Power to Malaysia

Indian engineer honored for ‘waste-to-energy’ technology

By J.V. Lakshmana Rao from www.indiatribunal.com

Centre right: K.S. Sivaprasad who invented the waste to wealth technology. Centre left: Kamarul Zaman Abdul Kadir - the Malaysian entrepreneur who saw its potential.

Chicago: Planned, designed and executed on the patented technology developed by an Indian engineer, K.S. Sivaprasad, a “waste-to-energy” plant of Malaysia has won an international award given for top renewable energy plants in the world.

K.S. Sivaprasad was in Chicago and received the award during the annual conference of the power industry of America, “Electric Power,” at Rosemont Convention Center on May 9.

Speaking to India Tribune, Sivaprasad, who has done India proud, said that his plant was one of the six top renewable energy plants in the world selected for the award by Power, the leading magazine in the US, in the power sector. The other five plants were — a geothermal plant, a solar energy plant and a biomass plant in the US, and a wind energy plant and a biomass energy plant in Europe. “Ours is the only plant outside the developed Western world and also the only plant dealing with municipal waste,” he said.

He said his “waste-to-energy” plant, the technology of which was patented in India but erected in Malaysia was environmentally safe and met all the anti-pollution standards. The special feature of the plant was that it had built-in pollution abatement mechanism that would effectively control the pollution and stood in conformity with stringent international emission standards.

He said that the technology for the “waste-to-energy” plant was based on the usage of the municipal waste which was converted into clean burning fuel known as refuse derived fuel (RDF) for use in boilers for steam and power generation. It was developed by him and patented in India.

The construction of RDF power plant, he said, was taken up in Malaysia by a joint venture company — Core Competencies Sdn Bhd — with a capacity to handle 700 tons of municipal waste a day and generate 8 MW power. After meeting its consumption of 3 MW, the balance 5 MW was being supplied to the national grid. He now held the dual positions of director and technical advisor of Core Competencies Sdn Bhd.

He said commissioned in 2009, the Kajang waste-to-energy plant, which was located 13 miles from the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur, was perhaps the first of its kind to use municipal solid waste (MSW). It served the twin objectives of environmentally friendly disposal of municipal solid waste and generation of renewable power.

He said: “Everyday the municipal waste is processed and energy is generated without accumulation of the polluting waste, which is a source of public health hazard. The plant also helps freeing the urban land from being used as landfills.”

Explaining how the plant was being operated, he said: “The pre-processing of the municipal waste enables recovery of recyclable materials like metals, plastics, fiber materials, and separation of wet organic matter enabling the further digestion process to release methane-rich biogas for firing the boiler to enhance power generation, thus maximizing the extraction of energy from the waste.”

Claiming that the operating area of the plant was free from causing any kind of pollution, he said the municipal waste was brought by trucks, weighed, and placed in a pit. The pit was designed to hold more than day’s stock and the whole area was covered and sprayed with an enzyme to deodorize the air. The air around the pit was constantly evacuated allowing fresh air to come in. Mechanical cranes were being used to mix wastes coming from different areas to get a measure of uniform composition, and bulky materials were removed before feeding the waste to the plant. The wet organic materials separated from the wastes were also used for power generation, he added.

Sivaprasad said: “When the first oil crisis struck the world in the early seventies, the search for alternative sources of energy began all over the world. Municipal waste was identified as a source of energy by the US government and efforts began to convert waste into a clean burning fuel. I started working on this concept to translate it into a working energy producing unit by setting up a pilot-scale plant in Bangalore. On successful performance of this unit, I obtained patent for this technology.”

Asked why this technology was not used and taken advantage of in India where heaps of municipal wastes were being dumped everywhere in rural and urban areas, he said that he made an attempt. But official apathy, red-tape and other constraints came in the way of his effort to set up a plant. Meanwhile Malaysia showed interest and the plant had attracted the eye of the world.

He said that he was happy that global recognition for his Indian “waste-to-energy” technology came through Malaysia. The award was presented in a glittering ceremony held in E. Donaldson Convention Center in Rosemont. Shivaprasad, who is the director and technical adviser and Kamarul Zaman, president of the company, received the award.

Still very active and agile at the age of 80 years, Shivaprasad, is a graduate in mechanical engineering from Guindy Engineering College of Chennai. He worked as chief engineer of DCM group of companies and set up industrial units, including captive power plants in India, before he moved to Malaysia. He hails from Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu.

