PM: Thailand needs waste-to-energy plants

[webfact]

PM: Thailand needs waste-to-energy plants
By Digital Content



BANGKOK, Dec 5 -- Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said today that waste-to-energy plants are necessary in all localities, urging opponents to stop their campaigns against them.

While opening a fair to mark Thai Environment Day at Muang Thong Thani, Gen Prayut said the amount of garbage and hazardous waste keeps growing in the country as Thailand lacks a good disposal system; therefore, waste-to-energy plants are necessary for all communities throughout the country.

He wanted the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Ministry of Interior to convince the public that waste-to-energy plants could bring garbage disposal and pollution under control, but Thailand has yet to fully make use of its garbage by sorting it, appropriately disposing of it and turning it into electricity.

"I would like opponents of waste-to-energy plants to listen. Thailand needs waste-to-energy plants in all corners to generate electricity as the power supply is insecure and has not covered the whole country," the prime minister said.

Gen Prayut also said that 70 per cent of the energy that Thailand consumed came from imported oil and natural gas and the imports cost more than Bt4 trillion annually.

Waste-to-energy plants could relieve the import burden and the state would have more money for development and investment, he said. (MCOT online news)


-- TNA 2014-12-05

[BSJ]

It's a proven idea in other parts of the world, so with guidance from other parts of the world it can work here.

[cornishcarlos]

It's a proven idea in other parts of the world, so with guidance from other parts of the world it can work here.

You were doing well until you mentioned guidance from other parts of the world, Thais do not need guidance from anyone !

[Sharchen]

That's a good start and it will encourage better recycling. I would suggest adding solar and developing power plants that burn rice straw and capture the soot.

[Estrada]

It's a proven idea in other parts of the world, so with guidance from other parts of the world it can work here.

They already had plenty of guidance from foreign experts including myself, I helped write their solid waste master plan 14 years ago. There were already some municipal waste to energy plants in operation but several failed due to lack of money for maintenance (similar to the SRT rail link). A major plan for large waste to energy plants in 1995 to be provided by Austrian Energy, were cancelled for political reasons amid allegations that the BMA Governor's wife was an investor in the JV contracted to build the plants. Major rotating composting plants were already in operation but shut down due to contamination of the compost by glass fragments as the majority of Thais refuse to separate their rubbish from their garbage.

Our proposals included waste to energy plants, composting and materials recovery for recycling etc. However, these plans are widely ignored since the usual suspects have a nice little earner providing transportation and landfill.

The only really succesfull waste recycling program was and I hope still is, in Phitsanalok.

[Estrada]

When I hear this, I know that it is business as usual, considering the Chief of Police's ties with Samart who have formed a new company in order to bid for these waste to energy plants. This is what they mean by transparency.

[Waldkater41]

Hey Mr. President, question: what comes up on the horizon every morning and goes down every evening??? Got it?

Then may be you start to use it! It's proven that you can cover easily 30% of your requirements on energy with solar technology!

So since you start raising prices and taxes nearly weely now, use it wisely and show that in your government is no corruption.

And then start thinking about a proper waste management..... start with teaching Thais not to throw their shit into the environment, implement garbage trucks in all your country, and not only in your wonderful Bangkok and tourist centers. If you have some money left think to build proper waste to energy plants, with the necessary technical personal, maintainance, and emission control.

[rickirs]

"I would like opponents of waste-to-energy plants to listen."

Always the General, never the politican. Always the commands.

No. Gen. Prayuth needs to tell the opposition that he WILL LISTEN and WORk side-by-side with the opposition to find ways for waste-to-energy systems to be built in a civilized manner called "dialogue." He will not sway any opposition so long as he behaves as a flag officer who expects subordinates to give him preference. Surely with all the scientific and financial resources the government can bring to such discussions, there can be enough give & take to the issue that he can get public support.

Or do we wait for another "intelligence report" that will imply the opposition was paid by shadowy political opposition leaders to make trouble for the Junta?

[JDGRUEN]

They have the Cart before the Horse... There is but scant infrastructure to feed the systems for Waste to Energy. This is has been posted before several months ago when they first brought it up... I will see if I can find it,,,

Thailand needs but doesn't not have any sort of a coherent trash/waste collection system. So - how do they bring sufficient fuel to the waste to energy system?

It would take 5-7-10 years - just to get a uniform trash collection put together. And I do not see that happening - when they are looking through the wrong end of the telescope at the problem.

