Recycling facility for fly ash problem in WtE plants

A senior MCD official said that as part of the development of a new WtE plant at Ghazipur, the tender conditions will now use the concessionaire to adopt technologies that minimize processing waste.

In a bid to tackle the growing problem of fly ash and burnt residue disposal from Waste-to-Energy (WtE) plants, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is introducing new clauses in its plant tendering process. These clauses will mandate the setting up of recycling facilities to convert ash and other processing rejects into marketable byproducts, senior civic officials said.

A senior MCD official said that the plant operators have been directed to develop bricks with the ashes.

To further encourage recycling, the MCD also plans to impose a dumping fee on operators depositing ash at landfill sites.

A senior MCD official said that as part of the development of a new WtE plant at Ghazipur, the tender conditions will now use the concessionaire to adopt technologies that minimize processing waste. Operators will also be required to establish facilities for converting fly ash, inert materials, and construction & demolition (C&D) waste into recyclable or reusable products which can be sold in the market.

“The revenue generated from such products derived from processing rejects shall accrue solely to the company,” official said.

Delhi operates four waste to energy plants at Ghazipur, Tehkhand, Okhla and Narela Bawana and incineration of waste has become the primary method of waste disposal with 7350 TPD (tonnes per day) out of 11,300 TPD of waste being consumed at these sites. The process is underway for setting up two more plants at Ghazipur and Narela and capacity expansion of two plants at Okhla and Tehkhand by 1000 TPD each.

A senior MCD official said that the plant operators have been directed to develop bricks with the ashes. “The composition of the municipal solid waste varies but, on an average, the municipal waste leads to 10% ash and burnt material,” official added.

The corporation last year set up the first engineered landfill site at Tehkhand which is spread over an area of around 23 acres. This site is exclusively used for dumping fly ash from WtE plants. MCD officials said that the site has a capacity to hold around 960,000 tonnes of ash. The proposal to set up a second such site at North Delhi’s Sultanpur Dabas has failed to catch up.