TO READ THE ARTICLE ABOUT THE WASTE TO ENERGY PLANT THAT APPEARED IN THE DECEMBER 2010 EDITION OF POWER MAGAZINE CLICK HERE

A Star Performance?

I got pretty incensed over The Star newspaper's special reports on garbage this week. In fact I was so peed-off I even wrote them a letter which I'm sharing here.

I am writing in response to the special reports about waste management that appeared in the Nation section of your newspaper on November 1st and 2nd.

While I applaud any attempt to inform the public about this serious social and environmental problem, I was appalled to discover that the series of articles you ran were biased in favour of the politico-corporate cartel that has been running this industry for years. There was no mention at all of the other initiatives that are already taking place in the country which deal with municipal solid waste from a different perspective.

The articles rightly pointed out the problems associated with landfills but to suggest that incinerators are the only option is a best miseading and at worst a deliberate attempt to keep the rate-paying public misinformed.

Incinerator technology is very expensive to build and it operates on traditional non-renewable fuel which means daily running costs are not only high, but they are also unstable due to fluctuations in the global oil price.

A lot of countries that adopted incinerator technology are now moving towards a waste to energy approach to solve municipal waste problems. This approach regards garbage as a valuable resource and reclaims as much as possible in the form of reuseable items and an alternative and renewable industrial fuel which can also be used to generate electricity.

My concern is that there was no mention of this in the so-called in-depth report Don't you think the rate-paying public deserve to be told that there are alternative ways of approaching waste management that are cheaper and environmentally cleaner?

Renewables see 'resilient

growth' in 2009

By Mark KinverScience and environment reporter, BBC News

By Mark Kinver

Science and environment reporter, BBC News

Harnessing power from the Sun is one of the fastest growing energy sectors

The building of new renewable energy sources continued to outstrip new fossil fuel power plants in Europe and the US during 2009, a report has shown.

The UN-backed study said renewables accounted for 60% of new electricity generation capacity in Europe.

And in the US, green electricity accounted for more than half of the generation capacity built last year.

The authors added that renewables were set to outpace conventional energy sources across the globe next year.

The global status report, produced by the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21), said green power had reached a "clear tipping point" during 2010.

"Renewables comprised fully one-quarter of global power capacity and delivered 18% of global electricity supply in 2009," it stated in its review of the preceding 12 months.

The authors said the year was "unprecedented in the history of renewable energy, despite the headwinds posed by the global financial crisis, lower oil prices and slow progress with climate policy".

One of the forces propelling the sector's strong showing, they added, was the "potential to create new industries and millions of new jobs".

The findings also showed that emerging economies were also embracing the new technologies, especially China, which added 37 gigawatts (GW) of renewable power capacity last year - more than any other nation in the world.

CONTINUE READING HERE

What's it all about Jibby?

On April 9th 2009, the Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water headed by Peter Chin Fah Kui was created with one of its objectives being to: ensure sustainable development and conserve the environment for future generations. The ministry also set-up the Special Committee on Renewable Energy (SCORE) which is committed to promoting all types of renewable sources of energy including palm oil biomass, biogas, municipal waste, solar mini-hydro and wind.

Some eight months later, on December 17th 2009, at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen Prime Minister, Najib Razak, said the Malaysian government was committed to reducing CO2 emission by 40 per cent by 2020.

So how is this possible?...

Trepidation as Sabah dirty coal-fired power plant D-day looms - Free Malaysia Today

controversial plant, has finally succumbed to pressure from federal authorities responsible for the country's energy demands.

KOTA KINABALU: Amidst the scorching Sabah heat, dry rivers and raging wildfires, advocates of a greener, cleaner state face up to the burning likelihood that the government's final solution to the state's perennial electricity shortage could be the kiss of death to their efforts to preserve the environment.

The environment impact assessment (EIA) report of the proposed 300MW coal-fired power plant at Felda Tungku in Lahad Datu, is due to be out this month.

The state government, after initially dithering on approving thebah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman rejected the coal power plant in 2008, but rapidly back-pedalled when Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced that the controversial plant would be sited at Felda Tungku.

Electricity supply in the state comes directly under the federal government through power supplier Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB), which in turn is controlled by the country's main power supplier, Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB).

SESB and TNB have long maintained that coal is the only option as a source of power supply on the east coast.

"Coal is the most economically viable fuel option for the east coast of Sabah, against other alternatives. Abundance supply of coal from nearby Kalimantan… will provide secured supply of coal at competitive price, thus ensuring continuous operation of the plant and optimum cost of supply/tariff," SESB said on its website.

