In yet another addition to measures taken to process solid waste, the city on Saturday got a bio-methanation plant, thanks to funding from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.
Swiss Federal Councillor and Head, Federal Department of Environment, Transport and Energy and Communication, Simonetta Sommaruga inaugurated the ₹ 45 lakh bio-methanation plant at the Coimbatore Corporation’s workshop at Bharati Park.
A release from the Swiss Embassy said the Swiss Agency had financed the project under the Capacity Building for Low Carbon and Climate Resilient City Development in India (CapaCITIES) project.
The objective of the project was to help the Corporation streamline and improve its solid waste collection and management as poor management contributed to soil and water pollution in addition to increasing green house gas emission, which, in turn, aggravated climate change.
The Swiss Agency had joined hands with ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, an NGO, in implementing the project. ICLEI had engaged Aruna Green Ventures Pvt. Ltd. to construct the plant.
S.R. Kumar, Founder-Director of the company, said the plant had the capacity to process 1.50 tonnes of organic waste a day.
It would process in four stages the organic waste the Corporation supplied to generate about 60kg methane a day.
The machine required 26 days from the day the Corporation fed waste for the first time to generate methane and there after it would be a daily process.
A 15 kVA generator attached to the bio-methanation plant would generate 150-170 units of electricity and that would help power around 250 lights and also the conveyor belt used to convey waste into the plant.
Mr. Kumar said the bio-methanation plant would also give around 300 kg compost slurry which if the Corporation dried could use it as manure.
The Swiss Embassy release said the use of a decentralised model for treating organic waste had multiple benefits and that included reduction in waste dumped in the open and emission there from, elimination of the need to transport waste to a centralised facility and improvement in public health and reduction in environmental pollution.
Earlier in the day, Federal Councillor Ms. Sommaruga visited the Singanallur tank to learn about the study taken under the CapaCITIES programme to explore the possibility of mitigating the impact of sewage inflow.
She also learnt about the Shunya zero waste project implementation in Wards 22 and 23.
