The ‘Refuse Derived Fuel’ or waste to fuel plant at Tura is set to become a reality, as it will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Tuesday in the presence of the South Korean ambassador to India, Chang Jae-bok.
This pilot project was given the go-ahead in March 2019 when the CM met with officials of Chamhana Institute of Technology, South Korea.
Convinced by the technology, Sangma agreed in principle to a PPP approach to the project, which would entail the setting up of a small-scale plant at no cost to the Meghalaya government.
This would allow the state government to assess the practical viability of the concept before deciding on introducing a larger capacity plant to tackle the much greater volumes of waste generated in Shillong.
The Tura plant, at the existing garbage dump, will have a capacity of 35 tonnes. Chamhana will have the rights to market the fuel briquettes generated from the conversion of the waste to recover its capital investment, a press release said today.
Although agreed to in 2019, the project faced delays due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The plant and equipment was finally shipped to India and then trucked to Tura in February this year.
All waste, except for recyclables like metals, glass, wood, e-waste, construction waste, etc, first goes through a crusher for rupture and is then mixed with a prefabricated catalyst, dubbed WASTEF, and enzyme, followed by the consolidation and moulding process with simultaneous moisture control by dryer machine to finally produce clean, green, odourless and smokeless fuel blocks.
The entire process flow is completed through an automated and integrated mechanism, free of manual handling.