Continue reading here.

WHAT A WASTE

The government could have taken a giant leap forward to improve our environment and general well-being this week when they met to discuss two highly pertinent issues namely: what the new renewable energy tariff will be and secondly, whether to adopt a waste to energy strategy for solid waste management rather than continuing to use landfills.  

I'm sad to report however, that they only decided to take a miniscule step forward instead.

That came in the form of an increase in the renewable energy tariff  from 21 sen to 46 sen for converting waste to energy.  Even though  that sounds like a substantial increase, those who are already working in resource recovery say it's still not high enough to really induce companies into this sector and it's a lot less than the incentives the government have bestowed on the IPPs and those involved in the oil and gas industry over the years.

It's also interesting to note that the new tariff is less than many neighbouring governments have set for renewable energy: Indonesia - 60sen, Thailand - 65sen, Singapore - 70sen Cambodia - 48sen.   When it came to setting the tariff for solar energy however, the government showed, quite clearly, that they are not really that interested in this free and limitless source of energy.  At only 20 sen per KW hour, I can't imagine there will be to many companies falling over each other to compete in this arena because at this price, it will be unsustainable. 

When it came to the decision on whether to adopt the waste to energy concept nationwide they opted to do a study instead. 

Hello!  If you know that it's possible to convert garbage into electricity and you don't leap at that, and if you think that dumping it all on landfills is okay, what is your problem?

Part of the problem is that the government has already committed a lot of public money to landfill management companies and although they are talking about harnessing bio gas from the dumps, only a handfull of landfills have actually been designed and built to do this. Most of our landfills are not even lined properly and are leaking leachate into the water system. 

So why does the government seem so reluctant to change? From what I can see, it's because all the people who benefit from the present system have a lot to loose if the old system is transformed. The municipal solid waste business runs like a cartel and the main players see the introduction of the waste to energy concept as being a threat to the status quo; the end to all the mutual back-scratching and pocket-lining that has been going on undisturbed for years.

Waste to energy is a tried and tested technology that converts a large proportion of household waste into RDF (refuse derived fuel) which is then used as replacement fuel in cement kilns and steam turbines. When this is integrated with mechanical and biological processes, more than 80 percent of raw household waste can be recovered, recycled and reused.  Recycle Energy Sdn Bhd, who daily process 700 tons of Kajang's waste,  are currently supplying a large cement factory with this renewable green fuel and generating 8MW of electricity as well as making compost and recycling plastics and metals.  At a conservative estimate of 18,000 tons of waste per day from the whole country, we could be producing about 206 MWs of electricity. This would have three major benefits:

1. It would reduce dependence on timber and fossil fuel. 

2. It would eliminate landfills and

3. It would reduce our carbon footprint

All very pertinent things to be doing post Copenhagen I should have thought.  Wrong again! there are plans afoot right now to build huge coal power plants in Sabah and Sarawak and the whole issue of nuclear energy is still in contention.

Of course processing garbage isn't going to be able to supply all the power needs for the nation, but it can make a significant contribution.  What's required here is a down-sized holistic approach so that instead of thinking about garbage and power on a national scale, we start to think about it more from a local perspective;  smaller plants serving smaller populations and using a combination of technologies in line with BATNEC (best available technology at no excessive cost)  

The government could have taken a giant leap forward  to improve our environment and general well-being this week - but they didn't!

SARAWAK BENT ON USING COAL FOR POWER

KUCHING: Sarawak could be producing more than 3,300MW of hydro power within the next three years and yet the state Barisan Nasional government is insisting it requires new coal-fire plants to generate more power.

The state’s Second Minister for Planning and Resource Management Awang Tengah Ali Hassan stunned environmentalist by stating that Sarawak needed coal-fired power to complement its hydro power generation, especially in Sarawak’s Corridor of Renewable Energy (Score) to meet high demand in energy-intensive industries.

“Yes, we know coal is not renewable energy,” he said in rebuking a claim by the Borneo Resources Institute that the Sarawak government had classified the mining and exploitation of coal reserves under the term of renewable energy projects.

“However, with the combination of resources, coal can be used a as a source of power generation to meet the high demand for power in the energy-intensive industries in the state,” he told reporters after officiating opening the Arcardia Apartments yesterday.

Continue reading here

Renewable energy

An excerpt from an astonishing movie by Peter Joseph that features industrial and social designer Jacque Fresco, who created The Venus Project.

To view the full movie go to www.zeitgeistmovie.com