[kieran2698]

Hey Mr. President, question: what comes up on the horizon every morning and goes down every evening??? Got it?

Then may be you start to use it! It's proven that you can cover easily 30% of your requirements on energy with solar technology!

So since you start raising prices and taxes nearly weely now, use it wisely and show that in your government is no corruption.

And then start thinking about a proper waste management..... start with teaching Thais not to throw their shit into the environment, implement garbage trucks in all your country, and not only in your wonderful Bangkok and tourist centers. If you have some money left think to build proper waste to energy plants, with the necessary technical personal, maintainance, and emission control.

Germany produces 50% of their power from solar in the summer. But then, Germany does have a solar panel factory. Thailand doesn't and would be buying from China who use coal power to make the panels, in this way the carbon off set will not be reached within the panels lifetime. Unfortunately solar panels use a great deal of energy to produce and unless this is also green energy then they are completely pointless.

[kieran2698]

They have the Cart before the Horse... There is but scant infrastructure to feed the systems for Waste to Energy. This is has been posted before several months ago when they first brought it up... I will see if I can find it,,,

Thailand needs but doesn't not have any sort of a coherent trash/waste collection system. So - how do they bring sufficient fuel to the waste to energy system?

It would take 5-7-10 years - just to get a uniform trash collection put together. And I do not see that happening - when they are looking through the wrong end of the telescope at the problem.

How have you arrived at this 5-7-10 year idea? They need trucks, only trucks, they can be bought and used, the real infrastructure that is missing is the incinerators, the roads are already in place if you hadn't noticed. And many many places in Thailand already have the trucks and the regular collections just nowhere but landfill sights to take it.

[GuestHouse]

It's a proven idea in other parts of the world, so with guidance from other parts of the world it can work here.

You were doing well until you mentioned guidance from other parts of the world, Thais do not need guidance from anyone !

Perhaps not, but unless they are going to build waste to energy plants with pre-1960s technology they are almost certainly going to have to pay for foreign licensed technology.

[Mudcrab]

There's not a lot of science involved in burning combustibles and boiling water to produce electric power via a turbo alternator.

Sugar mills do it all the time using the waste fibre during harvesting season the world over.

Not hard to use similar boilers based on multiple fuel inputs.....they are basically an incinerator anyway.

There are many, many designs around for easy to build fermenters to produce methane and then electricity from pig crap. Sure, not a broad scale option but very doable for the village based micro power generation. And stops the stink from the pig 'farms'.

[Mudcrab]

Hey Mr. President, question: what comes up on the horizon every morning and goes down every evening??? Got it?

Then may be you start to use it! It's proven that you can cover easily 30% of your requirements on energy with solar technology!

So since you start raising prices and taxes nearly weely now, use it wisely and show that in your government is no corruption.

And then start thinking about a proper waste management..... start with teaching Thais not to throw their shit into the environment, implement garbage trucks in all your country, and not only in your wonderful Bangkok and tourist centers. If you have some money left think to build proper waste to energy plants, with the necessary technical personal, maintainance, and emission control.

Please provide a link supporting your claim that "you can cover easily 30% of your requirements on energy with solar technology!"

You can produce diesel from solar panels? Gas? E20?

An do it at night as well??

Go back to Greenland.

[ggt]

To collect more waste products...one could put portable dumping stations near 7/11 stores and city parks for the hordes of Chinese tourists which are being encourage to visit Thailand with relaxed visa restrictions...

[JDGRUEN]

They have the Cart before the Horse... There is but scant infrastructure to feed the systems for Waste to Energy. This is has been posted before several months ago when they first brought it up... I will see if I can find it,,,

Thailand needs but doesn't not have any sort of a coherent trash/waste collection system. So - how do they bring sufficient fuel to the waste to energy system?

It would take 5-7-10 years - just to get a uniform trash collection put together. And I do not see that happening - when they are looking through the wrong end of the telescope at the problem.

How have you arrived at this 5-7-10 year idea? They need trucks, only trucks, they can be bought and used, the real infrastructure that is missing is the incinerators, the roads are already in place if you hadn't noticed. And many many places in Thailand already have the trucks and the regular collections just nowhere but landfill sights to take it.

There is a lot more to a coherent Solid Waste processing system than just trucks... There is no Province wide system - not to mention a National system... only local efforts - sometimes big but certainly not even close to an organized state of the art system required to support Waste to Heat operations... There has to be a organized - well thought out local collection of trash - with uniform standards - uniform containers and full participation - regularly scheduled ... There has to be separation for recyclables and compaction stations - to make transport of the waste more cost effective.

