COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT WASTE PROCESSING AND DISPOSAL

TECHNOLOGIES

INTRODUCTION
 India’s urban population of 429 million citizens produces a whopping 62 million tonnes
of garbage every year. Out of this, 5.6 million tonnes is the plastic waste, 0.17 million tonnes is
the biomedical waste, 7.90 million tonnes is hazardous waste and 15 lakh tonnes is e-waste. A
staggering figure of forty-three million tonnes of Solid Waste is collected annually, out of which
only 11.9 million that is 22-28% is treated, while about 31 million tonnes of waste is left
untreated and dumped at the landfill sites. Globally, there are around 2,200 waste-to-energy
plants, of which the European Union has 445, China has 150 and USA has 86. Despite its
burgeoning population, India just has eight waste-to-energy plants. If India starts collecting and
treating its waste effectively then it can be used to generate a lot of energy. The above statistics,
suggests for adopting various other waste to energy technologies, which would help in diverting
majority of wastes of value from landfill.
Zonta Infratech has been guiding Municipalities to recognize the ill-effects of such
methods practiced in the country and to implement the eco-friendly and affordable solutions for
the disposal of wastes.

TYPES OF TECHNOLOGIES
The different types of waste processing and disposal technologies offering prospective
business opportunities and an alternative pathway to avoid the increasing load in landfill are:
1. Biological treatment
 Sanitary landfills
 Composting
 Biomethanation plant
2. Thermal treatment
 Incineration
 Gasification
 Plasma gasification
 Pyrolysis
1. Biological treatment
 Sanitary landfills
Landfilling is the most common method for MSW disposal, wherein, due
to the dumping of waste, the anaerobic process gets initiated. It is the cheapest method
available for waste disposal.
 Advantages Disadvantages

The specific A landfill, if not designed properly leads to

location of waste the contamination of the groundwater table
makes it easier to
monitor.
Energy production practices can be Leachate generated, when mixed with the
adopted. runoff causes severe hydrological
disturbances.

After its completion of the period of The gas produced should be handled with
operation, the land can be reclaimed great care, if not would cause severe
and used for recreational purpose such destruction
as children parks.
The methane produced can be used for Landfilling is suitable only for inert waste
energy production purposes; hence the materials, and not for organic wastes.
emission risk is reduced, when
compared with the incineration
process.

 Composting
Composting process is the most suitable process for organic waste
materials. The moisture content in the waste produced in India ranges from 40 to 50
percent. Biodegradation of waste matter in the presence of oxygen and aerobic bacteria
produces compost Different technologies for composting are windrow composting,
aerated static pile composting, in-vessel composting, vertical composting reactor,
horizontal composting reactor.
Windrow composting
Windrow composting process consists of placing the pre-sorted feedstock
in long narrow piles called windrows that are turned on a regular basis for boosting
passive aeration. The turning operation mixes the composting materials and enhances
passive aeration. Compost yield of 10-15% is more common from mixed municipal
solid waste.
Aerated static pile composting
In aerated static pile composting, forced air circulation is used to spread
excess air through the composting piles. The composting piles are placed over a network
of pipes connected to a blower. The use of forced circulation minimizes the turning
operation.
 In-vessel composting
In-vessel composting systems enclose the feedstock in a chamber or
vessel, that provides adequate mixing, aeration, and moisture. In-vessel composting is
recommended especially for kitchen and canteen food waste and even slaughterhouse
wastes.

Vermicomposting

Vermicomposting is the process of turning organic debris into worm

castings. The worm castings are very important to the fertility of the soil. The castings
contain high amounts of nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus, calcium, and magnesium. Any
types of biodegradable wastes-Crop residues, Weed biomass, Vegetable waste, Leaf
litter, Hotel refuse, Waste from agro-industries, Biodegradable portion of urban and rural
wastes.

Advantages Disadvantages
Composting helps in diverting the Odor pollution is one of the most frequent
organic waste materials from the waste problems in the composting process.
stream
Composting helps in reduction of Increased concern regarding public health
greenhouse gas emission. which is caused due to contaminated water,
toxins in the finished product(compost)
It enhances soil quality, water retention Pathogens in the compost rises concern.
capacity, increased biological activity,
improved pest resistance of crops.

