If the Coimbatore Corporation’s plan goes well, the
degradable, bio-waste may not end up at the Vellalore dump yard. The
civic body is likely to take the waste to a bio-methanisation plant to
produce methane, which it will use to fire the crematorium in
Chokkampudur.
According to sources in the Coimbatore
Corporation, the civic body collects about 20 tonnes of bio-degradable
waste on weekdays and nearly 30 tonnes on weekends – this largely comes
from wastes from markets and restaurants. By diverting the waste, the
Corporation will not only be able to put to better use the
bio-degradable waste but also save on fuel and maintenance. The
crematorium in Chokkampudur runs on electricity. The Corporation plans
to covert the same in such fashion that it runs on power and gas.
In
setting up the bio-methanisation plant, the Corporation is in talks
with the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University’s Bio Energy Department.
S.
Kamaraj, Head of the Department, says that every tonne of food waste
will generate 100 cubic metre gas after it undergoes aerobic digestion
process. There is no energy required for this process, though. Plus, the
bio-methanisation plant will produce 60 – 70 per cent more methane
compared to burning firewood. Better efficiency is an advantage but that
is not the only one. There is an economic angle to using the
bio-methanisation plant, as well.
Managers of
gasifier crematoriums have started using gas cylinders following
firewood shortage. And it takes a cylinder to burn a body.
But
with 3,000 cubic metre gas, which the plant will generate by processing
30 tonnes waste, the civic body will be able to burn 20 bodies and also
generate 250 kw power, Mr. Kamaraj says and adds if one were to take
into account the cost of a cylinder that is not subsidised, the
Corporation will be able to recover the plant cost within two years.
The Corporation can also make money by selling the waste from the bio-methanisation plant as manure.
He says that the TNAU has given the proposal to the Corporation and the engineers there are preparing the plant cost.
The
Corporation sources say that the Corporation plans to set up the plant
with capacity to process 10 tonnes or 20 tonnes a day depending on the
cost involved. The electric crematorium at present gets eight bodies a
day.
The sources add that after studying the
efficiency of the plant, the Corporation may go in for a similar plant
at its crematorium in Athupalam.
Source: http://tinyurl.com/m2sf24v
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