CONVERTING URBAN WASTE TO ENERGY - A CASE STUDY ON DELHI

By:DEEPAK SAINI

INDEX
TOPIC PAGE
3 ABSTRACT ..........................................................................................

INTRODUCTION ................................................................................... 4 ARGUMENTS AGAINST INCINERATION................................................... 5 BIOGAS PLANTS USING MSW............................................................ 6 POTENTIAL SITES IN DELHI...................................................................... 7 BENEFITS OF MEDIUM SCALE BIOGAS PLANTS........................................ 8 ROADBLOCKS.......................................................................................... 9 CONCLUSION.......................................................................................... 10 REFERENCES............................................................................................ 11

ABSTRACT
Energy recovery from Municipal Solid Wastes (MSW) generated in New Delhi is studied. The two options available are recovery of Biogas and energy due to the firing (incineration) of MSW as fuel are reviewed. Earlier studies (1*) have proposed that continuous recovery of energy from the citys MSW through Biogas needs a lot of planning with respect to the design, construction, operation and maintenance of landfills & yield of Biogas with respect to the age of landfills is often a limitation for planning purposes. Electric power Generation (EPG) by firing MSW as fuel in the boiler-steam-turbine system (called Incineration) was also studied and it was found that the EPG is directly proportional to the calorific value of MSW fired, following an empirical relation. For encouraging results, it is suggested that, the combustible organic wastes be segregated from the MSW stream. However, incineration has been far less successful than expected and has caused a lot of pollution. In this report, the technical, social and economicprospects of setting up medium scale biogas plants for urban poor (those living in slums)and suburban people is considered. Considering the current boom in gas prices and the ever increasing quantity of MSW, this proposition seems more feasible.

INTRODUCTION
The quantity of municipal solid wastes generated in Delhi has been consistentlyrising over the years. This can be attributed to the rapid population growth, massmigration of population from rural to urban areas, increase in economic activities ingeneral in the city and the change in lifestyle of the people.Solid waste management is a part of the Public health and sanitation and falls within the purview of the powers of the State. The local Governments are therefore entrusted with the task of solid waste service delivery with their own staff, equipment and funds. A 2009 survey by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) estimated that Delhi produces 6,800 tonnes of solid waste a day,of which 94% goes to dumpinggrounds. The estimate is in accordance with the average per capita generation (PCG) of 0.5 Kg/day of MSW in the country (*2).A 2007 report by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), a nodal environmental body for the Capital, said that landfills were not a solution for the current Municipal Solid Waste crisis in the city.(*3) The population of Delhi is estimated to be about 1.68 Crore(*4). By the above PCG, the net MSW would be about 8,400 tonnes a day. It needs to be managed. At the same time the energy needs of the country are rising rapidly. Converting MSW into energy is an elegant solution. Energy can be recovered from MSW in the following forms:
ENERGY RECOVERY FROM MSW

Biogas plants:
Recovery of Biogas and utilizing its energy content

Incineration:
Usage of MSW as fuel, either as-discarded basis or processed (Refuse derived fuel or RDF), for generation of steam through boilers Incineration is the dominant practice today but has significant disadvantages. This report stresses on the fact that incineration must be discouraged and biogas plants must be used for energy generation. It also explores the possibility of using small scale biogas plants instead of large ones and providing this biogas to sub urban areas.

ARGUMENTS AGAINST INCINERATION

Incineration has been in use for the past two decades in Delhi. Though it has met the basic goals of producing energy out of MSW, it has generated the following problems: 1. Incineration has caused a lot of pollution. The Jindal Incineration plant in Okhla is a case in point. This plants side effects are described by a news report by Sruthijith KK, ET Bureau Oct 6, 2011(*5). 2. Cost of these plants is VERY HIGH.Presently India imports Incineration plants and each plant costs about 100 Crore. 3. Low calorific value (CV) of MSW in Delhi makes Incineration less economical. The blogger at Delhi goes Green vented his/her feelings over the glaring failure of the Nehru Vihar Incineration plant:

