2013

ECO HEALTH CENTER- A SUCCESS STORY

AMAL.K ECO HEALTH CENTRE amalkrd@gmail.com +91-8147575141

Eco Health Centre (EHC) is a successful model of managing Municipal Solid waste. Joy.K.B, a grass root inventor and practical intellect, invented a machineAutomated Plastic Separation Machine (APSM) - that successfully separated Plastic from mixed Municipal Waste, and crushed the bio degradable particles, thus making it possible to extract the hidden value in waste and finding a permanent solution for the menace of waste management for the Municipality of Kodungallur.

PREFACE:

Economic growth and changing consumption and production patterns are resulting into rapid increase in generation of waste plastics in the world. The worlds annual consumption of plastic materials has increased from around 5 million tons in the 1950s to nearly 100 million tonnes; thus, 20 times more plastic is produced today than 50 years ago. This implies that on one hand, more resources are being used to meet the increased demand of plastic, and on the other hand, more plastic waste is being generated. In Asia and the Pacific, as well as many other developing regions, plastic consumption has increased much more than the world average due to rapid urbanization and economic development. Due to the increase in generation, waste plastics are becoming a major stream in solid waste. After food waste and paper waste, plastic waste is the third major constitute at municipal and industrial waste in cities. Even the cities with low economic growth have started producing more plastic waste due to increased use of plastic packaging, plastic shopping bags, PET bottles and other goods/appliances using plastic as the major component. This increase has turned into a major challenge for local authorities, responsible for solid waste management and sanitation. Due to lack of integrated solid waste management, most of the plastic waste is neither collected properly nor disposed of in
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appropriate manner to avoid its negative impacts on environment and public health and waste plastics are causing littering and choking of sewerage system. Due to extremely long periods required for natural decomposition, waste plastic is often the most visible component in waste dumps and open landfills. Plastic waste recycling can provide an opportunity to collect and dispose of plastic waste in the most environmental friendly way and it can be converted into a resource Source: United Nations Environment Programme, 2009.

In most of the situations, plastic waste recycling could also be economically viable, as it generates resources, which are in high demand. Recycling plastic waste also has a great potential for resource conservation and reduction of GHG emissions. This resource conservation goal is very important for most of the national and local governments, where rapid industrialization and economic development is putting a lot of pressure on natural resources. Some of the developed countries have already established commercial level resource recovery from waste plastics. Therefore, having a latecomers advantage, developing countries can learn from these experiences and technologies available to them.

Dumping of waste is an economic transaction An asset can be defined as something that is of value to the holder of it. It ceases to be an asset at the point when the holder of it feels it no more valuable and when it so ceases to be an asset, he hurries to dispose it considering it a waste. An individual strives to protect his assets while he throws away the waste. This is the natural course of any transaction. Waste for someone is Asset for another We can now analyze this notion in the context of municipal waste. Human settlements, dumps a huge bulk of waste which is detrimental to the public health. To protect the public health, the very learned law makers all over the world defined the waste as the asset of Municipalities (refer Sec 330 of Municipal Act, India). This makes the Municipalities feel responsible to protect the waste because waste is their asset.
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Asset becomes waste if managed by obsolete technology The primary responsibility of the Municipality is to recycle the waste and maintain public health. Incapability of urban bodies in Managing waste in the most appropriate manner is cited as the prime reason for the resent outbreak of epidemics in many cities in India. The country had witnessed many non-political peoples movements also in the recent past demanding proper management of Municipal waste.

1. PROCESSES AVAILABLE TO TREAT MSW:

1.1.

Aerobic Composting

Most of the Indian cities are using aerobic composting to treat municipal solid waste. But this process has not proved to be quite ideal for Kerala-thanks to high humidity, higher moisture content in typical garbage received and longer rainy days in the State. All these factors combined generate more leachate, which add to the woes of municipal authorities. Besides, in this technology plastic cannot be separated for commercial use. In

addition to their the EM bacteria which is generally use in the technology will remain alive in compost and landfill which is learned to be not advisable.

Practically, close to 15% of the MSW is converted into useful compost and all remaining has to be discarded as landfill.

1.2.

Bio gas plants- present technologies.

