WtE - Technology of the Future

The volume of waste is forecast to rise 15 percent annually on average in urban zones like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. By 2012, the capital city of Hanoi will have no space for dumping rubbish. Currently, Vietnam is still using the traditional method of landfill which is posing daunting challenges because the land fund for this purpose is shrinking while it is contaminating the water and the air. Hence, the Southeast Asian country will consider applying the Waste to Energy (WtE) technology - a process of creating energy in the form of electricity or heat from the incineration of waste source.

Vietnam is becoming a developed industrialised economy which requires a huge volume of natural resources and energies for manufacturing products for domestic market and for export while discharging into the environment an equivalent amount of wastes (estimated at more than 2 million tonnes a day) in different forms (liquid, gas and solid) with different properties (hazardous and non-hazardous, which can be recycled or cannot recycled (according to the documents released by the Hanoi Department of Natural Resources and Environment).

 

WtE technology is becoming more popular in the world as it proves the sustainability in waste processing. WtE is gradually replacing traditional landfill in processing waste. Because of advantages of this technology, the United States now has more than 100 WtE factories, England, Germany and France has more than 60 facilities each. In Asia, Japan takes the lead with more than 80 establishments, followed by China and South Korea with nearly 20 plants each. In ASEAN, Singapore and Thailand have about three WtE facilities each.

 

WtE is a tool to reduce the area needed for landfill method. WtE focuses on harmful pollutants and removes them from the ecological cycle. WtE-powered plants run on energy collected from rubbish. Energies from WtE plants replace other energies like coal, oil and gas. Thus, they help reduce carbon dioxide and protect global climate.

Only a small portion of garbage in Vietnam is recycled but it continues polluting surroundings after that. At present, rubbish collectors sort out recyclable wastes like iron, aluminium and paper, and food leftover to produce animal feeds. The recycling of these wastes will pollute processing villages and factories.

 

If we use waste incinerating technology like other countries, we take advantage of this resource because up to 60 - 70 percent of Vietnamese wastes are organic matter. This is a valuable energy source.

 

At a recent seminar on “Waste to Energy Technology - Ability for deployment in Vietnam” held in Hanoi by the Vietnam Environmental and Natural Protection Association in collaboration with the Vietnam Construction and Import - Export Joint Stock Corporation (Vinaconex), both domestic and international participants said WtE was applicable in Vietnam. Ekkehart Gartner, Senior Vice President of Technology, Martin Company (Germany), said: WtE in Vietnam is completely viable. Taking a WtE facility in Monaco as an example, he said the factory is located in the heart of the city but one of dwellers complains about the quality of environment. Besides, operators of the facility collected huge benefits from selling CO2 certificates and renewable energy. At present, Martin has facilities in 31 countries in the world and up to 33 percent of WtE establishments use Martin systems.

 

However, the investment for the WtE technology is considered expensive for Vietnam while operating costs and technological requirements are very high, especially in comparison with traditional landfill methods.