AR 3403

UNIT 3
SOID WASTE MANAGEMENT

- Ar. SHALINI SENTHIL AZHAGAN

- M.Arch (Landscape)
• Solid waste is the unwanted or useless solid materials generated from combined residential,
industrial and commercial activities in a given area.
• It may be categorised
according to its origin (domestic, industrial, commercial, construction or institutional);
according to its contents (organic material, glass, metal, plastic paper etc); or
according to hazard potential (toxic, non-toxin, flammable, radioactive, infectious etc).
• Refuse is all solid and semi-solid waste matters of a community except night soil.
• Classification of Refuse is based on type of wastes – GARBAGE, RUBBISH, ASHES, STREET
WASHING & INDUSTRIAL WASTE
• GARBAGE– It is the decomposing organic wastes from kitchens, restaurants, hotel etc. This
includes all waste food articles, vegetable peelings. Fruits peeling etc. If it is properly
composted and processed, products like grease, fertiliser, hog food etc. may be produced.
The quantity of garbage varies from 450 to 900 kg/m3

SOLID WASTE
 • RUBBISH – includes all non-decomposing organic wastes
except ashes i.e. paper glass, crockery, rags etc. Density
of rubbish is between 50 to 400 kg/m3
• ASHES – are the waste products from hearths and furnaces
at houses or industries. The quantity of ashes depends on
the geographical location and season. The density of ashes
is between 700 to 850 Kg/m3. Ashes result in the creation
of dust nuisance
• STREET WASHINGS – are waste materials from street
surfaces, side walks etc. Its quantity varies from 250 to
500 kg/capita/ year

Stable The
Street Market Industrial
litter domestic
Refuse Refuse Refuse
Refuse refuse

SOLID WASTE
REFUSE COLLECTION
• The dry refuse or garbage should be properly collected by the concerned local authorities.
• Dust bin of suitable size- placed at convenient places in the locality.
• Garbage from house (House owner)– discharged – dust bin
• The dry refuse fallen on the public streets and roads is collected – twice a day – Local
authority employed labourers.

GARBAGE COLLECTED REQUIRES CAREFULL REMOVAL

1. The dust-bins should be of proper size and of approved pattern and they should be properly
maintained
2. The garbage should be removed with least nuisance to the nearby inhabitants
3. The period of removal of garbage should be previously decided and made known to the
public. By such arrangement, the garbage will be detained for the least possible time in
dust-bins. The public mind should be trained to contribute the garbage just before its
period of removal
4. The removal of garbage should be speedy
5. The vehicles employed for the removal of garbage should be of approved pattern and
design. It should be seen that the collected garbage does not fall once again on road
during its transport.
The dry refuse is removed by employing vehicles of various types and models. The governing
factors in the choice of a particular vehicle are its initial and maintenance costs, strength of
vehicle required and condition of road

REFUSE COLLECTION
 Vehicle commonly used for removal of garbage – AUTORICKSHAWS,
TRAILORS & TRUCKS
1.AUTO-RICKSHAWS
❑These are the vehicles with three or four wheels with covered
bodies.
❑The capacity of such vehicles varies from 0.5 to 0.75 tonne.
❑They are suitable for areas where heavy vehicles cannot go and
hence they can collect garbage from narrow streets.

2.TRAILORS
❑These are of tilting- tipping types and are useful for areas where the
heavy transport vehicles cannot go.
❑The capacity of trailors is about 2 to 3 tonnes.
❑The loading of trailors is done manually and its unloading is done by
the automatic hydraulically operated jacks

3.TRUCKS
❑These are of tilting- tipping type.
❑The capacity of truckis about 5 to 10 tonnes.
❑The special type of refuse transport vehicles may be adopted where
covered skip boxes and adopted in place of ordinary dust-bins.
❑Such special vehicles are capable of bodily lifting the boxes and
carrying them to the disposal site.
❑The adoption of skip boxes reduces the nuisance of flies

REFUSE REMOVAL VEHICLE

 REFUSE DISPOSAL
The dry refuse requires careful disposal.
The unsatisfactory disposal of garbage results in the unhygienic
conditions and puts public health in danger.
The nature of dry refuse varies from place to place and it depends
on climatic condition, extent of industrialisation, living standards etc
Even changes in social, economic and technical progress are also
reflected in the nature of dry refuse.
A careful analysis, qualitatively and quantitatively of dry refuse
becomes essential to arrive at a satisfactory method of dry refuse
disposal.
VARIOUS METHOD OF
GARBAGE DISPOSAL
Incinerator
Composting
Vermicomposting
Sanitary Land filling
Biogas system and
Modern renewable energy system.

