Lack of sorting reduces Thailand's waste-to-energy output

By Kornrawee Panyasuppakun 
The Nation

 

File photo: TPI Polene Power

 

A kilogram of trash in Japan can generate 4,000 kcal of energy, Worawit Lerdbussarakam, vice president of TPI Polene Power, told the National Engineering Convention on Friday.

 

However, that same amount of Thai waste, which is quite wet and damp, can generate only about 1,200 kcal because of lack of sorting, said Worawit, VP of the largest waste-to-energy operator and a major cement production provider in Thailand.

 

To be considered a fuel the figure must surpass the 2,500 kcal threshol, he added. 

 

“We found plastic bags with wet curry soup stain, dead dog, Buddhist little shrine, and bedding in the trash,” he said. 

After the trash is sorted and burned by hi-tech boilers, it can generate heat up to about 3,900 kcal.

 

Worawit, speaking at the Impact Arena in Muang Thong Thani, said that each day 6,000 tonnes of waste from communities and landfills, and more from its own cement production plants are transported to TPI Polene power plant compound in Amphoe Kaeng Khoi, Saraburi Province. 

 

The trash is then sorted and burned by the boilers in its high-tech RDF-fired power plants. The heat is used to generate electricity to feed its cement plants and sell to Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT).

 

The company currently has a total power generation capacity at 180MW. 

 

“We use waste to replace coal in generating power,” said Worawit. 

 

The company has invested about Bt4 billion in waste-fueled power plants. But high operational costs, including sorting, make the waste-to-energy business unsustainable. 

 

In an interview with Money Channel last month, Pakkapol Leopairut, Executive Vice President, Accounting and Finance, said the company may have to collect money for waste management from the community or use alternative fuel for power generation if EGAT does not continue to subsidise. 

 

Currently, the company is receiving unsorted trash from communities for free. Also, the subsidy from EGAT, at Bt3.50 per kWh, which is payable in addition to the standard electricity price for alternative-fueled generated electricity, will expire in 2022.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30357770

 

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-11-03

30 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

said Worawit, VP of the largest waste-to-energy operator

i had no idea there was anyone involved in this production. It's really encouraging, even though they seem to rely on subsidies to do it - this one anyway.

I wonder how many more installations there are in Thailand, and if they are any more efficient?

I was advised by my Wife that the waste incinerator that broke down on Koh Samui over 14 years ago, packed up because all garbage, regardless of type (ie plastic, metal, etc) including paper, cardboard, gardening waste was thrown in to the incinerator, which understandably broke down.  The Company who installed it were asked to come and fix it, but the local authority were advised that they had failed to make sure, only the appropriate waste which they had been advised of, had been put in to the incenerator, therefore invalidated the incinerator's warranty. 

Do you know how hard it is to simply follow instructions, let alone try teach

another country's people those instructions? Especially LOS.