A “Waste-to-Fertiliser and Energy Project” was built by Rayong Municipality to process about 26,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste (MSW) per year. It is expected to produce 5,100 MWh of electricity yearly, as well as organic fertilizer for the next 20 years. This plant is the first of its kind to be implemented in ASEAN. The biogas plant consists of a pre-treatment plant, an anaerobic digestor and a 625 KW gas cogeneration set. The plant was engineered and supplied by STFE. The main equipment suppliers were GE Jenbacher (Austria) and MK Protech (Finland). The expected pay back period is 9 years after commissioning.

CUSTOMER VIEWPOINT

In a recent seminar held in Rayong, Mr. Varavit Supachokchai, Mayor of Rayong City declared that: “The development of the Rayong Municipality Waste to Fertiliser & Energy Project is seen as one of the major milestones towards applying state-of-the-art technology to convert waste into useful and environmentally friendly energy. The plant is designed to reduce municipality organic waste, minimise the landfill area, and further reduce green house gas effect.” He added: “This pilot plant is one of its kind in Thailand to demonstrate the combination of technologies for solving and managing municipal waste for major cities. The plant takes care of non-organic wastes and selected recycled materials and other rejects to landfill. For the organic waste, the technology selected is HLAD (High Organic Loading Anaerobic Digestion), which produces biogas for energy use and humus as fertiliser.”

The Mayor emphasises: “In order to reduce the plant operation cost, we need to encourage people to participate in organic waste sorting in their homes.”

Mr. Varavit Supachokchai Mayor, Rayong City

The plant can manage and handle a maximum of 70 tonnes/ day. The produced biogas is fed into a gas genset to produce electricity for internal consumption. The electricity surplus is sold to PEA. Fertiliser or humus is expected to give full benefit to farmers and orchid growers. It can reach a very reasonable price. After separation, other recycled materials are sold and generate additional incomes.

The project is providing a state-of-the-art technology for local organisation to demonstrate the proper and efficient use of waste management facilities. The high efficiency of the HLAD and integrated biogas cogeneration system should give rise to a new era of municipality solid waste management. The cooperation with the COGEN 3 team and European suppliers has been very fruitful. They provided very good advice throughout the project.

SUPPLIER VIEWPOINT

STFE and the Finnish consortium (MK Protech Oy) have been awarded the contract to supply a turnkey project for the Rayong Municipality to build on this Waste to Fertiliser & Energy project.

Mr. Prasong Limsirichai, STFE Vice President, Marketing and Sales Division said: “GE Jenbacher was selected for this project due to their worldwide experience in the field of cogeneration. The gas engine/generator configuration was selected to match the expected maximum biogas production and to produce a maximum energy. This should become an established standard for the country and the region.”

Mr. Prasong continued, “The 625 kWe cogeneration unit has a designed electrical efficiency of 38% and a combined efficiency of 61%. The hot exhaust gas is used to dry the humus.”

Mr. Prasong Limsirichai STFE Vice President, Marketing & Sales Division

He also added, “STFE is the local agent for GE Jenbacher. It has strong sales and after sales teams. The success of this project and the promotion by COGEN 3 should encourage other potential customers to use non-natural gas engine/ generator for cogeneration.”