The drying system of Noshahr waste-to-energy power plant in Mazandaran Province has been launched to reduce moisture in wet waste and prepare it for electricity generation.
The plant, with a capacity of 200 tons, seeks to turn the garbage and waste of Mazandaran, which is deposited and buried in the heart of the forests and on the shores of the sea, into electricity and help ease waste disposal in the popular tourist resort, Barq News reported.
With the help of the newly-launched dryer, moisture in wet waste can be decreased by over 50% so that it becomes suitable as feed for the plant.
Stretching over 2,000-hectares, the plant can help handle about 1.1 million tons of waste per year in Noshahr, Chalous and Kelardasht (three tourist spots) and generate 3 megawatts of electricity per hour.
Three more WTE plants are in different stages of construction in Tonekabon, Babol and Sari (in the picturesque northern region).
With a capacity to burn 3,000 tons of waste per day, the plant in Sari has registered over 80% progress and is expected to come on stream by March 2023.
Mazandaran, which hosts millions of tourists from across the country, especially during the Norouz (Iranian New Year) and summer holiday season, produces 3,000 tons of trash per day. The Sari plant will convert 30% of the waste in the province into energy.
Benefits of WTE Plants
WTE plants will gradually lead to the closure of landfills and collection of landfill leachate — liquid contaminated with landfill pollutants — and prevent it from seeping into underground water.
A waste-to-energy plant is a facility that converts solid waste into electricity and/or heat - an ecological, cost-effective way of energy recovery. This is being increasingly considered a potential diversification approach, as nations struggle to curb carbon emissions, climate change and the dangerous impact on health and wellness.
Iran is taking slow but steady steps to expand WTE facilities. The Energy Ministry last year said an agreement had been reached with an unnamed Czech company to build a WTE plant in northern Gilan Province to incinerate 350 tons of municipal waste and produce 20 MW of electricity per day.
According to the state-owned Renewable Energy Organization, Tehran, Shiraz and Mashhad operate one WTE plant each, albeit with a meager electricity output.
Annually, 21 million tons of household waste, 32 million tons of industrial waste, 8 million tons of hazardous waste and 170,000 tons of medical waste are produced in Iran.
Incinerating a ton of waste can produce 500-600 kilowatts of electricity per hour. Burning garbage also helps avoid water and soil contamination.
According to studies, an incineration plant with 1 MW capacity can reduce carbon emission by 50,000 tons per year, whereas a wind plant with the same capacity can reduce emissions by a maximum 5,000 tons.
Garbage in Iran is traditionally buried in landfills, but as population grows so does the mountain of waste. Municipalities across the world are running out of time in finding sustainable solutions.
Iran needs more incineration plants to help manage waste and prevent accumulation in landfills. It has the capacity to generate more than 10,000 MW of electricity from biomass (fuel derived from organic materials), with 25 cities capable of generating at least 400 MW of electricity from waste materials.
