Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras has developed and deployed an indigenous Municipal Solid Waste Combustor Pilot Plant at Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited factory in Trichy district of Tamil Nadu. The new unit was inaugurated today, May 27, 2022 by V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, BHEL Trichy.
The plant is based on a first of its kind ‘Rotary Furnace Technology’ which helps to process isolated municipal solid waste effectively.
According to the officials of BHEL partnering for this project, unlike MSW of western origin, Indian municipal solid waste is heterogeneous and heterogeneous with high moisture content (40-50%), low calorific value (≤ 2 kcal/g) and high inertness. is complicated. Existing incineration systems do not involve energy recovery and result in toxic emissions.
Value creation through energy recovery from heterogeneous MSWs, according to an official statement from IIT Madras.
The MSW incineration system designed by IITM addresses most of these challenges and provides users with many desirable features in its design and operation.
It was developed by researchers from IIT Madras at the National Center for Combustion Research and Development (NCCRD). The plant also plays an important role in the ‘Swachh Bharat Mission’,” the IIT Madras release reads.
This IIT Madras project is a part of the Uchchaar Avishkar Yojana project funded by BHEL and the Union Ministry of Education.
The unit has the facility to process up to one tonne of unconsolidated municipal solid waste (MSW) and can generate steam as the main production with clean gaseous emissions and ash as a by-product, according to the statement from IIT Madras.
Talking about the project and its inauguration, Mr. Kamakoti said, – Waste management is becoming an important issue which requires solutions that can help in faster and safer disposal. The first of its kind solid waste combustor developed by IIT Madras not only addresses the issues of scale and safe disposal, but also generates heat which results in creation of wealth from waste.
The data from this unit at BHEL will help us to scale up the process systematically, both in distributed and centralized ways.
BHEL will further conduct multiple trials and optimize the operating philosophy for future scale and market it as a reliable and end user friendly product, – IIT Madras said.
Elaborating on the working of Solid Waste Combustor, Dr R Venu, Associate Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Madras said, – Initial phase of trials with small scale rotary combustion unit at National Centre for Combustion Research and Development. IIT Madras with multiple grades of waste gave us a lot of confidence in building this superior full-scale unit with efficient emission control at BHEL Trichy.
