Phasakorn Channgam
Consultants working on a joint Pattaya / Provincial
Electricity Authority project to build the area’s first waste-to-energy
plant are getting closer to a decision whether the incinerator project
should go forward.
Doldej
Tangtrakarnpong, director of Naraesuan University’s environmental center,
says researchers have determined that only new garbage would be suitable for
burning.
At another update session Oct. 8, Doldej Tangtrakarnpong,
director of Naraesuan University’s environmental center, said researchers
have determined that only new garbage would be suitable for burning.
Doldej said the feasibility study looks at three types of
trash: fresh garbage, solid waste less than three years old, and solid waste
older than three years. It was found that only the fresh garbage and solid
waste of less than 3 years can produce electricity because both have similar
energy potentials and better particles as fuel for energy production.
Solid waste older than three years, he said, has fewer
particles for fuel and more non-degradable objects remaining than these
other two types of solid waste.
He estimated all studies and research will be completed
by December.
The PEA selected Pattaya in January as the site of a
pilot project for its first waste-to-energy plant. The utility has spent the
past months on the feasibility of locating the plant in the Khao Miakaew
Sub-district. The previous update was in June.
Pattaya produces up to 400 tons of garbage a day, second
only to Bangkok. City officials have said that as the city grows in
popularity, so does its trash problem. With insufficient space to continue
building landfills, another solution was needed.
PEA executives estimate up to 400 mw of power could be
generated by burning non-recyclable portions of all the garbage produced
daily in Thailand.
