Study on Potential of Gasification Technology for Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) in Pune City

Solid waste disposal problem is a growing concern of today's world. It creates serious health hazards and environmental issues need to be tackled on urgent basis. Developing economy like India is facing the waste disposal problem due to the rapid industrialization, population growth and changing lifestyle. Like other parts of the country, we have noticed that in Pune City also, per capita waste generation is growing steadily mainly due to the changed lifestyle. The increased volume of waste generation in last 10 years has created stress on the natural resources. If this waste be suitably utilized for energy production instead of incineration or just dumping in the ground, simultaneous reduction in environmental pollution along with proper utilization of waste will be done. Gasification Technology is an efficient one as most of the solid wastes, irrespective of the sources and materials present can be gasified directly to obtain synthesis gas or producer gas having sufficient calorific value. The gas obtained can be used as fuel or can be utilized to generate electricity, even it can produce plethora of various petrochemical products. We have conducted a mathematical modeling and simulation study on a downdraft gasifier to highlight its potential in waste disposal problem for Pune city.