 |
 |
| ON THE OTHER HAND |
| Garbage into Power By Antonio C. Abaya Written Oct 7, 2004 For the Philippines Free Press, October 16 issue Amid the doom and gloom that pervade much of media these days, it is a relief to find an occasional burst of good news for a change. Perhaps not enough to dispel all the pessimistic rumble that we feel in our bones, but enough to brighten up the future, if only for a tiny corner of our darkening universe. That piece of good news is the opening last July (news was released only on Oct. 03, in the Philippine Daily Inquirer) by President Arroyo of the country�s first power generating plant fueled by methane gas derived from garbage. Appropriately enough, that plant is located in Payatas, Quezon City, infamous site of the country�s biggest open garbage dump, and it was inaugurated on the fourth anniversary of a garbage avalanche that buried alive some 229 scavengers on July 10, 2000. President Arroyo, the Department of Energy, and the Quezon City government are to be congratulated for this modest quantum leap forward. Turning garbage into electric power solves two problems simultaneously. It adds, however slightly (only one megawatt from Payatas), to the power available from the Luzon grid without imported oil (which now costs more than $52 a barrel and still climbing). More importantly, it solves the recurrent problem of how and where to dump Metro Manila�s output of 6,000 tons of solid waste everyday. According to the PDI story, Payatas receives 500 truckloads of garbage everyday. Methane gas is the natural product in the anaerobic (meaning, in the absence of oxygen) digestion by bacteria of organic matter in garbage. Complex organic compounds such as cellulose in plant, paper, wood and vegetable waste, and proteins, carbohydrates and fats in animal and food waste are broken down by bacteria into simpler organic compounds, the simplest being methane which is a gas. In a methane-fired generating plant, the methane gas is burned to heat water into steam, which turns the turbines of a generator to generate electricity. I have been an enthusiast for and advocate of garbage-into-power since I was shown one operating unit in Melbourne, Australia in 1994. I had been invited to read a paper before a 45-nation international conference on �Cities and the New Global Economy.� It had been organized by the Paris-based OECD (a grouping of the 26 richest countries of the world) and hosted by the Department of Housing and Urban Development of the federal government of Australia. Of several after-conference tours offered by the hosts, I chose two: the garbage-into-power generating plant in the Melbourne suburb of Sunshine City, and the electric tram network that crisscrosses Melbourne itself. I wrote about these in my 1994 columns in the Philippine Star and again in articles now archived in www.tapatt.org: The Best Solution to Garbage (Dec. 06 2001) and Trams versus Traffic (Oct. 01 2003). The Payatas plant is said to be good for about five years, after which it will no longer be able to produce sufficient methane gas to fire the generator to its rated capacity. It will be necessary to dismantle the power plant and move it somewhere else. Where and how? The most logical place would be a point along or near the existing rail line of the Philippine National Railways (PNR). One weakness of the Payatas plant is that garbage is transported to it by trucks, 500 of them, everyday. The cost of doing so will become higher as the price of gasoline or diesel goes up with the price of crude oil and/or the decline of the peso. Transportation logic says that bulk shipments are more economical using railcars instead of trucks. But shipping stinking garbage in open railcars would foul the air all the way to the dump site. In the Melbourne plant, this is avoided by first compacting the garbage, after the recyclables have been removed, in a transfer station (the Food Terminal area in Bicutan would be ideal for us) using hydraulic presses that reduce several truckloads of garbage into one solid block that will fit, and is actually rolled, into a 20-foot container.. These solid blocks of garbage are the ones transported (by railcars, I propose in our case) to the landfill next to the methane gas-fired power plant. In the Melbourne landfill, the blocks of compacted garbage are laid out neatly in a row. When a row is filled up, earth is bulldozed over it. No messy, helter-skelter open dump that will attract stray animals, vermin and scavengers, aside from polluting the air. After three weeks, pipes are driven into the compacted garbage to siphon off the methane gas, which is then cleansed chemically of other gases and then fed into the generating plant, burned to heat water into steam, to turn the turbines of the generator, to generate electricity. The practicality of locating the landfill-generating plant along an existing rail line becomes apparent when the landfill reaches saturation point and can no longer produce enough methane gas. One merely moves the entire system to the next town along the same rail line. Theoretically, all the way from Cavite to Sorsogon, which should take almost forever. And which would not be possible with the present Payatas operations. The knee-jerk Nimby (not-in-my-backyard) objection of local communities can be overcome by offering substantial discounts in their electric bills. ***** OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Reactions to �Garbage into Power� Are you sure it's methane the garbage is producing and not carbon dioxin that is harmful and deadly? Yuko Takei, [email protected] Japan, October 11, 2004 MY REPLY. Any high school student in Japan will tell you that methane is the natural product in the decomposition of organic matter. And additionally that methane is 21 times more contributory to the greenhouse gases phenomenon than carbon dioxide. Dioxin is a possible by-product if certain plastics are burned. