Smart City Concepts for Treatment of and Resource Recovery from Municipal Organic Wastes

Experiences from Igstc 2+2 Projects

authored by: Dirk Weichgrebe, Moni Mohan Mondal, Rahul Ramesh Nair, Sathish G., Nishanthi R., S.V. Srinivasan
Abstract: Increasing urbanisation, industrialisation and social development in India is coupled
with an increase in municipal solid waste (MSW) generation. Their collection, treatment, and disposal systems must be managed and organized in an integrated approach for a sustainable and economical result. In India, organic fractions contribute to about 50wt.-% of the MSW, which needs to be disposed in safe manner without polluting the environment. Wet and biodegradable fractions of organic MSW can be treated using anaerobic digestion process while dry and fibrous fractions through thermal treatment for the recovery of energy and value-added products. This concept is investigated with the case studies of two Indo-German collaborative research projects at pilot-scale level for recovery of energy and biochar from organic fractions of MSW funded by Indo German Science and Technology Center (IGSTC) 2+2 framework programme.
In the RESERVES project, urban organic waste from India’s largest vegetable and
flower market (Koyambedu Market Chennai), as well as waste from slaughterhouses
(also Chennai) - which would otherwise end up in municipal waste - is fed into an
innovative fermentation plant to enable material and energy recovery. In addition to
biogas, hygienically safe digestate and fertiliser are produced. This could be achieved
by introducing a bio-extrusion aggregate from Lehmann-UMT GmbH, Pöhl, Germany
as pretreatment of the waste to better breakdown the fibres and ensure the necessary
hygienic properties. In the PYRASOL project, urban organic waste, which is not directly accessible for biological treatment due to its high fibre content and digested municipal sewage sludge are pre-treated with the help of innovative solar drying and subsequently pyrolyzed in a single chamber pyrolysis boiler from Biomacon GmbH, Rehburg Germany to sustainably derive biochar, sequestering CO 2 and providing thermal energy, for land application.
Organisation(s): Institute of Sanitary Engineering and Waste Management
External Organisation(s): Central Leather Research Institute
Type: Conference contribution
Pages: 23-35
No. of pages: 13
Publication date: 2022
Publication status: Published
Peer reviewed: Yes
Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities, SDG 2 - Zero Hunger, SDG 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production
Electronic version(s): http://cedindia.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Proceedings12th-Hanseatic-India-Colloquium-GermanySolid-Waste-Managementan-Indo-German-Dialogue.pdf (Access: Open)