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The present biogas technology used in Kerala and all over India for MSW processing have become obsolete. This technology is not efficient as in the thermophilic bacteria based processing. The outlet slurry contains bacteria causing contagious diseases, which pollute water and surrounding. impractical. Separation of plastic makes bio gas feeding also

1.3.

Vermin Composting;

This technology is not suitable for non-vegetarian components. In this case also Plastic mixed with biodegradable waste proves to a bottleneck.

1.4.

Waste pelletization for fuel

Two small scale experimental projects were undertaken in the State to dry and pelletize municipal waste. Both failed for the simple reason that the calorific value of mixed Indian waste is barely 800 to 1000 Kcal/kg of waste. Sun-drying becomes impossible in monsoon rains. Covered storage of sufficient area is prohibitively costly and artificial drying is energy-negative. Issues of PVC waste generating dioxins from burning of Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) have not been addressed yet.

1.5.

Other Thermal Processes: (Incineration , Pyrolysis, Catalytic Thermal conversions to fuels etc.) As India has signed in the CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) under Kyoto protocol, thermal processing of organic waste matters has limitations. As the moisture content of our MSW is 50-70% the plants will not be commercially viable. It also needed heavy investment and maintenance cost, which is sufficient to consume a considerably high percentage of the revenue of the municipal bodies.

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2. CORE OF THE PROBLEM: The composition of urban waste and the very fact that plastic components remain mixed with bio degradable particles makes the process of managing urban waste a complex task. Practically all the Solid Waste Management (SWM) plant in India follows the method of composting in one way or other, as the operations of SWM plants are governed by Municipal Solid Waste Management Act 2000, which suggests composting as the ideal method for Indian cities to treat urban waste. Practitioners across the globe finds mixed waste highly difficult to treat; hence attempts are made across to educate citizen regarding the need to segregate the waste at source. The very nature of demography and the sheer volume of urban waste in India make most of the efforts made at source segregation impractical till date-although there are isolated cases of partial success-.It is in this peculiar state of affairs Kodungallur model of waste management stands apart as a model worth emulating. Mr. Joy K.B, an industrial consultant and CEO of M/S SUNTECH INDUSTRIAL STEEL CO. introduced a mechanical model for separating Plastic particles from mixed urban solid waste with an impressive 99.91 accuracy. This model was introduced as a pilot project in the Kodungallur municipality, Trichur district, Kerala. First developed as a machine to separated seeds and pericarp in red chillies way back in 1995, Joy realized that with certain improvisations, this machine can be used to separate plastic from mixed urban waste. The pilot project worked wonders for Joy, and the result was a critical problem solved for the Municipality of Kodungallur- the problem related to the disposal of Solid waste from the growing municipality. Mr. Joy calls his model Eco Health Centre (EHC). When asked about the rationale behind this name he elaborated- I consider waste generation of waste by any urban settlement as a health issue which needs to be treated. My plant treats this issue
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successfully and what come out from my plant are products that are treated and healthy. Those products are healthy and can be further used for productive purposes.

3. ECO HEALTH CENTRE

3.1. SALIENT FEATURES OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH CENTRE TECHNOLOGY

No Foul smell, No water pollution, No discharge of leachate. No Flys The machine GREEN APSM (Automatic Plastic Separation Module) can automatically separate the mixed city garbage into bio-degradable and non-bio degradable.

GREEN APSM is capable of separating the plastic, rubber, etc. instantaneously on feeding and can process the organic matter to the aerobic /anaerobic compost.

This is the only system available in India to process the municipal solid waste on day to day basis. Processing capacity of each module is 1- 3 tons/Hr.

The municipal solid waste being collected is not a homogenous mixture. The machines make it homogenous to be fit enough for anaerobic digestion, aerobic composting or vermin-composting.

In anaerobic process, the products are biogas and 99.5% plastic free bio manure and segregated plastic which carry commercial value. The fuel extracted from this process can be utilized for running the plant and the remaining fuel can be sold directly or can convert it into electricity.
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Due to higher rate of oxygenation /aeration in enclosed chamber up to the 10 meter height, the pollutants are minimized in this plant hence reducing the chance of spread of contagious viral diseases. No chemicals or genetically modified bacteria are involved in this process. This plant can process any solid waste containing heavy fibers, like tender coconut husks, elephant dung, branches of trees, etc. Solid waste includes born from fish/meat markets can also be processed in this plant. The average power consumption of the plant is 15kw/Hr/ton. Doesnt cause water, air or sound pollution Follows MSW rules 2000 of India. The plant can be of stainless steel Built

3.2.