It would be a large scale effort to even get to the point of bringing Waste to Heat on line -- which I am for... The reason some Western Countries have Waste to Heat systems - is that they have ALL the underlying infrastructure to support it.

There is nothing uniform or standard about Solid Waste collection in Thailand... it currently is one of the more primitively operated government functions in all of Thailand.

[kieran2698]

They have the Cart before the Horse... There is but scant infrastructure to feed the systems for Waste to Energy. This is has been posted before several months ago when they first brought it up... I will see if I can find it,,,

Thailand needs but doesn't not have any sort of a coherent trash/waste collection system. So - how do they bring sufficient fuel to the waste to energy system?

It would take 5-7-10 years - just to get a uniform trash collection put together. And I do not see that happening - when they are looking through the wrong end of the telescope at the problem.

How have you arrived at this 5-7-10 year idea? They need trucks, only trucks, they can be bought and used, the real infrastructure that is missing is the incinerators, the roads are already in place if you hadn't noticed. And many many places in Thailand already have the trucks and the regular collections just nowhere but landfill sights to take it.

There is a lot more to a coherent Solid Waste processing system than just trucks... There is no Province wide system - not to mention a National system... only local efforts - sometimes big but certainly not even close to an organized state of the art system required to support Waste to Heat operations... There has to be a organized - well thought out local collection of trash - with uniform standards - uniform containers and full participation - regularly scheduled ... There has to be separation for recyclables and compaction stations - to make transport of the waste more cost effective.

It would be a large scale effort to even get to the point of bringing Waste to Heat on line -- which I am for... The reason some Western Countries have Waste to Heat systems - is that they have ALL the underlying infrastructure to support it.

There is nothing uniform or standard about Solid Waste collection in Thailand... it currently is one of the more primitively operated government functions in all of Thailand.

What are you talking about? The proposal is for plants throughout Thailand, no need for a national uniformity. I don't even want to know why you feel the need for uniformed containers, that's just sad.

As for seperating recyclables, have you been to thailand? They are very good at that bit.

The main need is for the incinerators, the petty little details will follow.

[Cake Monster]

This initiative would help to reduce the amount of trash everywhere you look, and also help cut the Taksin ties within the country.

Taksin you ask ? Whats he got to do with this ?.

Well, several years ago, this man bought a very large share of a large Indonesian coal mining company, and since then several officials within the Government have been trying to push the use of coal as the " only way forward " for the future of power generation.

Maybe Taksin doesnt own the mining stock in Indonesia now, and on that point i,m not sure, so hopefully somebody can advise / correct me on that fact.

[BSJ]

Householders in villages could produce their own methane without much trouble.

[steven100]

Well done khun Prayut !!

I have said all along that WTE is the answer and especially in Thailand.

Northrop Grumman & Cirque energy inc ( Ticker: EWRL ) both from the US are in Joint Venture to develop a DGU

( deployable gasification unit ) that can be used to make electricity anywhere.

These units are deployable which means they could be set up in any region or locality .. also the technology used in the gasification process means that the waste / landfill / rubbish does not require sorting.

Deployable Gasification Units (DGUs)

Cirque Energy, in conjunction with Northrop Grumman Corporation have jointly developed a Deployable Gasification Unit (DGU) for sale to military, government, industrial and commercial customers. The DGUs utililize Cirque Energy's gasification and syngas condition technology, couple with conventional reciprocating engine generator technology. Any carbon-based waste stream (MSW, biomass, etc) of approximately 2-10 tons per day can be cleanly and efficiently turned into combined heat and power (CHP) energy.

How Does it work?

Gasification is incomplete combustion of carbon-based fuel in a starved air environment, producing combustible gases (syngas):

Carbon monoxide (CO), Hydrogen (H2) and Methane (CH4)

Syngas is cooled and scrubbed for use in internal combustion diesel generator

IC generator uses a mixture of up to 70-80% syngas, with balance diesel

Gasification is incomplete combustion of a carbon-based fuel in a starved air environment, producing combustible gases (syngas):

• Carbon monoxide (CO), Hydrogen (H2) and Methane (CH4)
• Syngas is cooled and scrubbed for use in internal combustion diesel generator
• The internal combustion generator uses a mixture of up to 70-80% syngas, with balance diesel or natural gas

True fuel flexibility

• Not limited to just woody biomass like other small-scale gasification systems
• Capable of using any mixed waste stream: MSW, biomass, agriculture waste
• No fuel pre-processing required, i.e. no sorting, special handling, or pelletizing

Scalable solution

• 2 - 10 tons waste per day, resulting in 150-750 kw electric generation plus thermal energy
• High efficiency of nearly 90% when using available waste heat in CHP mode

Redundant and capable of using fossil fuels

• Systems can provide 100% of their design capacity on traditional fossil fuels (diesel or natural gas) when not operated in gasifier mode. This means high reliability and uptime for end users, regardless of the fuel situation.

