Vijayawada: The civic administration of Vijayawada is planning to generate energy from the 500 metric tonne of waste being produced in the city every day.
For this, it wants to revive the bio-methanation plant built in Vijayawada in 2004 and make it operational.
If everything goes well, the Vijayawada Municipal Coprporation (VMC) will get additional revenue through this exercise. Also, the burden of power bills on the Corporation will reduce by 40 per cent.
In addition, the VMC is also planning to put an end to open dumping of garbage in the city.
Bio-methanation is a process by which organic material is microbiologically converted under anaerobic conditions to biogas.
Three main physiological groups of microorganisms involved in the process are fermenting bacteria, organic acid oxidising bacteria and methanogenic archaea.
Microorganisms degrade organic matter via cascades of biochemical conversions to methane and CO2.
Syntrophic relationships between hydrogen producers (acetogens) and hydrogen scavengers such as homoacetogens and hydrogenotrophic methanogens are critical to the process.
Determination of practical and theoretical methane potential is very important for optimal process design, configuration, and effective evaluation of economic feasibility.
A wide variety of process applications for bio-methanation of wastewaters, slurries, and solid waste have been developed.
They utilise different reactor types such as fully mixed, plug-flow, biofilm, and UASB and process conditions like retention times, loading rates, and temperatures in order to maximise the energy output from the waste and also to decrease retention time and enhance process stability.
Bio-methanation has strong potential for production of energy from organic residues and wastes. It will help to reduce the use of fossil fuels and thus reduce CO(2) emission, said a VMC official.
In fact, Pune city had initiated this process in the early days and is running successfully now.
Pune generates 1,500-1,600 tonne of solid waste per day. Over 158 trucks collect waste from every household, weighing an average of 197 tonnes per day. Around 55-60 per cent of households have door-to-door coverage, and 44 per cent of households provide segregated waste.
About 973 containers and 203 compactor buckets have been dispersed around Pune. SWaCH Cooperative, which is wholly owned by waste pickers, also provides services, in and around Pune.
If VMC revives the bio-methanation plant set up in Singh Nagar in Vijayawada city, in 2004, which is in a dilapidated condition now, there is scope for the VMC to generate energy out of the waste. With this exercise, the VMC can generate additional revenues and also can address its own power bills, which are amounting to lakhs every month.
It may be recalled that around 300 metric tonnes of vegetable waste per day is generated in Vijayawada city and the rest comes from slaughter houses.
