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INDIAN SCENARIO

from MSW in India during 2017 is expected to be about 5200 MW. Since 1000 TPD capacity
MSW plants are quite standard and the technology is well established, only the large cities can
have such facilities for power production. However, the cost for installation per ton of MSW
processed is of the order of Rs. 23,00,000 while the cost of facility for composting is about Rs.
2,00,000. Since all the MSW cannot be used for feed in composting, WtE is the only available
option. WtE is also less polluting compared to composting.
Through Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM), several cities and
towns have developed collection, transportation, sanitary landfill and composting facilities. The
full potential for power production has not been realized yet [105].
The Waste to Energy (WtE) projects based on Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), installed in the
country as of 31st March 2015 account for just 154 MW. On the other hand there is a possibility
to produce up to about 6000 MW from this source. For same reasons, so far, there has been
limited focus on recovering energy from waste. All this capacity which have been developed
on mixed waste and incineration/ combustion /biodegradation of waste, is carried out after its
processing at the energy recovery site, which is certainly less optimal that segregating MSW
at source. It is estimated that about Rs. 20 Crores will have to be invested per MW of power
generated from MSW i.e. Rs.27 Crore per Ton of MSW processed. There could be some
reduction if it is segregated at the collection point, a process which is not up to the mark at
present [108, 117].
Many state Governments are keen on tapping this source of energy [74]. Several plants are
planned in the near future to leverage this opportunity [75].

At present there are several small scale biogas producing plants in India. Since the cost of
setting up a bio digester is lower and it is able to handle smaller quantities of bio digestible
agricultural and food waste, during 2014 - 15 proposals for setting up of 94 bio digesters to
produce 2213 KW of power at a cost of Rs. 33 Crores were mooted for Govt. support. Many
of them had been approved [109]. Due to availability and logistics problems, large scale plants
are not coming up. The largest biogas plant in India is in Satara district, Maharashtra, which
produces 25,000 cubic meters of biogas per day from 600 tons of sugarcane waste obtained
from sugar mills in the vicinity. Gas obtained is converted to Compressed Bio Gas (CBG)
and used as fuel. This plant uses an advanced Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor for faster
anaerobic process. Another large biogas plant has been developed under the National Biogas
and Manure Programme by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. This plant produces
nearly 936,000 cubic meters of biogas per day [110]. Twenty three additional large biogas
plants are also being planned.
It may be pointed out that so far in India the objective was to use MSW only for power generation
and not for production of chemicals. This is a new trend, particularly with the growth of use of
methanol/DME as transportation fuel. Although it is more complex to produce chemicals from
MSW via gasification, there are several operating plants in the world now. Technically there is
not much of an issue since the gasification of MSW is already an established technology. The
technology for syngas cleaning and syngas conversion is essentially same. The only issue
is that it will have more investment cost for air separation and subsequent methanol/DME
production. It is worth considering installing at least one 1,000 TPD unit for methanol/DME
production.
Since the MSW generation from small cities and towns is much lower, using conventional
technology may not be viable. The other agricultural and biomass waste also could be treated
simultaneously to make the process viable. It may be worth to consider the emerging plasma
gasifier technology with oxygen firing and methanol/DME production as a trial case.
Good MSW management is most crucial for India since it will reduce the increasing demand of land for
landfill, produce renewable energy or fuel, as well as reduce pollution. The cost of treating MSW should
be viewed holistically with the direct investment as well as the social and environmental benefits.

Methanol and DME Production: Survey and Roadmap | 2017 67