Converting municipal waste to green energy
Endeavour’s long-term commitment in the Asia Pacific region is strategically focused towards the development and operation of Green Energy projects, in particular Waste to Energy (WTE) Plants, refuse-derived fuel plants and associated industries processing solid and liquid waste. Endeavour’s complimentary core focus is also into bio fertilizer production facilities.
He said that what they are doing here now is to convert municipal solid waste into ‘Residue Derived Fuel (RDF)’ and for that he said: “We are building a power plant to get rid of waste totally”.
He said that there is tremendous local talent to do this job and indicated that several Sri Lankan
Converting municipal waste to green energyuniversities have identified this need and now started to produce graduates in green technology. When explaining the intricacies of EECL’s task of converting garbage into energy, he was joined accompanied by the company’s engineer Ms. Wasuda Abeyratne, a BSc in Green Technology Development of waste management from the Ruhuna University.
Putting up a plant would cost around 3.5 million Euros, he said and indicated that when these plants are built in locations where garbage is available they could cut down transport cost. He said that they are also working on studies on short term and long term solutions for the municipal solid waste generated in the Western Province and how to process municipal solid waste instead of dumped them in land- fills.
With a solid knowledge base, he said that he has made a study tour to several European countries to see how the western world is tackling their day-to-day solid waste garbage. He said that they are putting up RDF plants to deal with daily waste, segregated or non-segregated – things like pet-bottles, corrugated paper, polythene, etc.
They are shredded into minute particles, then dried and bailed and sent to cement plants and power plants to produce cement and generate power, Mr. Perumal said adding that the biodegradable material is then sent to the plant to produce high quality compost.
The company is also going ahead with another project to build an organic fertilizer plant in Bingiriya producing around 200,000 metric tons per year that could be used in the paddy fields, tea and vegetable plantations. This project will be completed in the early part of next year, he said.
Discussions have already been held with the Rubber Research Institute (RRI) and Tea Research Institute (TRI) with regard to this and the project would cost around US$ 60 million.
He said that the plant that generates power out of solid municipal waste in Sri Lanka would become a model to the entire Asian region as they intend to expand into this region with the experience they gain from Sri Lanka.