Trial disposal of Union Carbide waste begins
The trial incineration is being carried out following a Madhya Pradesh high court order from February 18.
The trial incineration of 10 metric tonnes of Union Carbide waste began in Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh on Friday afternoon amid tight security in the area, with initial reports on air quality and other parameters returning normal.
Over 100 employees of Resustainable Limited (earlier known as Ramky Enviro) wearing protective gear put the toxic waste for incineration through machines at the Treatment, Storage, and Disposal Facility (TSDF) in Pithampur under the direction of experts from National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI), Central and State Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
“We started the process of burning 10 tonnes of waste in the designated plant’s incinerator at 3pm under strict monitoring of the MP Pollution Control Board. All reports are normal at present. Air quality and other parameters are normal,” Indore division commissioner Deepak Singh told reporters.
The trial began a day after the Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a petition seeking to stall the trials, and dismissed concerns over potential health risks to residents in the area weeks after protests rocked the area over concerns of soil and water contamination.
The trial incineration is being carried out following a Madhya Pradesh high court order from February 18. If no adverse effects are found, the process will be repeated on March 4 and 10, the HC had said, adding that the report of these three tests must be submitted to it on March 27.
On December 3, 1984, 40MT of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas leaked from the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal, killing at least 3,900 people and leaving thousands crippled.
Of the 337MT of toxic waste brought to Dhar from the defunct Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, 10MT is being burnt in the trial phase and the process if expected to take 72 hours to turn the waste into ashes and solid waste.
Giving details of the incineration, MP Pollution Control Board regional officer Shriniwas Dwivedi said, “…we unloaded five containers containing the waste in five forms — soil, naphthol, reactor residues, semi-processed pesticide waste and other chemicals. All of this was mixed in equal parts to make a consistent mixture of waste. The blank run of combustion was started on Thursday to achieve about 850°C temperature as after putting the waste in combustion, temperature decreases by 50°C.”
The main process began on Friday afternoon.
“After the waste turns to ashes, it will come down while the gases will move to secondary gas chamber where temperature of 1100-1200°C will be used to destroy volatile organic compounds with 99.99% efficiency. Finally waste feeding systems will introduce bulk solids into the incinerator and use compressed air for fine atomisation. During the process of cleaning gases and separation of solid waste, it will pass through dry scrubber that will release some solid waste then move to the multicyclone spray dryer, dry scrubber wet filter, wet scrubber and chimney. The device will neutralise acidic gases such as SO2, SO3, and HCl,” Dwivedi said.
“About 20,000 litres liquid waste will be evaporated using a klin. Solid particles and ashes, non-incinerable hazardous waste, will be disposed of at a secured landfill facility which has multilayered liners constructed with geosynthetics to prevent leachate seepage and to safeguard groundwater,” he said,
The first trial run is being done at a speed of burning of 135 kg waste per hour while two additional runs have been set for March 4 and 10 at a speed of 180 kg per hour and 270 kg waste per hour, respectively.
About 650 police personnel and SAF jawans were deployed in the area for the trial run, Dhar district collector Priyank Mishra said.
“The disposal is being done peacefully. I thank the residents of Indore, Dhar and Pithampur for supporting in this process. We are following the standard operation procedure (SOP) laid by CPCB and SPCB. The scientists are noting down everything to analyse its impact. Similarly, live recording is being taken place as per the order of the court to maintain transparency,” he said.
The waste including 13 MT waste of clothes, gloves, PPE kit and others used to pack the waste from the site of the disaster, was transported in 12 trucks on January 1-2 from Bhopal to Pithampur following the MP High Court’s order for complete disposal.
On January 6, the MP high court directed state government to initiate the process of disposal after taking people into confidence. The state government organised more than 150 awareness programmes with the help of experts.
On January 18, the state government informed the court that people are now convinced and before disposal trial run will be conducted in three phases to check its effect on the environment and decide the speed of disposal.