REFUSE DISPOSAL

POINTS TO BE FOLLOWED DURING
INCINERATION
1. The refuse charging should be
thorough rapid and as nearly
continuous as possible
2. Each batch of refuse entering
furnace should be well mixed.
3. Auxiliary burners are usually
installed above the refuse to
ignite it and to establish the
draft at the beginning of the
cyclic. High moisture content in
air.
4. Minimum temperature in the
combustion chamber should be
sufficient so that all the organic
matter is incinerated and foul
smelling gases are oxidised
5. After burners are sometimes
required, together with
particulate removal devices such
as settling chambers or
scrubbers.
INCINERATOR
INCINERATOR
Burn the dry refuse in the incinerator plant
Commonly used in disposing of garbage from hospitals and
industrial plants.
Before incineration, non-combustible and inert material like earth,
broken glass, chinaware, metal etc are separated so as to reduce
the load on the hearth.
The by product of this method is ash and clinker which can be
easily disposed of by land filling.
The heat generated by burning the dry refuse may be utilized for
raising steam power.
The quantity and quality (moisture and calorific value) of refuse is
changing and hence the power generated will fluctuate.
Emission of air pollutants – particulars such as flyash, unburnt fuel
and others – Permissible level of particulate emission from large
incinerator is 0.23 g per standard cubic metre of exhaust gas
corrected to 12% CO2.
Smoke includes all liquid and solid mater in the exhaust that hinders
visibility. Smoke can be eliminated by mixing the exhaust with hot
air to complete combustion, but black smoke requires fairly high air
temperature.
Pathological waste
incinerator handle organic
wastes of human or animal
origin and crematory
furnaces. Such incinerators
are multiple chamber units
which release fluids as the
material is being destroyed.
These fluids do not
evaporate quickly and
therefore solid hearth rather
than grating is required.

INCINERATOR
 FURNACES

VERTICAL CIRCULAR ROTARY MULTICELL RECTANGULAR

Refuse Charged In the rotary kiln furnace the The multicell furnace In rectangular furnace
through the door in wastes are partially burnt in a has cells side by unit two or more
the ceiling. Drops rectangular furnace and then side. Each cell has grates are arranged in
into a central cone fed via grates to a rotating grates for moving the tiers so that the
grate surrounded kiln. The rotary action exposes refuse across them. refuse is agitated as it
by circular grate. the unburnt material for Several cells have a falls from one level to
Primary combustion combusting. Final combustion common combustion the next. Secondary
is supported by takes place in the chamber chamber and residue combustion is usually
underfire air after the kiln discharge point hoper employed.

INCINERATOR
S. N. ADVANTAGE DISADVANTAGE

1 This is most hygienic method since it ensures Large initial expenditure

complete destruction of pathogens
2 There is no odour trouble or dust nuisance
3 The heat generated can be used for raising steam High stacks needed for natural draft
power. chimneys present safety problem

4 Clinker produced can be used for road purposes.

5 The disposal site can be located at a convenient

distance
6 Less space is required for disposal of residues
7 Modern incinerators can burn a great variety of
refuse materials which are otherwise not
biodegradable
Disposal of the remaining residue is
required
Improper operation results in air pollution
problems and incomplete reduction of the
waste materials

8 Adverse weather condition have no effect on the

incinerator’s operation
9 The efficiency of labour can be increased by Need Skilled Labour
improvement in mechanisation of the plant