DGUs for the Military

For the Military, mobility is key

• Two 20’ ISO containers
• PLS transportable
• CH-47 and cargo planes

Operational simplicity

• Startup <2 hours
• No additional personnel
• Use JP-8 (diesel) when solid fuel is not available
• Seamless transition from diesel to syngas, and back
• No special preparation of solid fuel required

DGUs for Commercial and Industry

Non-miliatary applications

• Commercial user or industrial plant with a constant electric demand of at least 200 kW, thermal demand, and a solid waste stream
• Ideal for the MUSH market – municipalities, universities, schools, and hospitals. All of these users typically have a backup generator and an electric demand that must be secure and reliable. All typically have a waste stream.

A commercial DGU can provide:

• Energy Security and Independence
• Cost savings and a buffer from constantly rising utility rates
• Reduce or eliminate waste disposal costs
• Renewable energy!

Availability

Manufacturing Plan

• Gasifier and Gas Cleanup sub-systems manufactured by Cirque Energy
• Overall system manufacturing and final assembly by Northrop Grumman

Testing and Certification

• Full-scale military and commercial prototype systems built
• Extended duration testing and third party certification
• Air emissions testing and certification
• Military demonstrations and shakedowns

The first Unit should be ready for commercial sale by 2nd quarter 2015.

[kieran2698]

This initiative would help to reduce the amount of trash everywhere you look, and also help cut the Taksin ties within the country.

Taksin you ask ? Whats he got to do with this ?.

Well, several years ago, this man bought a very large share in a large Indonesian coal mining company, and since then several officials within the Government have been trying to push the use of coal as the " only way forward " for the future of power generation.

Maybe Taksin doesnt own the mining stock in Indonesia now, and on that point i,m not sure, so hopefully somebody can advise / correct me on that fact.

Thaksin never bought those shares in Bumi, their own director did and rothchild remains the second or perhaps now third shareholder. Bumi is the same company behind the Thai Malay joint gas field exploration and also who imports 65% if the coal into Thailand. It is Egat who have been pushing for more coal, nothing to do with Thaksin.

[kieran2698]

Well done khun Prayut !!

I have said all along that WTE is the answer and especially in Thailand.

Northrop Grumman & Cirque energy inc ( Ticker: EWRL ) both from the US are in Joint Venture to develop a DGU

( deployable gasification unit ) that can be used to make electricity anywhere.

These units are deployable which means they could be set up in any region or locality .. also the technology used in the gasification process means that the waste / landfill / rubbish does not require sorting.

Deployable Gasification Units (DGUs)

Cirque Energy, in conjunction with Northrop Grumman Corporation have jointly developed a Deployable Gasification Unit (DGU) for sale to military, government, industrial and commercial customers. The DGUs utililize Cirque Energy's gasification and syngas condition technology, couple with conventional reciprocating engine generator technology. Any carbon-based waste stream (MSW, biomass, etc) of approximately 2-10 tons per day can be cleanly and efficiently turned into combined heat and power (CHP) energy.

How Does it work?

Gasification is incomplete combustion of carbon-based fuel in a starved air environment, producing combustible gases (syngas):

Carbon monoxide (CO), Hydrogen (H2) and Methane (CH4)

Syngas is cooled and scrubbed for use in internal combustion diesel generator

IC generator uses a mixture of up to 70-80% syngas, with balance diesel

Gasification is incomplete combustion of a carbon-based fuel in a starved air environment, producing combustible gases (syngas):

• Carbon monoxide (CO), Hydrogen (H2) and Methane (CH4)
• Syngas is cooled and scrubbed for use in internal combustion diesel generator
• The internal combustion generator uses a mixture of up to 70-80% syngas, with balance diesel or natural gas

True fuel flexibility

• Not limited to just woody biomass like other small-scale gasification systems
• Capable of using any mixed waste stream: MSW, biomass, agriculture waste
• No fuel pre-processing required, i.e. no sorting, special handling, or pelletizing

Scalable solution

• 2 - 10 tons waste per day, resulting in 150-750 kw electric generation plus thermal energy
• High efficiency of nearly 90% when using available waste heat in CHP mode

Redundant and capable of using fossil fuels

• Systems can provide 100% of their design capacity on traditional fossil fuels (diesel or natural gas) when not operated in gasifier mode. This means high reliability and uptime for end users, regardless of the fuel situation.

