City Producing 14,000 TPD of Waste & Operating 40m High ‘Landfills’ : Sheffield Hallam University Consults on Delhi’s £68m Waste to Energy Plan
Hallam Energy, a research and consultancy group within Sheffield Hallam University’s University's Materials and Engineering Research Institute (MERI) is working with the Indian government to build a new power plant which will process a third of New Delhi's waste.
The university said that MERI has consulted on a proposed new waste to energy plant in New Delhi - one of biggest cities in the world by population and where pollution is an increasingly major issue.
Hallam Energy undertook a feasibility study for a new plant in which it outlined suitable plant sites and the technology which would be required to develop and process the waste.
The work is part of the Indian government's 'Clean India Mission' - a national £9 billion campaign by the Government to clean the streets, roads and infrastructure of the country. It is India's biggest ever cleanliness drive and as part of it, the government want to clean up the 75 biggest cities in India over the next five years.
"New Delhi is in crisis without serious intervention and a new waste to energy plant,” explained Dr Abhishek Asthana, director of Hallam Energy who led on the project alongside his colleague Dr Sanjay Mukherjee.
At current rates, New Delhi will be producing more than 14,000 tonnes of waste per day by 2024 and would require a landfill site equal to 7% of the city's total land, which is completely unfeasible,” he continued.
Asthana went on to note that there are three landfill sites in Delhi with a height limit set at around 15 meters - all three are already past 40 metres.
"We will be involved in the project until completion, which is due to be in around 2020-2021. This is a major project for India and for us,” he said.
The Plan
The planned waste to energy plant will process a third of the city's waste (4000 tonnes per day) and produce 32MW of power.
Manuj Singhal, Chief Electrical Engineer/Planning at Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), who commissioned the project, explained: "DMRC has been handling complex projects and is commissioning them as per project timelines. Under ‘Clean India Mission’, the Ministry of Urban Development advised DMRC to explore the possibility of setting up of waste to energy plants.
"DMRC engaged Hallam Energy at Hallam University to prepare a techno-economic feasibility report of the project. The University has prepared a comprehensive and informative report, covering various technological, social & economic aspects regarding the subject which will help us in taking a conscious decision regarding the matter."
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