INCINERATOR – ADVANTAGE AND DISADVANTAGE

 COMPOSTING
This method is good and ideally suited to Indian conditions with
plenty of open lands, sun and air.
It is the process of decomposing organic wastes mostly in
presence of air. The organic refuse in this case is mixed with
some nitrogenous matter like cow dung, sewage, night soil etc.
and then it is subjected to aerobic decomposition in trenches
Decomposition may take 4 to 6 months to complete. Resulting
matter is used as fertilizer, which is odourless and powdery
humus.
There are three methods of composting
1.Composting by trenching
2.Open window Composting
3.Mechanical Composting
COMPOSTING BY TRENCHING
In this method, trenches 4 to 10m long, 2 to 3 m wide and 0.7
to 1m deep are excavated with clear spacing of 2m.
The trenches are then filled with refuse/garbage in layers of 15
cm.
COMPOSTING
 COMPOSTING BY TRENCHING
On the top of each layer, 5 cm thick sandwiching layer of night
soil/ animal dung is spread in semi-liquid form.
On the top layer, protuding 0.3 m above the original ground
surface a 10 cm layer of good earth is spread so that flies do
not get access to the refuses and at the same time, the refuse
does not get blown off by wind.
Within 2-3 days, intensive biological action starts to
destroy/reduce organic matter present in the refuse.
In this process considered able heat is generated and the
temperature of the composting mass rises to about 75o C.
Due to this reason the breeding of flies does not take place.
The refuse gets stabilised in about 4-5 months period and gets
changed into a brown coloured odourless innocuous powdery
form known as humus. Which has high manure value because of its
nitrogen content.
The stabilised mass is removed from the trenches sieved through
12.5 mm sieve to exclude coarse inert materials like stones,
brick bats, broken stone etc.
The sieved material is then sold out as a manure

COMPOSTING BY TRENCHING
 OPEN WINDOW COMPOSTING
In this method, a large proportion of mineral matter like dust,
stone, broken glass pieces etc are first removed from the refuse,
The refuse is then dumped on the ground in the form of 0.6 to
1m high, 6m long and 1to 2 in wide PILES at about 60%
moisture content.
The pile is then covered with night soil, cow dung, cattle urine
etc. through which the organisms or germs that are necessary
for fermentation are added.
Due to biological activity through aerobic bacteria heat starts
developing upto about 75oC in the refuse piles.
Due to this the microbial reaction shifts from mesophilic to
thermophilic stage.
After this the pile is turned up for cooling and aeration to avoid
anaerobic reactions.
The temperature of pile again rises to 75 oC and the process of
turning, cooling and aeration is repeated.
The complete process may take about 4-6 weeks after which the
compost is ready for use as manure when the temperature falls
considerably

OPEN WINDOW COMPOSTING

MECHANICAL COMPOSTING
The open window method of composting is very laborious and time consuming process. It requires
large area of land which may not be available in big cities.
These difficulties are overcome by adopting mechanical compositing in which the process of
stabilization is expedited by mechanical devices of turning the compost.
The mechanical method stabilizes the refuse compost only within 3-6 days.
The operation involved in a large scale composting plant
1.Reception of Refuse
2.Segregation
3.Shredding / Pulverising
4.Stabilisation
5.Marketing the humus

The refuse is received at the plant site in quantities of 2 to 6 tonnes per vehicles. Hence the plant
site must have a storage capacity of about 25 to 50% of total daily arrival before it can be
segregated and shreded / pulverised.
Segregation is done by hand picking on smaller plants and by mechanical devices are large plants, to
remove paper, rags, non ferrous metals and large objects.
Ferrous metal are removed by magnetic separators. Finer materials such as ash, particles of garbage
etc are removed by passing the refuse over shaker-screens.
The remaining refuse is then shreded and pulverized mechanically.

MECHANICAL COMPOSTING
MECHANICAL COMPOSTING
The prepared refuse is then decomposed or stabilized under controlled condition of temperature and
moisture content. Mechanical digester of various types such as
1.Pits or Cells 2. Window or Stacks. 3. Vertical cylinder, horizontal cylinder or silo type closed
digesters.
Closed digesters are most hygienic and occupy less space. In these digestors, the refuse is
digested and converted into humus and stable mineral compounds
The digestion period vary between 2 to 5 days for refuse containing low cellulose or low carbon-
nitrogen (C/N) ratio, and 7 to 9 days for refuse having more quantities of cellulose or high (C/N)
ratio.
The stabilized brown mass (Humus) is collected, sieved and sold in packets. Sometimes the stabilized
mass is enriched by adding chemical nutrients like phosphorous, nitrogen.

MECHANICAL COMPOSTING
VERMICOMPOSTING
o Vermicomposting is a simplest biotechnical
process of composting, in which certain
species of earthworms are used to enhance
the process of waste conversion and
product a better end product.
o Vermicomposting differs from composting in
several ways, one of the process is
mesophilic which utilizing microorganisms and
earthworms that are active at 10-32 deg.
METHOD
Pits below the ground
Heaping above the ground
PITS BELOW THE GROUND
Tanks above the ground
Cement rings Pits made for vermicomposting are 1m deep
and 1.5m wide. The length varies are
required
HEAPING ABOVE THE GROUND
• The waste material is spread on a polythene sheet placed on ground and then covered with
cattle drug.
• Considering the biodegradation of wastes as the criterion, the heap compost of preparing
vermicomposting was better than the pit method. Hence earthworm population is high in the heap
method compared to pit method.

