Vietnam: Waste-to-power is twice sustainable

Vietnam: Waste-to-power is twice sustainable

Sydney-based Trisun Energy announced plans last week to build up to 20 green
energy waste treatment plants across Vietnam. These energy power generators
could replace the need for coal-fired power plants in the future.

"We plan to build the second plant in Hanoi and then spread to other
locations throughout the country," said a statement on the company's
website.

Trisun is currently completing a comprehensive study of a waste-to-power
plant in Ho Chi Minh City. The company expects to spend around $520 million
equipping the facility with plasma torches that reach temperatures of
3,000-7,000 degrees Celsius. The torches will be used to incinerate up to
2,000 tonnes of waste per day.

According to the company statement, Trisun expects that each of the plants
will employ more than 200 staff and become a major employer in the regions
where its plants are built over the next five-to-10 years.

Trisun also plans to set aside a fund for ongoing sustainability, and
research and development in environment-related industries and sciences.

Trisun has set its ambition on becoming the main supplier of clean
electricity in Vietnam in the years to come. The company aims to put a stop
to the trend of burning fossil fuels, which produces toxic emissions and
other environmental pollutants. Trisun believes this change in practice will
ultimately improve air quality and eliminate the need for landfills that
leach chemicals into water.

The Japanese company Toyobo Co., Ltd. last year planned to invest in a
waste-to-power plant in Ho Chi Minh City. Toyobo proposed treating waste in
the city by using microbial fermentation, and then converting the resulting
products into organic materials used to generate energy.

Another Japanese investor, Hitachi Zosen Corporation, has also shown
interest in building a waste-to-power generation plant in Ho Chi Minh City.

This particular plant would process up to 1,000 tonnes of waste per day, and
produce between 20,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) and 30,000kWh of power - enough
to meet the power demand of nearly 10,000 homes in the area.

Notably, these projects are coming to fruition in the context of Vietnam's
rapid urbanisation. Urbanisation which has led to ever-growing amounts of
industrial waste combined with the increasing concerns regarding power
shortages.

Vietnam currently produces three million tonnes of industrial waste per
year. Hanoi alone is expected to treat an estimated 2.7 million tonnes of
waste per year by 2020.

Countries in Southeast Asia still employ the use of waste landfills, but a
lack of land and increasing concerns over contamination are starting to
emerge. Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam are increasingly turning to
renewable energy solutions that also manage the waste problem, according to
Japan's New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation.

Vietnam's first green energy waste-to-power facility in the Nam Son waste
treatment complex began supplying electricity to the national power grid
last week. This $29.2 million project was developed by Japan's Hitachi Zosen
Corporation and Hanoi Urban Environment Company.

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Link to Original Article:
http://www.vir.com.vn/waste-to-power-is-twice-sustainable.html

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John Diecker
APT Consulting Group Co., Ltd.

www.aptthailand.com