Karnataka   

Generating power from municipal waste

Chitra V. Ramani

Bangalore: Disposal of solid waste is a major problem that most cities in the country face. The municipal administrations are left with little choice when it comes to disposal of solid waste — they have to find landfills to dump the waste and incinerate it.

Scientists at the Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology (KSCST) in Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have spent 400 man-hours to develop a gassifier that can be used to generate electricity from municipal waste.

IISc along with help from the Chitradurga Municipal Council will set up a plant with 200 KW capacity, where electricity would be generated from biowaste.

Speaking to The Hindu here on Thursday, Hareesha Iddya, executive secretary, KSCST, said the proposal was before the Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation (KUIDFC). Part of the funding would come from the World Bank.

"The proposal is likely to be approved by the end of January. By the end of this year, the plant may be completely functional. We want to run it for a year before taking it to other cities in the State," he said.

The plant would be set up at a cost of Rs. 5.2 crore on a two-acre plot at the 35-acre landfill in Chitradurga. "The production cost per unit would be Rs. 1.50. With the 15 tonnes of biowaste that is generated in Chitradurga, we can easily produce 200 KW power. Of this, 50 KW would probably be used to run the plant and the rest would be added to the State grid," he said.

Help

The project has been taken up with help from Chitradurga Deputy Commissioner Amaranarayan. "He made a presentation before the Chitradurga Municipal Council, which later passed a resolution for setting up the plant there," he said.

Dr. Iddaya said that with the gassifier, the quantity of resultant ash was less, just around five per cent. "This makes disposal easy. Also, with our technology, there is almost no soot," he said. Cummins, a major engine manufacturer, had signed an agreement with IISc to make engines for their gassifiers, he added.

Dr. Iddya said that biowaste first had to be dried and then shredded. The shredding technology still remained to be standardised, while the gassifier technology had been perfected.

During the World War II when petroleum products became scarce, several countries took to burning waste and used the resultant gases to run their engines and vehicles.

However, they had to encounter several problems as gases produced soot and tar.

"Work on developing a gassifier that did not produce soot or tar and could be used in rural areas began in 1985 at IISc. The carburettors had to be modified. Though the technology was used in small capacity plants, we wanted it to take it up in a big way in the rural areas," he said.

If the plant proves a success, similar plants could be set up in Bangalore. At present, the landfills are located on the city's outskirts, which make disposal a costly affair, as it has to be transported in lorries.

Instead, plants of smaller capacities could be set up in 10 zones. "This will ease recovery of waste. The power problem will ease, as citizens can use the electricity generated through the waste," he added.

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