PakAlumni Worldwide: The Global Social Network

The Global Social Network

Turning Trash Into Electricity Kills Two Birds With One Stone

Among other things during a visit to Pakistan last year, the frequent power outages, commonly called "load shedding", and piles of garbage in the streets made a distinct impression on my family and I. Since our return to the United States, I have been wondering if it is possible to solve both problems at once? Clean up the streets by collecting garbage, and burn the collected trash to generate more electricity? It seems that the Danes are doing exactly that, according to a story in today's New York Times.

Denmark's Community Power Plants:

The new plants in Denmark are far cleaner than conventional incinerators. Such new type of plants convert local community trash into heat and electricity. Dozens of filters catch pollutants, from mercury to dioxin, that would have emerged from its smokestack only a decade ago.

As a result of new innovations, Denmark now regards garbage as a clean alternative fuel rather than a smelly, unsightly problem. And the incinerators, known as waste-to-energy plants, are welcomed by many upscale communities of professionals that vie to have them built.

Denmark now has 29 such plants, serving 98 municipalities in a country of over 5 million people, and 10 more are planned or under construction. Across Europe, there are about 400 plants, with Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands leading the pack in expanding them and building new ones, according to the New York Times.

Pakistan's Mountains of Garbage:

With the consumption boom of packaged products in the last few years, it seems that Pakistani cities are inundated with rubbish, and the garbage collection and waste disposal systems are totally inadequate. Here is an excerpt from my post in July 2009 about visit to Karachi:

"We saw lots of heaps of stinking trash in several parts of the city along the roadside on our way. It seemed as though the Karachi garbage collectors were on strike, but my impressions proved to be incorrect, as I was told that this was normal in several parts of Karachi. The government owned and operated garbage collection systems pick up less than 50% of the solid waste generated and the remaining uncollected garbage rots on the streets, posing serious health risks for the growing population. The massive piles of garbage also plug up the already inadequate storm water drains resulting in serious flooding in the monsoon months of July and August every year. None of the major cities in Pakistan have an adequate solid waste management system, though Karachi city government has reportedly contracted with a Chinese firm to establish and operate such a system. The waste collection and management firm, Shanghai Shen Gong Environmental Protection Company Limited, will start its operations of collecting litter from across the city from August 14, 2009 - initially in only six of the eighteen towns of the city of Karachi. And, as expected, this service will not come free, nor should it. Karachi-ites will be required to pay Rs. 100 to 1,000 per month as public utility charges under six categories (according to lot size) on their residential units. Businesses built on 200 sq yards to 10,000 sq yards or more will have to pay Rs. 500 to Rs. 5,000 in garbage collection fees while industrial units covering an area of 1,000 sq yards to 5,000 sq yards and above will be billed Rs. 500 to Rs. 2,000 per month. There have already been howls of protests against these garbage collection fees and it will be interesting to see how effective CDGK (City District Government of Karachi) will be in ensuring payments."

Unfortunately, I am told that things have gotten much worse since last year. The City District Government of Karachi (CDGK) has since been dissolved, and the privatization of garbage collection has not materialized. At the same time, the energy crisis has become significantly more acute, with extended hours of "load shedding" on a daily basis.

Recommendation:

There is no real substitute for dramatic improvements in government's energy policies and governance to solve the acute energy problems Pakistan faces. However, I do think the Danish experience is worth exploring by at least some of the communities in Pakistan. Instead of just complaining about mounting garbage piles, and running noisy and polluting diesel generators to fill the growing power gap, it is time for some of the upscale urban communities to start taking a page from the European experience to kill two birds with one stone. Based on the "clean energy" designation, these projects might even qualify for dollars from carbon credits under Kyoto's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). Upscale communities such as Defense Housing Societies should seek guidance from their Danish counterparts to establish a few pilot projects to prove the concept in Pakistan.

Similar efforts can be undertaken in the industrial sector as well, with various industrial estates leading the way to solve their power problems. Rachna Industrial Park near Sheikhupura has already launched a 25 MW trash-burning power plant project currently underway.

Here's a video explaining waste to energy processes:

Comment by Riaz Haq on March 15, 2013 at 10:33pm: Here's a Daily Times report on converting waste to electricity:

National Industrial Parks (NIP) Development and Management Company has decided to establish a 25 megawatt (MW) power generation plant based on municipal and agro waste besides local coal or combination of these fuels for the electricity requirement of the industries at the Rachna Industrial Park on the main Lahore-Sheikhupura Road.

