However, waste-to-energy technologies, particularly incineration, produce pollution and carry potential health safety risks. In order to reduce particulate and gas-phase emissions, incineration plant owners have adopted a series of process units for cleaning the flue gas stream, which has, in turn, led to a significant improvement in terms of environmental sustainability.
• The thermal-based waste-to-energy conversion is expected to lead the market, particularly in the growing economies of Asia-Pacific, where the rising urban population is expected to be the key contributing factor for increasing municipal solid waste (MSW).
• Other factors, such as industrialization and economic development, would also contribute toward MSW generation, which is further expected to influence the growth of the thermal-based waste-to-energy market.

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