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww . A very interesting idea. I hope the government authority concerned will have enough sense to use your idea to lick this perennial garbage disposal problem. There is a good chance they may not adopt it because the idea did not come from them first. A case of amor propio, you know. Cesar M. de los Reyes, [email protected] October 11, 2004 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww The reason that the Philippines cannot solve a simple thing as garbage is that the main consideration is who gets the contract for the equipment. Like Abalos' rotten Comelec. Buy the machine whose suppliers giove the fattest kickbacks. Ross Tipon, [email protected] October 11, 2004 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Mr. Abaya ---keep up the good work. I hope you don�t mind but I forward your message all around the world. But lets be realistic---I only send off those commentaries to people who will read them so I need to select the topics for forwarding. I get quite a few responses---all very positive. I think we all love the Philippines very much even though we are not Filipino. We can of course see the shortcomings but still love the people and the country. I have been very lucky as my work takes me all over Asia and I get to see places such as Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia. I really feel quite sad when I see some of the nonsense going on in the Philippines---so negative and damaging. The Press really only provides a disservice not only to the Filipino but visitors and of course potential business men. You have rightly mentioned Tourism ---and I agree with your every comment. As an Australian--we tried in the 70's to drive tourists away ---they really crowded the place and bogged down the golf courses. Bloody pests. Now a days of course tourism is a major cash spinner for the Australian economy. This is the case for Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia albeit late starters. Vietnam is now realizing the wonders of tourism. Bali suffered probably the worst possible fate from acts of terrorism but it is bouncing back and of course will recover but of course probably never to the level of years ago. I agree with your work idea---factories. This is where people can earn a living---with dignity. I am living in Malaysia now for 10 years with some small amounts of time in all the other places mentioned. The cost of living has certainly gone up but the standard of living has leapt forward. Malaysia now is a sophisticated place with its share of Starbucks etc. Not that that is a good gauge. Dr. M supported by his deputies and especially the current PM have projected Malaysia in to the next century with strong policies and strong politicians. As I said at the start we all love the Philippines but its probably the most destructive place on earth except for Iraq. How do you fix it---and of course I think your Presidential election really did not do any good and what�s more the incumbent is there for 6 years. I sometimes hear that the Philippines is a fragmented society spread over 7,000 islands ---how to manage. I think that the Indonesians are even in a more difficult situation with over 200 million people. Please keep up the good work ---don�t give up---ever. I want to comment on the last article you sent out---Garbage to Energy. I am a garbage man of more than 20 years experience ---10 years in Australia and 10 years in Asia---Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines. Your commentary is by and large correct except for the fact that the electricity generating unit installed in Payatas is a demonstration unit only. Landfill Gas ( Methane)can be managed and controlled and collected and used to drive a gas powered engine thereby generating electricity. But to make it viable its got to be done right. And it can be done right. The Kyoto Protocols where first mooted to look at Global warming and climate change. This is still probably the main objective today except that the Americans walked away and ignored the other over 100 countries that did sign the treaty. Russia is now saying it will sign. Australia of course followed George W Bush and did not sign. If you really want to talk to me about landfill gas and power generation then I would be glad to give you some contacts. Its an interesting subject and much more can be done in the future. Sometimes it appears as though there are benefits to doing these projects but I guess what I found in the Philippines was a lack of sincerity. Is that the right word.!!!!!!!!!! I must close by saying that my friends in the US always comment on your style and proper English. Thanks a lot. Kind regards (Name and email address withheld) An Australian resident in Malaysia October 11, 2004 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO |