Tura, May 17: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Tuesday inaugurated the pilot project of CHAMHANA GW-Refuse Derived Fuel Plant in the presence of Special Guest His Excellency Chang Jae-Bok, Ambassador of Republic of Korea to India at Landfill Site, Rongkhon Songgital, Tura.
Delighted to inaugurate India’s 1st pilot project Chamhana GW-Refuse Derived Fuel Plant at Landfill site, Tura, Meghalaya in the presence of H.E Chang Jae Bok, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea @narendramodi @RajKSinghIndia @koremb_india pic.twitter.com/qhxZXiJOH9
— Conrad Sangma (@SangmaConrad) May 17, 2022
Inaugurating the first of its kind in the state and the country, the Chief Minister said this is a memorable day since the innovative pilot project though made of simple technology and low cost budget would convert waste into energy and could be used in place of coal or charcoal.
Recalling his visit to the landfill site way back in 2019, the Chief Minister said that the amount of garbage dumped at the site poses a great challenge on how to dispose of the waste and said that with the collaboration with the CHAMHANA Korean company the Fuel plant is expected to reduce waste and revert and recover the environment as before.
Through this #WasteToEnergy project, we envision to transform the municipal waste from Tura into solid fuel briquettes.
Hopeful that the replication of this project in other locations will address the challenges of waste management faced in Meghalaya @RajKSinghIndia @mnreindia pic.twitter.com/ZTPaDRJhJz
— Conrad Sangma (@SangmaConrad) May 17, 2022
He further mentioned that the project will convert plastic and food waste into energy blocks and the process of turning the heaps of garbage lying on the landfill site would take about 9 to 12 months to be converted since they first need to segregate the mud from the waste. He also informed that the project would be expanded to Shillong, Jowai, Nongstoin and other districts as well in the coming days.
Stating that the main problem of the Tura town is throwing waste on the streets and streams, he requested all the members of the respective Development Committees to cooperate and sensitise everyone not to throw waste recklessly especially at bazaar areas since these places also generate waste from business establishments and that everyone should play a responsible role from grassroot level in segregation of waste, cooperate with the Tura Municipal Board in management of waste and motivate others in making and keeping the town clean and green in future.
His Excellency Chang Jae-Bok, the Ambassador of Republic of Korea to India while speaking during the inaugural function of Fuel Plant said that among the North-eastern states Tura is the first town that he had visited adding that the topography is similar to that of Korea. He expressed hope that the Chamhana Fuel Plant being implemented in Tura would make Tura into a Zero waste town in future.
In his keynote address, Technical Advisor to the Chief Minister, Government of Meghalaya, Naba Bhattacharjee said that it is a Green letter day as the town is moving forward to a Waste Free Clean and Green Tura. Stating that the project did not evolve in a day, he said that it was initiated way back in 2019 by Chief Minister Conrad Sangma which would have been installed in 2020 but it was delayed due to Covid-19. Stating that the Chamhana is installing the plant without any cost to the Government and they will release their first instalment by marketing this fuel.
The Chief Executive Officer, Tura Municipal Board Rikse R Marak speaking during the inaugural function of the Refuse Derived Fuel Plant being installed at the Landfill Site, Rongkon Songittal, Tura said that successful and effective garbage management poses a great challenge at the present time. She briefed about the geographical features of the town and its inhabitants for the benefit of the Special Guest, Ambassador of Republic of Korea to India.
About the project
The current project in Tura has been envisioned as a working model demonstration project (Proof of Concept), to manage the daily incoming municipal garbage of Tura and its adjoining areas.
The plant has an installed capacity of 35 MT, including management and maintenance of the plant and training of local resources by Chamhana, which will have the rights to market the fuel briquettes generated from conversion of the waste, to recover its capital investment.
The core of Chamhana’s waste-to-fuel technology lies in the manufacturing of a catalyst WASTEF with the addition of a special patented enzyme. Organic Waste (Biomass) and all non-recyclables including plastic waste is the primary ingredient used to manufacture WASTEF.
All waste, except for recyclables like metals, glass, wood, e-waste, construction waste etc, first goes through a crusher for rupture and thereafter mixed with the prefabricated WASTEF and enzyme, followed by the consolidation and moulding process with simultaneous moisture control by dryer machine to finally produce clean, green, odourless and smokeless fuel blocks.
The entire process flow is completed through an automated and integrated mechanism, free of manual handling.
