Page 501 - AWSAR 2.0

pollution. A recent example of air pollution due to the burning of crop residue in Northern India (Haryana and Punjab) was observed in New Delhi, which caused health and economic loss of more than $30 billion annually, as reported by the US-based International Food Policy Research Institute. In urban areas and cities, landfills accommodate the waste but the problems such as scarcity of land, fire incidents, and release of greenhouse gas CH4 cannot be overlooked. In April 2019, landfill fire incidents were reported on Ghazipur and Bhalswa sites by the Delhi Fire Services; also, last year (2018), 69 major fire incidents on Bhalswa site, 35 on Okhla site, and 27 on Ghazipur site were reported. A similar landfill fire incident was reported on the Deonar site in Mumbai in March 2018. The harmful gases, such as CO2, CO, CH4, H2S, dioxins, and furans, are also released continuously by these landfill sites. Similarly, fallen leaves, twigs, and other residues from trees increase
the possibility of forest fire incidents. As reported by the Forest Survey of India (FSI), 558 forest fire incidents occurred in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Kerala within a time span of only 2 months from January 1, 2019, to February 26, 2019.
To address these issues,
people have invested their
time and capabilities and
come up with solutions such as
composting, biogas generation
plant, and gasification. With time, people have preferred gasification process over traditional methods such as composting. Gasification is a process in which any carbonaceous substance is processed with a limited amount of air/ O2/CO2 steam or their mixtures to produce a mixture of H2, CO, and trace CH4. The reactor used for the process is called a gasifier, and
Mr. Haseen Siddiqui || 477
the gas mixture is referred to as the producer gas. In the literature available so far, I found that most of the work accomplished is related to the use of producer gas for electricity generation mostly for the industrial use itself. There is no direct advantage for a common man. Therefore, I realized an intense need for developing a process that could benefit the people living majorly in urban and rural areas. Hence, I have designed my work theme, keeping in mind the advantages of a common man.
My work is devoted to the thermal application of producer gas generated in the gasification process. The thermal application involves the direct burning of producer gas in the burner present at the exit of the gasifier for the purpose of cooking. The application of gasification technology for the cooking purpose has the capability of reducing the dependence on LPG cookstoves, replacing
the traditional cookstoves (chulhas), along and resolving the waste problem. The traditional chulhas are mainly used in rural areas and ashram schools. The people working there are severely affected by the release of smoke having toxicants such as SOx, NOx, PM 2.5, and PM 10. To propose a sustainable solution to these series of problems, I have selected by research topic as the use of the agro and garden waste for community cooking
based on gasification technology.
After deciding my overall objective, the
first step of my research journey was the collection and preliminary analysis of waste. The waste was collected from the IIT Bombay campus with the help of horticulture and Public Health Office departments. IIT Bombay is one of the greener campuses having about 10,000
As per the recent data, about
521.95–759.2 kg per person per year of waste is generated by the developed countries, and about 109.5–526.6 kg per person per year of waste is generated by the developing countries.