BHUBANESWAR: Amid push for suitable alternatives to reduce dependence on conventional fuel, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has initiated process to set up a 50 tonne-per-day (TPD) green-waste plant for production of smokeless charcoal that could substitute coal, firewood and LPG in both commercial and domestic market.
Sources said the civic body is planning to set up the charcoal plant as part of a 200 TPD mega municipal solid waste (MSW) processing facility at Bhuasuni, where the bio-mining project is underway to clear the legacy waste.
While about 150 tonne of solid waste will be processed at the plant from the site and converted into different value-added products, another 50 TPD plant will be set up to use city’s green waste for production of charcoal.
BMC officials said for processing of tonnes of horticulture and green waste generated every day, the civic body is taking steps to commission a 25 TPD biomass briquettes facility in Palasuni which is expected to be made operational in a month or two. However, the facility is primarily designed to process woody biomass and is not suitable for handling green leaves and other soft horticultural residues.
Currently, the city has no dedicated facility for scientific processing of mixed waste and ligno-cellulosic waste fractions such as green waste, leaves, branches and other biomass residues for conversion into value-added products. This gap necessitates the establishment of an integrated waste processing facility to efficiently utilise such waste streams and reduce dependency on external disposal mechanisms, a BMC official said.
He, however, said conversion of the green waste into charcoal is an emerging and sustainable waste to-resource solution which the civic body is now trying to explore in the middle of a global fuel crisis.
BMC officials said through controlled carbonisation, biomass waste will be thermally decomposed to produce charcoal (biochar), along with byproducts such as syngas and bio-oil.
The charcoal will be smokeless and high-calorific value fuel that can serve as a renewable substitute for conventional coal in industrial, commercial as well as domestic applications, said BMC deputy commissioner N Ganesh Babu. He said the project will be taken up after finalisation of the land and selection of the agency through bid.