leveraging advanced waste to energy technologies

The 3E Solution to W2ESustainable waste to energy by focussing on the 3 Es

Narasimhan SanthanamEnergy Alternatives India – EAI

www.eai.in

EAI Presentation at RenewCon, Mumbai - Sep 30, 2011

About EAI

Aspires to be a catalyst for the Indian renewable energy and cleantech industry

• Dedicated focus on renewable energy and cleantech for India

• Diversification, feasibility studies, market entry strategy, business intelligence

• Founded by professionals from IITs and IIMs• Based out of Chennai• More from www.eai.in – see also our club, forum,

mailing list…www.eai.in

The 3E Solution to W2E

• What are the problems with waste-to-energy?• Why these problems?• How can these problems be solved?• How can technology be part of the solution?• What advanced technologies are emerging?• How could these advanced technologies provide a

sustainable W2E solution?• How do we see the future?

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Waste to Energy and the 3 E Problem

Environmental - Not environmentally benign (Planet)

Exclusivity - Does not benefit all societal stakeholders (People)

Economics - Still very costly (Profit)

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Why these problems?

Misalignment with nature - Nature can convert waste to more value at less cost

Centralized paradigm – Waste generation is distributed, why energy generation centralized?

Thinking of waste as waste – My waste is someone else’s value!

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How can these problems be solved?Segregate at the gate (! – Make it easy to change habits)

Cradle to cradle mentality (!-Destroy less, recover more)

Recognition that waste is just value in a different form (! – Emphasise recycling, identify markets for co-products)

It’s the society, stupid (!- Involve stakeholders at every possible stage – government, rag pickers, local communities, farmers…)

Get local (! - Devise methods for distributed energy recovery at high efficiencies to recover energy close to generation)

Not just tech, but bio+tech (! - Identify recovery methods that combine the strengths of biotech and engineering)

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Technology is…only part of the solution

Market• Waste is value• Cradle to cradle

Society• Segregate at the gate• It’s the society, stupid! (involve stakeholders)

Technology• Get local (DEG)• It’s bio+tech

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Technologies/Processes for W2E Today

Technology/Process

Category Prevalence

Anaerobic Digestion Biochemical Prevalent

Pyrolysis Thermochemical Emerging

Gasification Thermochemical Emerging

Incineration Thermal Prevalent

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W2E Technologies - Pros and ConsTechnology Advantages Bottlenecks

Digestion •Can work on small scales•Monetizes the entire waste

•High capital and operating costs•Long periods for biogas recovery•O&M problems in large-scale•Can work only for starchy, organic waste

Pyrolysis •High monetization owing to production of charcoal or bio-oil•Ideal for treating waste plastics

•Technology still not fully established in terms of economics

Gasification •Efficient method for W2E•Can handle mixed wastes easily•Diversity of products / power production mechanisms

•High capital costs•Not fully established for MSW to energy

Incineration •Simple to operate•Relatively low capital and operating costs•Well known technology

•Poor overall monetization of waste•Pollution problems

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Technology Fit with Suggested Solutions

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AD Pyrolysis Gasification Incineration

Waste is value

Yes Yes Yes No

Cradle to cradle

Yes Almost Somewhat No

Segregate at the gate

Yes Yes Yes/No Yes

It’s the society, stupid

Yes Yes Yes No

Get local Yes Yes No No

It’s bio+tech Yes Yes Yes No

Technologies/Processes for W2E in Future

Technology/Process Prevalence

Anaerobic Digestion Prevalent for small and medium scale

Gasification Prevalent for medium and large scale

Pyrolysis Prevalent for selected feedstock

Incineration Not prevalent

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How do we see 3E in the future W2E tech?

• Use of recycling and composting synergised with energy recovery

• Incineration being phased out

• Anaerobic digestion becoming cheaper and overcoming operational deficiencies

• Gasification going towards smaller scales (this is more a hope!)

• Pyrolysis gaining increasing acceptance

• Combinations of routes – AD and pyrolysis for instance (AD for biodigestible organics and pyrolysis for plastics etc.)

• Ultimately, trying to address all 3 Eswww.eai.in

Waste is just value that we are too stupid not to use – Albert

Einstein

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Thank you

Narasimhan SanthanamEAI, narsi@eai.in, www.eai.in

Mob: +91-98413-48117

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