The Rachna Power Plant will be the first-ever power unit to be developed on the basis of waste as a source of energy. The plant’s primary fuel will be Refused Derive Fuel (RDF) prepared from a mixture of municipal solid wastes and agro wastes, while the coal would be used as a backup fuel.

The technology of an integrated recovery of recyclable materials and production of the refused derive fuel will be adopted for this power plant.

The concept of the modern waste to energy plant has been proposed for the Rachna Power Plant, which is very different from the old incinerators due to the technological progress of the last decade.

Chief Executive Officer Mohsin Syed at NIP meeting in which investors of the Rechna Industrial Park were also present said the municipal solid waste of Lahore and surrounding area and the agro wastes, which including rice husk, corn and wood waste of the adjoining areas would be collected and transported to recycle it into a real fuel that could be easily stored, transported and efficiently burned at the plant site within the premises of the Rachna Industrial Park.

He said the power generation complex was proposed to consist of one unit of 6 MW and two units of 11 MW each with total gross capacity of the 28 MW and the net capacity at site would be 25.5 MW to provide operational flexibility and reliability in case of shut down of one or more units.

The power generation facility would be located within the premises of the Rachna Industrial Park located at 7.5 kilometers (km) Lahore-Sheikhupura Road on the Upper Chenab Canal. The site is at the distance of 18 km from the

Lahore-Shekhupura Motorway Interchange, 24 km from the Lahore city centre and 40 km from the Allama Iqbal International Airport Lahore and an area of 10 acres has already been earmarked for the power generation complex at the Rachna Industrial Park, the NIP chief explained.

The aim of the Rachna power project is to reduce pollution, preserve the fossil fuel, reduce the greenhouse gases and protect the ozone layer by utilizing the wastes collected from the cities of Lahore, Sheikhupura and surrounding areas for power generation, he said. For environmental standpoint, the Rachna Power Plant will be highly desirable.

The project will be designed on the basis of zero discharge by installing an on-site evaporation pond and air emission from the plant would meet quality standards prevailing anywhere in the world. Emission will be much lower than the World Bank’s guidelines due to the use of Circulating Fluidised Bed combustion with lime dosing to neutralise any SO2 emission. Socially, the project will be providing job opportunities to the people of the area, he concluded.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2013\03\16\story_16-3-2013_pg5_9

Comment by Riaz Haq on December 3, 2013 at 9:43pm: Here's Bloomberg story on power plant burning waste to produce electricity:

Swiss Water Tech Research & Development SA, a green-technology developer, said it’s in line to win about $200 million of contracts in Pakistan to supply clean-power plants that run on waste.
The Neuchatel, Switzerland-based company received a letter of intent from the Punjab state government and will provide the technology for a 100-megawatt project, Chief Operational Operator Ralph Hofmeier said in an interview. Swiss Water is also in talks with private companies for a similar amount of capacity that includes agreements last week with three firms for 17 megawatts.
The plants could run on liquid or solid waste to generate power more cheaply than coal, solar or wind projects, Hofmeier said in Karachi without elaborating. The company is seeking funds from Habib Bank Ltd. that would be backed by a sovereign guarantee from the Pakistan government, he said on Nov. 26.
Swiss Water officials in Pakistan last week signed a memorandum of understanding, Memoona Arslan, communications manager at state-owned Lahore Waste Management Co., said by phone from Lahore. Four thousand tons of solid waste will be needed to produce the 100 megawatts, Arslan said.
The payback period for such investments can be as short as 15 months, according to Hofmeier. A 100-megawatt plant in the U.S., where consumption rates differ from Pakistan, can power about 80,000 average homes, according to electric data.
Pakistan is the sixth-most populous nation with about 200 million residents. The country can suffer power, light and fan outages in some areas of up to 18 hours a day during summer months. Blackouts have sparked violent protests and affected a textile industry that accounts for 54 percent of exports.
Water contamination is such in the country that 15.9 million people, more than Ecuador’s population, lack access to safe drinking water, according to Ehsan Malik, chairman of Unilever Pakistan Ltd. Infectious water-borne diseases in Pakistan are a leading cause of infant deaths from diarrhea, the chief executive said last month.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-03/swiss-water-planning-200-m...

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