VietNamNet Bridge – The HCMC Department of Natural Resources and Environment has finished appraising a waste-to-power project using thermal plasma technology proposed by Trisun Green Energy Co.

Illustrative image -- File photo

The HCMC-based company plans to spend around US$520 million developing the facility equipped with plasma torches to achieve temperatures of 3,000-7,000 degrees Celsius to incinerate waste.

The facility is expected to treat 2,000 tons of domestic waste, 700-1,000 tons of industrial and hazardous waste, and 1,000-2,000 tons of sludge.

The project would use heat to fuel an electricity station which would supply Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN) while the post-incineration material would be used to make building materials.

According to the department, the plasma-technology waste treatment project meets the city’s waste treatment requirements and helps treat all kinds of waste, inclusive of harmful one. Besides, the project has a high treatment capacity, requires less land and no garbage classification, generate renewable energy, and produce building materials.

If the HCMC government approves the project, it would be built in the outlying district of Binh Chanh and put it into operation in 2018. The investor estimated waste treatment by thermal plasma technology costs US$32 per ton and the electricity selling price is VND2,114 per kWh.

The department has presented the project to the city government for consideration.

The companies currently involved in solid waste treatment in HCMC are Vietnam Waste Solutions with 5,000 tons of waste per day, Tam Sinh Nghia with 1,000 tons and Vietstar with 1,200 tons.

Waste volume in HCMC picks up around 8% annually.

Under the city’s waste treatment zoning plan, up to 40% of the waste volume would be recycled, 40% buried and the remainder incinerated by the end of this year. However, the current volume of waste buried is 75%.