The Nehru Vihar Waste to Energy Plant, that was set up in North Delhi after purchasing everything from abroad (no names, for lack of a more irrational government) and installed in full glory to convert Delhis waste into electricity DID NOT WORK FOR EVEN A SINGLE DAY. Reason, figured after making all the payments to the seller country: Delhis waste does not have the required calorific value to burn and produce electricity.
Regarding the pollution from incineration plants, a news report (*5) said: The polluting potential of a plant using municipal solid waste as fuel is serious. Emissions include suspended particulate matter (SPM), sulphur oxides (SOx), nitrogen oxides (NOx), hydrogen chloride (HCl), and dioxins and furans, which are among the most toxic substances known to science. Dioxins and furans can cause cancer in humans, while SPMs, SOx and NOx are known to cause heart attacks and respiratory diseases, among other things. The fly ash and bottom ash generated during incineration contain high concentrations of heavy metals such as mercury and lead toxic substances known to affect the central nervous system. Running such plants in a city is a dangerous proposition. Furthermore, incineration cannot run only on kitchen waste. So these incineration plants burn cardboard, paper etc as these have higher calorific value. But paper and cardboard can be recycled can provides livelihood to about 10,000 rag pickers in Delhi.

BIOGAS PLANTS USING MSW

Biogas plants are a solution to the problem of converting MSW to energy. The average biogas generation rate from MSW under Indian conditions is estimated at 250 m3/tonne of MSW(*1). The estimates pertaining to the amount of MSW that ultimately reaches the landfill for disposal reveal that, approximately 2/3rd of MSW that is generated reaches the landfill. The remaining 1/3rd portion accounts for the MSW that is not collected; the fraction which is composted, recycled and burned in open pits or by other means (*5). Considering these rates,the amount of MSW that is expected to reach the landfill for ultimate disposal in New Delhi is estimated around 5300 tonnes/day and the biogas yield is expected at 1,50,000 m3/day. Yet managing huge landfills for biogas conversion is a daunting task.The actual output may vary significantly from the proposed estimates. Also, the net output may change with seasons and with the age of the landfill. An alternative way is to generate biogas in medium scale biogas plants that can handle waste of the order of 1,000kg-10,000kg.Plants of similar capacity are already operational in Maharashtra.All organic MSW can be used as fuel in these biogas plants. Organic waste from vegetable markets, gowshalas & meat shops can be the principle raw materials for the plant. Also, human excreta collected from slums can be used as a raw material since a system for collection of faecal matter from slums is already in place. Technical Details ofNisargruna Biogas Plant Capacity Methane Manure production Area Cooking Fuel (Equal to LPG 3 2 (Tons/ Day) Generation M (Kg /day) Required M Cyl / day) or Electricity 1 60 100 300 2-3 (5KW) 2 120 200 400 4-5 (10KW) 3 180 300 400 4-5 (10KW) 4 240 400 500 8-10 (20KW) 5 300 500 500 12-14 (25KW) 10 600 1000 800 22-25 (50KW) By this estimate a 10,000kg biogas plant can be used to provide cooking fuel to about 3000 people every day. So, such a plant is suitable for slums and suburban villages. This is better than the use of firewood or cow dung cakes that have significantly less calorific value. Another point to be noted is that these plants produce nitrogen and phosphorus rich organic manure that can be sold at the rate of Rs.4-5 per kilogram.

POTENTIAL SITES IN DELHI

The following vegetable markets and dairies are suitable for medium scale biogas plants
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Azadpur wholesale vegetables market Dairies near Annanagar Shahadara fruits and vegetables market Darya Ganj vegetables market Nangloi vegetables market Dairies in Narela Okhla fruits and vegetables market Tilak Nagar wholesale vegetables market GoylaVihar area near Goyla dairies

Besides these, the slums and J.J.Colonies in Delhi are also good potential sites.

There are several villages in Delhi. Some of them are 1. ShahbadDaulatpur 2. Mongol Puri 3. Badli 4. PausangiPur 5. SamayPur 6. Chandrawali 7. Karawal Nagar 8. HumayunPur 9. Okhla 10. Tihar village 11. Munirka The cow dung and farm waste in these villages can be supplemented with the MSW of surrounding areas to generate biogas. Manure produced can be used by the farmers in these villages. Delhi shares borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. These are agrarian states and thus provide a huge market for the manure produced in Delhis biogas plants. Government institutions like MCD, NDMC, DCB and CPWD can buy this manure for the parks they maintain.