HOW DOES EHC OPERATE:

1. The Green Automated Plastic Separation Module (APSM) separates the fresh garbage into Bio-Degradable and non-bio degradable. 2. The Bio degradable materials are crushed to make slurry of it, which is further allowed to degenerate in natural way. This process ensures that no foul smell is generated in the whole process. 3. Non bio-degradable particles-Mainly plastic- is separated by APSM. This allows recovery of plastic in reusable form.

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4. Since the rejects are 100% free of biological particles, the chances of generation of leachate at landfill is practically nil. 5. The leachate generated at the feeding point is reused in the process. By this it is ensured that no leachate is released out of the plant. This approach solves the issue of leachate generation which the gravest issue in the present process. 6. The bio degradable slurry is ideal to be fed into bio gas plants. This allows generation of electricity out of waste.

4. DETAILS OF TECHNOLOGY USED IN EHC

4.1 PLANT STRUCTURE EHC is consists of a bunch of different modules: 4.1.1. APSM module

Plastic collection tank

Leachate collection tank

Fresh garbage feeding point

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Existing plant at Kodungalloor

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The core APSM ensure that the basic separation of Bio-degradable and Non Biodegradable are achieved without using any chemicals and emulated bacteria which are harmful to the environments.

The bio-degradable wastes are crushed to form slurry inside the machine itself and the slurry is further composted. Leachate generated from the fresh garbage along with water is used in the process of making slurry and dipping garbage in the water. In this way, it is ensured that leachate is reused and as a result, no leachate goes out of the plant. This process is bundled to give a solution of foul odor in the site and control of flies and other insects.

By-products: The end products of eco-health center will be a. Bio manure (From 3rd month onwards)-which will be produced with the core module and b. A range of Products from crushed plastic, which require optional modules as given below:

4.1.2. Optional Modules- Details:

a. Plastic Film Crunching Module

This module is mandatory for processing the waste plastic from MSW. It is used for size reduction of plastic bags separated from the MSW for further processing like using them for re-in forcing the Cement & Bitumen tar for laying roads.

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b Solid Strip - Casting Module This module is for converting the separated plastic in to Hard Bars in appropriate size for industrial & domestic use as per the commercial requirement.

c. Tar- Mixing Module

This is to mix this plastic with Bitumen Tar for laying road and the municipality/corporation can use as much as 30% of plastic (form the waste) into the tar mix and it is experienced that it improves the life of the roads by near to 80%.

The plant in Kodungalloor has the core APSM module only. Municipality cited financial crunch as the reason for not paying for the optional modules. The APSM separate the entire garbage collected and brought to the site in less than 2 hours every day

d. For Brick Making - Mixing Module

Plastic Waste is used for making Mix for Bricks /Floor tiles/Fencing pole etc.

4.2.

Euro standard Bio Reactor (Bio gas plant) Dome type.

The organic slurry which comes out of the APSM module is fed in the dome shaped biogas plant which has a heat exchanger unit (gas firing). After composting, the out

flowing slurry is sterilized at 90-1000C and heat is exchanged to the system for maintaining
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system temperature at 60-700C.

Sub modules 1. Electricity generator A set of generators for generating electricity using the biogas. 2. Solid manure moduleHere vibrator mesh is used for separating solid manure from outflow of slurry, 3. composting yard for rejected mass, 4. Compost sieving machines etc.

4.3.

STORAGE REGION. This is a storage-area for the collected dry plastics, glass, metals, e waste etc. from the collection source.

4.4.

Aerobic Compost Yard: The aerobic compost yard is the open area where the fresh slurry is kept covered for a period of 90 days so that the slurry turn into compost in aerobic manner. No concentrated or emulated bacterial solution is added to the slurry so collected. This ensures that the composting happens purely in natural way thus reducing the foul order to the least.

4.5.

