News
From solid waste to energy
Sri Lanka is on path to face a severe crisis in the near future due to the lack of a comprehensive plan to address the mounting garbage issue currently plaguing many of the municipalities. The increasing population is rapidly generating more solid waste than ever before that our little island is unable to absorb through available landfills.
The Garbage mountain in a highly residential area in Meethotamulla: Plasma gasification is the solution
Mountains of unhealthy landfills in several major cities such as Colombo, Kandy and Ratnapura are already causing major environmental and health issues to the surrounding community. People living in the surrounding areas of these massive landfills are starting to protest in the streets demanding action as our authorities have turned a blind-eye while these helpless people have suffered long with stench and diseases due to unhealthy environment.
The recent demonstration and tense situation at Meethotamulla is a testimony to this situation. The technology is already available at competitive cost to address the solid waste issues around the world. “Plasma Gasification” is one of the most suitable as it breaks down solid waste into the basic elements with no harmful gases released in the process.
Plasma gasification can be used to convert carbon-containing materials to synthesis gas that can be used to generate power and other useful products, such as transportation fuels. Plasma gasification provides a number of key benefits:
” It unlocks the greatest amount of energy from waste
” Feedstocks can be mixed, such as municipal solid waste, biomass, tires, hazardous waste, and auto shredder waste
” It does not generate methane, a potent greenhouse gas
” It is not incineration and therefore doesn’t produce leachable bottom ash or fly ash
” It reduces the need for landfilling of waste
” It produces syngas, which can be combusted in a gas turbine or reciprocating to produce electricity or further processed into chemicals, fertilizers, or transportation fuels-thereby reducing the need for virgin materials to produce these products
” It has low environmental emissions
Renewable energy company Alter NRG recently built a 15MW Plasma Gasification plant in China. It processes 600 metric tonnes of solid waste a day (which is roughly equivalent to the amount of solid waste produced in Greater Colombo). The cost of this project was just $15m, which is a fraction of the cost compared to the $107m project the Cabinet approved to transport Colombo’s solid waste to Puttalam landfill. We would also like to highlight the importance of reconsidering the 3MW controversial and environmentally destructive mini hydropower project in the protected Sri Pada sanctuary again and investigate the possibility of introducing plasma gasification as a better alternative to mini hydropower projects in environmentally sensitive areas.
There is no doubt, Plasma Gasification technology comes out a clear winner considering benefit to the environment, generating energy and the cost effectiveness. Therefore, we urge you to consider and call a tender process for a suitable governmental or non governmental investor to set up a Waste-to-Energy plant using Plasma Gasification technology in Colombo. The project could be further expanded to other municipalities experiencing severe shortage of landfills, such as Kandy and Ratnapura.
The benefits of such a project are immense as not only it solves the mounting garbage issues around the country, but also contributes electricity to the national grid and provides a clean and healthy environment for the surrounding communities.
(The writer, who holds an MSc in Green Technology and an MPhil in Integrated Water Resources Management, is a scientific advisor to the Rainforest Protectors of Sri Lanka. He can be contacted at cpg810@gmail.com. This article was based on a letter he sent to the Central Environmental Authority, the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Power & Energy, the Colombo Municipal Council, the Kandy Municipal Council and the Ratnapura Municipal Council)