The diploma thesis deals with the topic of energy efficiency in the field of waste management in the EU and Slovenia. The theoretical part focuses on the historical overview of waste management and the types of waste generated, where, based on the waste management hierarchy, we present waste management methods. The aim here is to present waste-to-energy (WtE) technologies. The most established methods of WtE technology are thermo-chemical treatment of waste, which includes incineration, pyrolysis and gasification, as well as biochemical treatment with the process of anaerobic digestion. The diploma thesis of technology describes and presents the main properties of each of the methods. The following is a presentation of the circular economy and the role of WtE technologies in it. Here, with the help of multivariate comparative analysis based on nine factors, as equivalent indicators of the circular economy, the thesis compares 27 European countries. In the last part, it undertakes life cycle assessment in the design of WtE technologies in the selected area. The thesis, based on the example of a Nigerian LCA study, presents the LCA methodology and the process of evaluating suitable WtE technology based on four factors in our case. Based on the principle of assessing the potential of produced electricity, the potential of global warming, acidification and organic pollution, with the help of LCA analysis we come to the importance and conclusions in the design of WtE technologies. At the end, the problems we encounter in the implementation of LCA studies are presented. Here, the thesis touches on the livestock industry in order to determine if the latter really represents one of the biggest environmental problems nowdays.
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