Studies on Waste-to-Energy Technologies in India & a detailed study of Waste-to-Energy Plants in Delhi

Energy is the driving force for development in all countries of the world. The increasing clamour for energy and satisfying it with a combination of conventional and renewable resources is a big challenge. Another concern is that of urban waste accumulation. The rapid increase in population coupled with changing lifestyle and consumption patterns is expected to result in an exponential increase in waste generation of upto 18 billion tonnes by year 2020. While Indian urban growth has mushroomed, provision of urban services and amenities has fallen short, with the resultant urban sprawl giving rise to increased energy demand and environmental degradation. Therefore there is an urgent need to fulfill the energy requirements and to manage the waste that had been produced. Simultaneous solution to both the problems is Waste-to-Energy Technology, the objective of which is treating MSW to reduce its volume as well as generating energy and electricity to add value to the process. This paper focuses on Waste-to-Energy scenario in India with a detailed study of Waste-to-Energy plants in the capital city Delhi. It also overviews the techniques used for obtaining energy from waste along with evaluating the environmental, technical and socio-economic performance of the technology. Different types of waste-to-energy projects along with their working status in different states and union territories of the country, and the differences in their input and output units are described in the present paper. A comparison of different parameters affecting Waste to Energy technology and a state-wise comparison was conducted along with comparative study of waste-to-energy plants in Delhi.