leveraging advanced waste to energy technologies
DESCRIPTION
TRANSCRIPT
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?
www.eai.in
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)
www.eai.in
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!
www.eai.in
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)
www.eai.in
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
www.eai.in
Technologies/Processes for W2E Today
Technology/Process
Category Prevalence
Anaerobic Digestion Biochemical Prevalent
Pyrolysis Thermochemical Emerging
Gasification Thermochemical Emerging
Incineration Thermal Prevalent
www.eai.in
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
www.eai.in
Technology Fit with Suggested Solutions
www.eai.in
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
www.eai.in
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
www.eai.in