PRECAUTION DUMPING YARD. A safely covered dumping yard to meet contingencies.

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5. PROCESS DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT

The rough diagram of the system and the process layout gives an idea about the process. 5.1. Proces diagram

Bio Degradable slurry collection point

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The carrier vehicles dump the fresh garbage on the hydraulic tipper of the APSM module. On rising, this slowly discharges the items towards the water pit. Meanwhile the waste packets, if any, present in the garbage are cut by automatic cutting machine and the waste fall scattered in to the water. The high density material will sink in water and those with low density like plastic and organic substances will float. The elevator forklifts collect the floating material at a rate 3 ton/ hr. these materials are sent to the APSM machine. The plastic present is the feed will be separated and dropped in the water tank. The organic matter is fed into a vibrator mesh where it is sieved and collected in a tank. It is diluted, and the accepted slurry will be fed to the bioreactor.

It takes about 15-30 days for the bio reactor to produce biogas regularly. Once the APSM separate the plastic, the plastic if fed into shredding machine. The Shredder cuts the plastic into near powder form. Plastic at this form is dried, packed and sent out of the plant for making value added products. The organic slurry from bio-reactor is drained to a tank and sterilized. If there is any rejection of the organic slurry is there on the process control tank that can be transferred to aerobic composting yard for producing compost.

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5.2. Process Layout

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6. LIMITATIONS OF THE EHC TECHNOLOGY

1. Biomedical waste, industrial waste and e waste cannot be process through this technology. 2. As the system is dynamic machineries based, failure in critical machines may affect the regular functioning of the system. 3. The presence chemicals and certain pathogen may upset the bioreactor system.

SUGGESTIONS FOR OVERCOMING THE LIMITATIONS.

1. Bio medical waste and Industrial waste need separate system for collection and processing 2. Sufficient spare machines should be installed and regular maintenance should be carried out. This should be ensured in contract sign between the technology provider and stake holders. 3. Regular scientific monitoring of organic slurry and the installation of a proper discard system should be included in the process layout of bioreactor feed system. 4. Insure the properties and proper maintenance for all systems should be incorporated. 5. Precautionary Dumping yard be constructed for meeting contingencies.

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7. EHC VS WINDROW COMPOSTING MODEL

Comparison between EHC model and Windrow composting model- the most widely used MSW treatment model in India is worth comparing-

The following drawbacks are attributed to all the Windrow composting plants across the country1. Leachate generation: Owing to the very nature of the process being, leachate is generated as a natural by-product. Leachate is generated both from windrow platform as well as from the sanitary landfills. This causes great inconvenience for people living nearby the plants and causes severe damage for the ecology and ground water of the area. 2. Odor: The accelerated bio digestion causes bad odor, making it impossible for people to live anywhere near these plants. 3. Rejects/Landfill: More than 70 % of the garbage (By volume) what is received everyday goes into landfills. (The operators may object this argument, but the author is confident while making this statement and making this statement out of his personal experience) 4. Minimal recovery of reusable plastic: There is no clear mechanism to recover
The Draft Municipal Solid Waste

(Management and Handling) rules 2013 statesLandfill shall only be permitted for nonusable, non-recyclable, non-biodegradable, non-reactive inert waste and other waste such as residues of waste processing facilities as well as pre-processing rejects from waste processing facilities and the like nature provided that effort shall be done by the municipal authority or operators to utilize inert waste for making bricks, pavement blocks, construction blocks, non-recyclable plastics and other incinerable waste for coincineration in cement kilns or any high temperature furnaces or manufacture of door panels, and the like nature so that the burden on landfill is reduced and the landfill sites shall meet the specifications as given in Schedule

plastic from segregated waste in windrow

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composting model. A very minimal amount recovery happens manually- the manual recovery is indeed cannot be seen from much different from annual scavenging. People segregate plastic in highly unhygienic and hostile working conditions, posing serious threat to their health. This is a major cause for the high volume of net reject after processing which ultimately goes in to the landfill.

