MANGALORE:

With inefficiency in garbage disposal, the world is walking towards a dead end, said K S Siva Prasad , chairman, Bangalore Blended Fuels (Pvt) Ltd, who has designed a waste-energy plant to tackle this problem. The plant that converts municipal solid waste into clean burning refuse derived fuel (RDF), could handle 700 tonnes of waste per day and generate 8MW of power.

Delivering a talk on `Green power from municipal waste,’ organized by Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry here on Thursday, Siva Prasad said net savings in the capital utilization in an RDF plant is more than that of a thermal plant. The audio-visual presentation in the talk explained the different stages of waste treatment in the plant.

The garbage received at site undergoes three phases namely pre-combustion, combustion and post-combustion phase, by appropriate pollution abatement systems incorporated in the plan. With the installation of the RDF plant, there will be no waste accumulation, ground water contamination and there will be a decline in health hazards, he said.

Siva Prasad, later answering technical queries, explained the various stages of waste management of homogenizing waste products by passing it through various stages of combustion and abating harmful substance in waste including plastic, glass, metals and so on. Another question raised was how this waste plant is adaptable to Indian conditions, as the waste generated in Malaysia,  where the plant was successfully tested, is different form waste generated in India.

Another question raised by the audience was comparison of net saving capital utilization in the RDF plant to a thermal plant. Siva Prasad said that though installation cost of the RDF plant is costlier than a thermal plant, in the long run, a lot of energy is saved. Environmentalist and social activists shared their view on waste disposal in Mangalore.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / TNN / Jun 03rd, 2011