DGUs for the Military

For the Military, mobility is key

• Two 20 ISO containers
• PLS transportable
• CH-47 and cargo planes

Operational simplicity

• Startup <2 hours
• No additional personnel
• Use JP-8 (diesel) when solid fuel is not available
• Seamless transition from diesel to syngas, and back
• No special preparation of solid fuel required

<p>

DGUs for Commercial and Industry

Non-miliatary applications

• Commercial user or industrial plant with a constant electric demand of at least 200 kW, thermal demand, and a solid waste stream
• Ideal for the MUSH market municipalities, universities, schools, and hospitals. All of these users typically have a backup generator and an electric demand that must be secure and reliable. All typically have a waste stream.

A commercial DGU can provide:

• Energy Security and Independence
• Cost savings and a buffer from constantly rising utility rates
• Reduce or eliminate waste disposal costs
• Renewable energy!

Availability

Manufacturing Plan

• Gasifier and Gas Cleanup sub-systems manufactured by Cirque Energy
• Overall system manufacturing and final assembly by Northrop Grumman

Testing and Certification

• Full-scale military and commercial prototype systems built
• Extended duration testing and third party certification
• Air emissions testing and certification
• Military demonstrations and shakedowns

The first Unit should be ready for commercial sale by 2nd quarter 2015.

Wow, that is very interesting. No huge chimney and they do say "cleanly", we will just have to take their word on that one for the moment but it would be interesting to see some emmission data.

[kieran2698]

They have the Cart before the Horse... There is but scant infrastructure to feed the systems for Waste to Energy. This is has been posted before several months ago when they first brought it up... I will see if I can find it,,,

Thailand needs but doesn't not have any sort of a coherent trash/waste collection system. So - how do they bring sufficient fuel to the waste to energy system?

It would take 5-7-10 years - just to get a uniform trash collection put together. And I do not see that happening - when they are looking through the wrong end of the telescope at the problem.

How have you arrived at this 5-7-10 year idea? They need trucks, only trucks, they can be bought and used, the real infrastructure that is missing is the incinerators, the roads are already in place if you hadn't noticed. And many many places in Thailand already have the trucks and the regular collections just nowhere but landfill sights to take it.

There is a lot more to a coherent Solid Waste processing system than just trucks... There is no Province wide system - not to mention a National system... only local efforts - sometimes big but certainly not even close to an organized state of the art system required to support Waste to Heat operations... There has to be a organized - well thought out local collection of trash - with uniform standards - uniform containers and full participation - regularly scheduled ... There has to be separation for recyclables and compaction stations - to make transport of the waste more cost effective.

It would be a large scale effort to even get to the point of bringing Waste to Heat on line -- which I am for... The reason some Western Countries have Waste to Heat systems - is that they have ALL the underlying infrastructure to support it.

There is nothing uniform or standard about Solid Waste collection in Thailand... it currently is one of the more primitively operated government functions in all of Thailand.

Have you seen the post above here? Kind of rubbishes all your claims, doesn't it?

[willyumiii]

It's a proven idea in other parts of the world, so with guidance from other parts of the world it can work here.

You were doing well until you mentioned guidance from other parts of the world, Thais do not need guidance from anyone !

Yes, no guidance needed.

It just takes them 30 -50 years of watching others before they decide it is their own great idea and the start doing it " on their own".

Can you please provide a list of worthwhile things that Thais have invented or good ideas they have implemented on their own?

Edited December 6, 2014 by willyumiii

[willyumiii]

Hey Mr. President, question: what comes up on the horizon every morning and goes down every evening??? Got it?

Then may be you start to use it! It's proven that you can cover easily 30% of your requirements on energy with solar technology!

So since you start raising prices and taxes nearly weely now, use it wisely and show that in your government is no corruption.

And then start thinking about a proper waste management..... start with teaching Thais not to throw their shit into the environment, implement garbage trucks in all your country, and not only in your wonderful Bangkok and tourist centers. If you have some money left think to build proper waste to energy plants, with the necessary technical personal, maintainance, and emission control.