 Biomethanation plant
Biomethanation is an anaerobic biological energy yielding and a
depolluting process by which organic matter is converted to methane-rich gas. It can also
be adopted as a decentralized manner for applications such as cooking. Small-scale
production of biogas can be carried out at household level, thus avoiding the organic
waste load in a landfill.
Advantages Disadvantages
Biogas produced, finds its use in various The high recovery period of investment.
purposes like cooking, electricity
generation and it requires low capital
investment.
Compressed Bio CNG can be used as a Odour is one of the major problems.
 cleaner and green fuel.
The sludge produced is used as manure The optimal temperature condition for
for plants. bacterial growth is one of the problems.

2. Thermal treatment
 Incineration
Incineration is a complete burning of waste, which helps in volume
reduction, stabilization of waste and most importantly, recovery of energy from waste
and sterilization of waste. There are various incineration technologies adopted, they are
mass burning system, refuse-derived fuel system, modular incineration and fluidized bed
incineration.
Advantages Disadvantages
Significant volume reduction of It lacks system flexibility. The demand for
landfilling solid waste recycled and recovered material for
different treatment methods is likely to
change overtime.

The part of hazardous substances is The ash produced has a harmful health
removed or retained in effective filters. impact.
The heat produced is used for heating or Installation of incineration plant is an
electricity generation. expensive process.

 Gasification
Gasification processes convert MSW, biomass (mostly, dry garden
waste) into combustible gases at a temperature greater than 7500C that ideally contain all
the energy originally present in the biomass. in practice, gasification can convert 60% to
90% of the energy in the biomass into energy in the gas. Gasification processes can be
either direct (using air or oxygen to generate heat through exothermic reactions) or
indirect (transferring heat to the reactor from the outside). The gas can be burned to
produce industrial or residential heat, to run engines for mechanical or electrical power,
or to make synthetic fuels.
Advantages Disadvantages
The technology is suitable and High moisture content waste matter cannot
economical for small, decentralized be used as feedstock
applications
Biomass is a CO2 neutral fuel, which Obtaining the producer gas in a proper state
 offers an option in mitigating the adverse is a really challenging task.
effects of climate change.
Producer gas or syn gas can be used for
generating electricity.

 Plasma gasification
Plasma gasification is an emerging technology carried out at a
temperature of about 1400 – 16000C which can process landfill waste to extract
commodity recyclables and convert carbon-based materials into fuels. It can form an
integral component in a system to achieve zero-waste and produce renewable fuels,
whilst caring for the environment.
Advantages Disadvantages
It unlocks the greatest amount of energy Waste gasification and combustion
from waste ultimately releases carbon dioxide to the
atmosphere instead of sequestering a large
fraction of the carbon in a landfill;
Feedstocks can be mixed, such as Large capital costs relative to current
municipal solid waste, biomass, tires, landfills;
hazardous waste, and auto shredder waste.
Production of clean alloyed slag which Requires large electrical energy input if the
could be used as construction material waste stream does not contains a large
fraction of unoxidized hydrocarbons;
Processing of organic waste into The highly corrosive plasma flame may
combustible syngas for electric power and lead to frequent maintenance and
thermal energy component replacement with associated
facility down time;
The filters and gas treatment systems are
themselves sources of toxic waste, some of
which (e.g. acidified water) are poor
candidates for plasma processing.

 Pyrolysis
 Pyrolysis is a thermochemical decomposition of organic material at
temperatures between 400 °C and 900 °C without the presence of oxygen. It is applicable
to hazardous waste treatment.
Advantages Disadvantages
Pyrolysis enables recycling of plastic Problem persists over emissions and
laminates, coextrusions and multilayer toxicity of residual products
packaging films, particularly those with
aluminium foil layers that are difficult
to recycle using traditional reprocessing
technologies.
Pyrolysis process does not generate The cost to treat the waste is expensive.
products associated with the burned waste
Pyrolysis is self-sustainable; i.e. energy is
required only for start-up operation.