BENEFITS OF MEDIUM SCALE BIOGAS PLANTS

1. Hygienic surrounding and airtight top covers for the system, hence no smell and foul odour from this system 2. Saving in terms of transport and labour costs for disposal of above waste from source of generation to the disposal site 3. Installation of biogas plant will enable conveniently treatment of biodegradable waste and thereby maintain a clean, hygienic, pollution free environment and also avoid all hassles of storage and transportation of waste 4. Biogas, a renewable source of non-conventional energy generated, is proportional to the waste loaded per day 5. Maintenance cost is low since the operation of the equipment is periodic 6. The biogas produced provides smoke free fuel to your kitchen, can be used to fire boilers or for electricity generation 7. The government has allowed 100% depreciation in the year of installation for this noncon1ventional source of energy and environmentally friendly waste disposal system 8. The high quality manure generated can be used directly in agricultural fields as it has organically rich fertilizer properties 9. The size of our plant is very compact, can be installed in the area close to the generation of waste 10. Local people in slums or suburban villages can be trained to run these biogas plants. Thus operational costs can be further reduced 11. Technology for the proposed system is readily available 12. The Indian sub continent is also suitable for operation of biogas plants 13. Solid waste management is a part of the Public health and sanitation and falls within thepurview of the powers of the State. The local Governments are therefore entrusted with thetask of solid waste service delivery with their own staff, equipment and funds. Biogas plants will significantly reduce the pressure on local authorities, provide cleaner environment for slums, better environment for women in kitchen and provide employment to some slum dwellers.

ROADBLOCKS
Despite its positives biogas has not caught up in urban and suburban areas even though India is a world leader in running biogas plants in rural areas. This is because rural biogas plants use farm produce which requires gasification technique which is quite developed in India while biogas plants working with MSW work on the basis of digestion process in which we are rather less proficient. But since the opening up of the Indian economy technology transfer has been expedited. Research work has also been done in India and some designs like Nisargruna Biogas plants have been developed. (*6) To become popularthis technology needs the backing of local government as well asNGOs, which has so far been negligible.

CONCLUSION
Energy recovery from MSW generated in NewDelhi is studied. The two options available are recovery of Biogas and energy due to firing (incineration) of MSWas fuel are reviewed. Delhis experiences with incineration have been negatives. Less calorific value of MSW, exorbitantly priced foreign technology, pollution from incineration plants and loss to recycle industry are the various reasons for this. There has been large scale public outcry against the already operational and proposed incineration plants in Delhi. Continuous recovery of energy from the citys MSW through Biogas needs a lot of planning with respect to the design, construction, operation and maintenance of landfills. The yield of Biogas with respect to the age of landfills is often a limitation for planning purposes. In Indian conditions, this is estimated as 7-10 years. The Pilot plant studies conducted in New Delhi in 1984 have also confirmed this aspect. The prospect of running medium scale biogas plants in suitable locations of Delhi has been considered. These areas have the potential to provide biogas to the suburban areas. The benefits of this approach are also considered.For encouraging results, it is recommended that, the combustible organic wastes be segregated from the MSW stream. It is also suggested that, the biogas available from MSW be utilized in pocketed areas in the city such as slums, suburban villages, dairies and fruits & vegetable markets where high amount of combustible organic wastes will be generated and their collection efficiency is also expected to be highe

Design of a Medium Scale Biogas Plant

REFERENCES
*1-ENERGY RECOVERY FROM URBAN SOLID WASTES A CASE STUDY V. Ramakrishna and B.V. Babu, Birla Institute of Technology & SciencePilani, Issued in 1998 *2-Urban Solid Waste Management A special reference to Delhi, Ramakrishna V, Project Report submittedto Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani. (1993). *3-By Toxics Link, New Delhi, 21/07/2007

*4-Jindal Group's upcoming waste-to-energy plant has Delhi fuming. News report by Sruthijith KK, ET Bureau Oct 6, 2011 *5-Bhide A.D. (1994).Methane emissions from landfills, Journal IAEM, Vol. 21, pp. 1-7. *6-http://www.green-ensys.org/site/Biogas_Plant.html . The design was developed by BARC, with help from other institutions.