Electricity production using food waste: a review

Conventional treatments of food waste such as incineration, landfilling, and composting require large land areas and induce contamination in air, soil, and water. Alternatively, the chemical energy stored in food waste could be used for power generation. Here we review the conversion of food waste into electricity with focus on microbial fuel cells, nanogenerators, system optimization and scaling up, environmental impact, application to sensors, electricity storage, and other methods of electricity generation such as electrochemical cells, supercritical water gasification, and thermoelectric systems. We observed that microbial fuel cells can recover high amounts of energy from food waste while removing 90% of the chemical oxygen demand. Nanogenerators can convert mechanical energy into electrical energy. Catalyzed electrochemical cells enhance energy generation with up to 97% conversion of volatile fatty acids. Food waste-derived carbonaceous materials can be applied for electricity storage in batteries and supercapacitors.