HOW EHC PROPOSE TO ADDRESS THESE ISSUES: EHC separates the fresh garbage into Bio-Degradable and non-bio degradable. The Bio degradable materials are crushed to make slurry of it, which is further allowed to degenerate in natural way. This process ensures that no foul smell is generated in the whole process. Non bio-degradable particles-Mainly plastic- is separated by APS.This allows recovery of plastic in reusable form. This reduces the need of landfill to less than 8% of the present level. Since the rejects are 100% free of biological particles, the chances of generation of leachate at landfill is practically nil. The leachate generated at the feeding point is reused in the process. By this it is ensured that no leachate is released out of the plant. This approach solves the issue of leachate generation which the gravest issue in the present process. The bio degradable slurry is ideal to be fed into bio gas plants. This allows generation of electricity out of waste.

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8. APSM ON WHEELS- THE MOBILE APSM (AUTO PLASTIC SEPARATION MODULE)

APSM on wheels-The mobile version of APSM is the latest improvisation of the traditional plant based plastic separation and slurry composting MSW module. This is effectively a vehicle mounted version of APSM which further improves the cost effectiveness of the whole process of treating MSW. APSM on wheels practically nullifies the very requirement of any larger infrastructure for MSW plants, by taking the plant to the source of solid waste generation and completes the entire treatment process without having to transport the garbage to a common plant- which in most cases is located far from the source.

Following is the basic composition a Mobile APSM unit:

1. Garbage and Water feeding points 2. Conveyor 3. APSM 4. Collection tank- Slurried bio degradable 19 ECO HEALTH CENTRE- A SUCCESS STORY OF MANAGING MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE

` 5. Collection Tanks- Plastic 6. Collection bins for specific waste items.

Similar to the Stationary unit, mixed waste (slightly pre-sorted) is fed in to the feeding point (1). Water is sucked in and the fresh garbage is drained in the water at this very stage itself. The conveyor (2) carries the fed waste to a height of six meters and transports it into the APSM(3). Separation of mix waste into bio degradable and non-bio degradable happens at this point and the organic particles are slurried and stored in the slurry collection tank (4). Plastic is stored in two separate collection tanks and rest of the components are further sent to their respective collection bins. One unit can process 10 Tons of mixed waste before the separated waste load gets unloaded. The bio degradable slurry needs to be fed into decentralized MSW bio gas plants that are to be established at different parts of the city, depending upon the size and population of the city. Once unloaded, the unit can further go to the next common collection point and take the waste from there for processing. APSM on wheel significantly reduces the manpower requirement in the whole rocess. While a single truck requires 6 persons including a driver to transport 3 tons of garbage to the dump yard, APSM on wheel can completely process 10 tons with 4 persons, including a driver.

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9. ECO HEALTH CENTRE IN KODUNGALLUR

The APSM installed in Kodungallur Municipality follows the direction given in the latest act in its letter and spirit. The model indeed saved the municipality from the menace of managing urban waste in the traditional way. The dump yard, which got completely filled in with dump by the year 2005, was a big cause of worry for the municipal authorities. It was at that time Mr. Joy came out with his prototype machine. The authorities-though skeptical- accepted Joys offer to install the machine as a trial basis. The result was miraculous indeed. The 1.5 acre land, which was totally filled in with garbage accumulated over decades were cleared almost completely Our municipality is free of the menace of city waste, and other issues related to waste- like bad odor, flies and epidemics resulting from improper management of waste- said G.Sudhakaran, Secretery, Kodungallur Municipality. A.V.Raveendran, Helath Secretery, Kodungallur municipality said- 99.9 percentage of waste can be processed with this module. This is a model to be emulated for all the municipalities in the State.

10. CONCLUSION:
EHC, a home grown model of Solid Waste Management has successfully shown that it can be the solution for one of the glaring issues that the country faces in such a time of rapid urbanization. The model has grown from initial days of trial and error operations and the experience that has gained over last 6 years made the team EHC confident of handling greater tasks.

The team EHC has already given its preliminary proposal to Coimbatore municipality to treat fresh garbage and the garbage accumulated in their dump yard over last many decades. The proposal given is a PPP model where the municipality will build the plant and the EHC will supply machineries. The project proposes to reclaim close to 600 acres of land that became useless after the dump yard was set up in its premises.
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` Tags: Case studies, Best Practices of SWM, Solid waste Management, Waste Segregation, Mechanical segregation, Zero landfill

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