New low-cost tech to convert human sludge into compost

The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, India’s premier nuclear research institute, has moved a step away from its core function and found a low-cost solution to deal with the country’s ever-increasing problem of recycling sludge.

Updated on: Dec 2, 2012, 11:55:52 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, India’s premier nuclear research institute, has moved a step away from its core function and found a low-cost solution to deal with the country’s ever-increasing problem of recycling sludge.

It has developed a technology for converting sludge – having 99% water and 1% human waste – into compost for use as low-cost good quality organic fertilisers in farms. The technology has been successfully demonstrated at the centre’s Mumbai office.

The country generates about half a million tonnes of sludge, including 0.12 million of fecal waste, daily – with not more than 30% being treated before it is dumped into water bodies. Untreated sludge contaminates water bodies and degrades the soil. Even municipal bodies in mega cities such as Delhi and Mumbai can treat only half of the sludge generated, and the rest is dumped into water bodies directly.

Municipal bodies have adopted sewage treatment plants (STPs) to deal with sludge, but many of them have not been able to deal with it efficiently. “We can make STPs more effective through the use of this technology,” said Lalit Varshney in a presentation to Planning Commission deputy chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia recently. “The quality of compost generated is also very good, as it is a rich source of organic carbon for soil conditioning.”

The technology, termed the ‘sludge hygienisation research irradiator’, uses ionising radiation to convert liquid sludge into compost that has to be dried before being used as an organic fertiliser. The radiation is used to eliminate bacteria and also reduce the foul smell to a large extent. It also succeeds in partly ridding the waste of toxic chemicals.

The biggest advantage of this technology, however, is its low cost. Through it, sludge generated by around a million people can be converted into compost at a cost of Rs. 5.6 crore – also covering the capital cost of the technology. The life span of the plant is around 30 years, Varshney said.

Though Planning Commission officials said they would recommend the system to municipal bodies that face sludge-treatment problems, but raised safety issues over the use of radiation.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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