Abstract— among the major environmental concerns confronted today in the urban areas of Bangladesh is problems relating to proper management of waste. Over the past few years, Bangladesh has been engaged in experimenting with new technical options and administrative processes to find innovative methods to address waste management more effectively. Keraniganj Upazilla under Dhaka District is a place where waste is abundant. Waste is produced in different ways, like- house-holds waste, small industry, tannery and other heavy industry. Demand of power is also growing with increasing population at Keraniganj. Conscious authority is concerned to make sure the proper management of waste and utilize it in production of electricity. To find out the scope of waste to electricity generation a feasibility study was performed in the Keraniganj Upazilla of Dhaka district to study the prospect of generating electricity from solid waste at Keraniganj Upazilla.
The outcome of the feasibility study shows that the waste generated in Keraniganj can be utilized for generation of at least 430 kW power and by-product heat of at least 480 kW can be expected. A combined heat and power unit is suggested in the study. Government of Bangladesh is now taking necessary action to implement the recommendation of this feasibility study.
Keywords—power generation; biomass; waste management; sustainable development; food & vegetable wastage.
I. Introduction
Waste is produced by different human activities, like household daily activities, industrialization, urbanization, improving living standards etc. Urban population and industrialization have been increasing rapidly and these are creating a serious hassle on our natural resources, which is a big challenge for sustainable development. While the magnitude of the problem is relatively small and manageable in rural areas, it appears to be growing significantly in urban areas in recent times. Among the major environmental concerns confronted today in the urban areas of Bangladesh are problems relating to proper management of waste. Rapid population growth has made waste management a serious problem today. Dhaka North City Corporation, Dhaka South City Corporation, BPDB, DPDC and DESCO is planning to form a company for management of waste to generate power. Bangladesh has been engaged in experimenting with new technical options and administrative processes to find innovative methods to address waste management more effectively. There are more than 522 towns and cities, which are hubs of rapid economic development and population growth, generate thousands of tons of waste from domestic, industrial, commercial, health care facilities and agricultural sources that must be managed daily. Low collection coverage, unavailable logistic services, and lack of suitable treatment, recycling and disposal facilities are responsible for substandard waste management, leading to water, land and air pollution, and for putting people and the environment at risk. In this study we find that, Keraniganj Upazilla under Dhaka District is a place where waste is abundant. Waste is produced in different ways, like- house-holds waste, small industry, tannery and other heavy industry. Maximum waste is not collected and all of them are thrown on open space. That results in accumulation of waste on roads, Shuvadda Canal, Buriganga River and other public places. This human practice is making Keraniganj urban life truly vulnerable and airborne and water borne diseases are spreading over throughout Keranigonj. At this moment conscious authorities as well as stakeholders are concerned to make sure the proper management of waste and utilize it in production of electricity.[1][3]
II. Background
Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources (MPEMR) has taken action for generation of electricity from renewable sources such as Solar, Wind, Micro-hydro and Biomass. In the Renewable Energy Policy 2008, Policy envisions are: 5% of Total generation from Renewable Sources by 2015: approx. 800 MW. 10% of generation from Renewable Sources by 2020: approx. 1600 MW. As part of that strategy, the Government of Bangladesh decided to explore the possibility of generating electricity by using waste at a suitable location in Dhaka. The waste to electricity generation could be justified on the following ground: [2]
- The lack of collection and safe disposal of municipal waste poses a serious problem in the absence of proper management and economic use of waste for the benefit of the people.
- It has been found that majority portion of the wastes fail to reach the ultimate destinations or dumping sites and remain scattered over private or public places including roads and other vacant places.
- The scattered and uncollected waste creates public nuisance. It clogs sewers and open drains, encroaches roadways, diminishes aesthetic appearance and causes unpleasant odor. In addition to deteriorating environmental and health problems, economic activities are also adversely affected due to problems associated with poor waste management.
- Proper and efficient management of waste could lead to significant economic benefits and improvement of environment and health of the citizens and to improve the power supply situation of the Keranigonj.
- Apart from power generation, waste could produce organic manure, which has vibrant demand in the domestic market. It may be noted that organic agriculture is now promoted as sustainable agricultural practices. High organic matter and low nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous will make the residue suitable for soil conditioning.
III. Objectives of the study
The general objective of this study is to develop a concept notes for the prospect of generating electricity from solid waste at Keraniganj Upazilla.
IV. Methodology
The terms of the feasibility study on Waste to Electricity Generation are as follows:
- Amount of waste generated on daily and yearly basis
- Type and composition of waste
- Source of waste generation
- Waste collection and transportation system
- List of stakeholders involved in waste dumping and management
- Scope of power evacuation to the grid that will be generated from waste
V. Findings of the Study
Based on the terms of the study findings our after visiting the sites can be summarized as follows:
A. Amount of waste generated on daily/monthly/yearly basis
There is no functional record keeping method to asses Union Parishad-wise volumes of waste handled in Keranigonj. Also there is no weighing bridge available in the dumping sites. Hence,we didn’t find any specific data on waste generation. Without adequate record keeping and realistic databases it is difficult to assess the amount of waste generation. Waste is generated all over the Keraniganj.We found that waste is thrown randomly in open spaces at Monubeparir Dhal, Jinjira; Chunkutia; Aganagar etc. Moreover, during visit, the committee observed that many yards, roads have some waste disposals.We also visited Aganagar Union Parishad office and discussed with Chairman Mr, Md. Jahangir Shah. According to his information daily 3100 cubic feet of waste is generated from his union. Considering the above information and assumption, the committee roughly estimated the approximate waste generation per day at Keraniganj Upazilla is 200 MT.