Please provide a link supporting your claim that "you can cover easily 30% of your requirements on energy with solar technology!"

You can produce diesel from solar panels? Gas? E20?

An do it at night as well??

Go back to Greenland.

Bill Nye the science guy, you are not!

A great many things powered by gas and diesel can be powered by electricity.

Not eliminating the need for fossil fuels, but greatly reducing the need to burn it.

I guess you have not noticed that electricity ( even solar generated electricity ) can be stored to be used when the sun goes down.

We have these things called batteries.

Now, where is it we can tell you to go back to?

Your cave?

Edited December 6, 2014 by willyumiii

[willyumiii]

I find it positive and promising to know that Thailand has a government that is even aware of energy needs, alternate sources of same and environmental concerns.

Go Thailand!

[kieran2698]

Hey Mr. President, question: what comes up on the horizon every morning and goes down every evening??? Got it?

Then may be you start to use it! It's proven that you can cover easily 30% of your requirements on energy with solar technology!

So since you start raising prices and taxes nearly weely now, use it wisely and show that in your government is no corruption.

And then start thinking about a proper waste management..... start with teaching Thais not to throw their shit into the environment, implement garbage trucks in all your country, and not only in your wonderful Bangkok and tourist centers. If you have some money left think to build proper waste to energy plants, with the necessary technical personal, maintainance, and emission control.

Please provide a link supporting your claim that "you can cover easily 30% of your requirements on energy with solar technology!"

You can produce diesel from solar panels? Gas? E20?

An do it at night as well??

Go back to Greenland.

Do you think they just might of meant electrical power needs? Germany produces over 50% of it's electricity from solar during the summer, could easily achieve a higher amount in Thailand. Considering the topic of this post, diesel requirements are as relevant as carbohydrates. Edited December 6, 2014 by kieran2698

[JDGRUEN]

There's not a lot of science involved in burning combustibles and boiling water to produce electric power via a turbo alternator.

Sugar mills do it all the time using the waste fibre during harvesting season the world over.

Not hard to use similar boilers based on multiple fuel inputs.....they are basically an incinerator anyway.

There are many, many designs around for easy to build fermenters to produce methane and then electricity from pig crap. Sure, not a broad scale option but very doable for the village based micro power generation. And stops the stink from the pig 'farms'.

The sugar refiners are using a uniform fuel... not a mixed bag of garbage, trash and whatever. Good for the sugar refiners but lucky for them that injection of waste fiber into an incinerator is a straight forward concept.

[kieran2698]

There's not a lot of science involved in burning combustibles and boiling water to produce electric power via a turbo alternator.

Sugar mills do it all the time using the waste fibre during harvesting season the world over.

Not hard to use similar boilers based on multiple fuel inputs.....they are basically an incinerator anyway.

There are many, many designs around for easy to build fermenters to produce methane and then electricity from pig crap. Sure, not a broad scale option but very doable for the village based micro power generation. And stops the stink from the pig 'farms'.

The sugar refiners are using a uniform fuel... not a mixed bag of garbage, trash and whatever. Good for the sugar refiners but lucky for them that injection of waste fiber into an incinerator is a straight forward concept.

There is not necessarily a need for mixed fuel.

In khon kaen they have successfully turned plastic waste into fuel, the powerplant which burns this fuel is due to be built next year.

[DualSportBiker]

Disclaimer: I am not involved in this field.

However, I recently facilitated an introduction between a foreign company with new generation WTE technology from sorting of raw garbage through to biogas delivery, and a local construction tycoon who has experience building a WTE plant in Thailand as the civil engineer.

What I learnt was that there is significant resistance from local garbage collectors, sorters, and recyclers. The municipal collection trucks take the most valuable items at collection, the remainder is dumped and access to that is charged out in phases with the price dropping for late entrants. What is left is bio-waste and very low-value garbage. Some WTE plants rely on highly combustible garbage to achieve sufficient temperature to break-even. At the plant my buddy is at, that is not possible as it has been removed already. The technology represented at the meeting I brokered sorts raw garbage to pass all but the biomass for recycling, and then cleans the biomass and then extracts gas. There are no waste products; even the compost is clean and of the highest quality!

If the refuse collectors and local recyclers pull all but the biomass out for recycling, the system I saw would still work, in fact it would cost less as fewer sorting/extraction systems are needed upfront. However, the collectors and recyclers are run in the same way that motorcycle taxi ranks were/still are, and as such not for the faint hearted.