Understanding waste-to-energy plants

• The Kerala government recently announced the State’s first waste-to-energy project in Kozhikode.
• The planned facility is expected to be built in two years and generate about 6 MW of power.
• There are around 100 waste-to-energy projects around the country but only a handful of them are operational, thanks to various production and operational challenges.

Waste-to-energy projects

• Waste-to-energy projects use non-recyclable dry waste to generate electricity.
• The process increases the State’s power generation capacity and eases the solid waste management (SWM) burden.
• Generally, solid waste in India is
• 55-60% biodegradable organic waste, which can be converted into organic compost or biogas;
• 25-30% non-biodegradable dry waste; (2-3% is recyclable)
• 15% silt, stones, and drain waste.

Issues with Recycling

• Out of the non-biodegradable dry waste, only 2-3% — including hard plastics, metals, and e-waste — is recyclable.
• The remainder consists of low-grade plastic, rags, and cloth that can’t be recycled.
• This fraction of the non-recyclable dry waste is the most challenging portion of the present SWM system;

Power Generation

• The waste-to-energy plants use other dry and wet waste to generate power.
• The waste is combusted to generate heat, which is converted into electricity.

What is the Kozhikode project?

• Population of Kozhikode : 6.3 lakh
• Waste Generated: Approximately 300 tonnes per day (TPD)
• Biodegradable : 205 TPD
• Non-biodegradable: 95 TPD.

Why do waste-to-energy plants fail?

• The low calorific value of solid waste in India due to improper segregation.
• However, segregation should be streamlined to ensure the waste coming to the facility has this calorific value.
• High costs of energy production:
• Cost of Power generation: ₹7-8/unit
• Cost at which the States’ electricity boards buy power:₹3-4/unit.
• Many waste-to-energy projects have failed because of improper assessments, high expectations, improper characterisation studies, and other on-ground conditions.

How can the plant tackle challenges?

• Operating waste-to-energy projects also depends on parameters like
• Municipal collection efficiency,
• Waste segregation,
• Moisture content,
• Operational efficiency of existing biodegradable-waste-processing plants.
• If these plants have operational Issues,
• Nature of waste will change drastically to have high moisture content and low calorific value, which will compromise power generation.
• To overcome its various challenges, the municipality must ensure that only non-biodegradable dry waste is sent to the plant and separately manage the other kinds of waste.
• The municipality or the department responsible for SWM should be practical about the high cost of power generation.
• It is also crucial to conduct field studies and learn from the experience of other projects.