B. Type and composition of waste
By visual inspection at different sites it was found that the waste is mainly composed of the followings:
- Food and Vegetable waste
- Garments/Textile waste
- Plastics and poly-bags
- Agricultural residues
- Paper Products
- Metals
- Glass and ceramics
- Bulbs/Lights
- Wood and wood chips
- Ash/soil
- Others
The quantity, quality of the waste in Keranigonj reveals that majority of the waste is water due to the fact that food, vegetables and agricultural residues constitute the lion’s share of the waste.
C. Source of waste generation
There are many sources of waste generation, but truly potential sources are residential, industrial and commercial sources.
1) Commercial Waste
Commercial sources are one of the bulky sources of waste production. Commercial sources mean different industries like garments, hospital, community clinic and other industry. Waste is generated from garments/textile industries, cold-storage, jute mill, brick-field, cottage industries etc. Waste is also generated from dairies and poultries. There are 424 dairy farms and 179 poultry farms in Keranigonj Upazilla.
Waste generated from garments industries has high calorific value (~20,000 kJ/kg), which is suitable for electricity generation by incineration process.
1) Domestic Waste
Domestic waste is another big source of solid waste. Which contains papers, vegetable peelings, onion seed coat, broken plastic, spider net, soil and dust, pieces of thread, animal droppings, grasses, used shoes, pieces of cloth, small bottles, soot, used car parts, electronic parts, wires, bulbs/lights etc.
2) Medical Waste
There are 1 Upazilla health complex, 15 Union health and family welfare centres, 5 family planning centres, 3 satellite clinics, private health centre etc. [4]Those establishments mostly take care of primary health care. Because of the proximity of Dhaka, most of the patients take medical services at Dhaka city.
B. Waste collection and transportation system
Local Pouroshova/Union Parishad is mainly responsible for waste management. Besides them some private van owner are engaged in waste collection and transportation system. There are no vehicles like open trucks, containers, compactors, carriers etc for waste transportation. Waste is collected from door to door and transported to the dumping sites by small rickshaw vans only. Aganagar Union Parishad has 22 rickshaw vans and there are 11 private owned rickshaw vans. In Shuvadda area there are 40 rickshaw vans involved in waste collection and transportation. Chairman, Agargaon Union Parishad and Assistant Commissioner (Land) informed the Committee that the procurements/hiring of Trucks within six months for transportation of waste are under process/consideration of local government authorities.
C. Scope of power evacuation to the grid that will be generated from waste
We visited office of the DGM, Dhaka Palli Bidyut Shamiti (PBS-2). According to PBS-2 Power Demand (peak load) and consumers in Keranigonj Upazilla are as follows
| Table i: power demand (peak load) & consumer demand [2] | |||
| Sl No | Zonal Office | Number of Consumers | Peak Load (MW) |
| 1 | Hasnabad | 42,000 | 35 MW |
| 2 | Shuvaddya | 34,000 | 28 MW |
| 3 | Zinzira | 43,000 | 35 MW |
| 4 | Kalatai | 26,000 | 13 MW |
| Total | 1,45,000 | 111 MW | |
Near Dhaleshshori Bridge-1 there is a 100 MW quick rental power plant and adjacent sub-station owned by Powerpac (Shikdar group). Beside the power plant, there is approximately 95 acres of land owned by BPDB. Considering transportation facility of waste as well as proposed power generation unit using local waste from Keraniganj, some portion of this land can be considered for the proposed power generation unit and the existing sub-station of Powerpac can be used as inter-connection of power evacuation from the proposed unit to the grid.[5]
II. Suitable technology for power generation
According to the information gathered the it was decided to propose the following staged scenario for the implementation of a WtE pilot plant in Keraniganj:
Stage 1: Implementation of a biogas plant (dry fermentation) for household waste, market waste and commercial waste from restaurants, hotels or comparable organic wastes
Stage 2: RDF (Refuse Derived Fuel) generation from textile waste, screen overflow of compost production and comparable high-calorific wastes for the use in brick kilns.
Stage 1 based on the fact that a large amount of organic waste is available in the area to operate a biogas facility economically reliable. Furthermore it is undoubted that the current practice of dumping lead to a variety of environmental problems like groundwater and surface water contamination, generation of greenhouse gases, air pollution by burning dump sites and others. Beyond the biogas generation it is possible to produce a compost by an aerobic after-treatment of the digested residues.
Stage 2 is an option which connects the amounts of textile waste with the high calorific residues of compost production of stage 1. The produced RDF can be co-incinerated in the brick kilns of Keraniganj.
A batch type dry fermentation technology is found potentially suitable to be implemented. A minimum of 430 kW electric energy generation can be expected in this technology.
III. conclusion
Waste is not only a waste but could be a potential biomass resource if handled and treated efficiently and effectively. The authority and local people of Keraniganj are becoming concern about management of waste and its negative environmental impacts. Demand of power is growing with increasing population. Waste in Keraniganj can be utilized for power generation and by-products can be used as fertilizer if technology permits.
