Tiruchi mulls RDF plant to produce fuel from waste

The Tiruchi City Corporation plans to set up a Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) plant on a Public and Private Participation (PPP) mode to convert waste to energy from the accumulated waste at its Ariyamangalam garbage dump.

Under the proposal, which is under the consideration of the Directorate of Municipal Administration, a RDF plant will be set up at an estimate of Rs. 25 crore to produce fuel from the solid waste dumped at Ariyamangalam. The plant is expected to handle about 600 tonnes a day to produce energy. Excavation, segregation and waste stabilisation were part of the process of producing fuel from waste.

According to a rough estimate, Tiruchi generates 450 tonne of waste daily from different parts of the city. Though there are four micro compost yards in the city, most of the solid waste is still being dumped in Ariyamangalam dump yard. It is said have stored about 11 lakh cubic meter of waste over the years.

Corporation authorities say that the earlier proposals such as bio-mapping and bio-mining were found to be expensive and time consuming. However, the Refuse Derived Fuel method was found to be functioning successfully at Maraimalai Adigal Nagar in Chennai and Pune in Maharashtra.

“We are badly in need of a viable method to the long pending problem of disposing the accumulated garbage at the dump. If we go ahead with the RDF proposal, I think, the entire solid waste at Ariyamangalam will be processed and cleared within five years,” said N. Ravichandran, Corporation Commissioner. Tiruchi.

It had been decided to implement the project on PPP mode. The Corporation would provide garbage and land at the dump yard on lease basis. The private agency would install machineries and take care of manpower requirement, he added.

Mr. Ravichandran said a team of officials had visited Maraimalai Adigal Nagar to study the functioning of the RDF plant. One more team would be sent shortly for the next level exposure.