VERMICOMPOSTING
 TANKS ABOVE THE GROUND
• Tanks made up of different materials such as normal bricks,
hollow bricks, shabaz stones, asbestos sheet, and locally
available rocks were evaluated for vermicompost
preparation.
• Tanks can be constructed with the suitable dimensions.
CEMENT RINGS
• Vermicompost can also be prepared above the ground using
cement rings. The size of cement ring should be 90cm in dia
PRECAUTIONS DURING THE and 30 in height
PROCESS
•The African species of earthworms, eisenia fetida and eudrilus euganae are ideal for the
preparation of vermicompost. Most Indian species are not suitable for this purpose.
•Only plant-based materials such as grass, leaves or vegetable peelings should be utilized in
preparing vermicompost.
•Materials of animal origin such as eggshells, meat, bone, chicken droppings, etc are not suitable
for preparing vermicompost.
•Gliricidia loopings and tobacco leaves are not suitable for rearing earthworms.
•The earthworms should be protected against birds, termites, ants and rats.
•Adequate moisture should be maintained during the process. Either stagnant water or lack of
moisture could kill the earthworm.
•After completion of the process, the vermicompost should be removed from the bed at regular
intervels and replaced by fresh waste materials

VERMICOMPOSTING
 SANITARY LANDFILLS
A Sanitary landfill is a pit with a protected bottom where trash is
buried in layers compacted and covered.
A Sanitary landfill can reduce harm from waste that has collected
and is safer than an open dumping site.
Even best sanitary landfill will start to leak in years, so we need to
prevent waste in the first place.
A Sanitary landfill protects community health when
1.It is built away from where people live.
2.It is covered to prevent insects and other disease-carrying
animals from breeding
3.It has a lining of hard-packed clay soil or plastic to prevent
chemicals and germs from contaminating ground water.

A Sanitary landfill maintaining needs to be done in partnership with

the community, local government and other organization such as
churches or businesses.
Sanitary landfill should be well managed. Good management
includes training and support for landfill workers and working
together with resources recovery centres, toxic waste collectors
and local government.

SANITARY LANDFILL
• For health and safety, a landfill site
should be at least
• 150 M from coastal waters
• 250 M from fresh water –
ponds, stream so on.
• 250 M from protected forest
• 500 M from homes, and from
wells or other drinking water
• 500 M from earthquake fault
lines
• The bottom of the pit must be at
least 2 M above the highest ground
water level.
• The system consist of a large pit the
ground with a thick lining of plastic
over which I a compacted clay liner. This liquid waste that gets collected is called
• The bottom of the pit also has a liner LEACHATE
that helps in preventing the liquid
The refuse is then added to the landfill in the form of
waste (that comes out from the solid organized layers (Layers of refuse alternating with those
waste mostly if rainwater is soaked in of soil)
the landfill) from leaking through as it
could contaminate the water supply. This is done for the elimination of any unpleasant odours
and to expedite the rotting or decomposition process,.

SANITARY LANDFILL
When the landfill is fully covered,
it is further sealed by a layer of
compacted clay.
Moreover a METHANE is often
produced as the waste
deteriorates due to which a
system is required to collect
and pump the same.
If this is not managed effectively,
the methane gas can explode
thus adding to global warming.
Furthermore the methane gas in
most places is collected for use
in generating electricity
There are different types of
landfills mainly depending on the
nature of waste materials. • A Landfill for each of the garbage type like household waste,
hazardous chemicals or radioactive waste, construction waste
etc., is treated differently.
• A Landfill that is full and done, is covered by forests, greenery
etc., so that the land can be used.
• However this is done only when land is considered safe for use.

SANITARY LANDFILL
 THE BIOGAS is essentially a mixture of gases containing
BIOGAS approximately two thirds of utilisable gas methane and the remainder
is CO2, N2,H2S,H2,O2,NH3.
HOW IS IT GENERATED??
The ferrocement technique can The biogas is generated from locally available wide range of
be used for fabricating the materials like animal dung, human excreta, vegetable wastes,
biogas digesters and simple agricultural wastes, like banana stems, deoiled seed cakes, willow
stirring mechanism can be used dust, etc, as feed material.
in these digesters to improve
REPLACEMENT:
the efficiency of gas
production. 103 metre of bio gas = 6 metre cube of natural gas

The efforts of Department of 103 metre of bio gas = 3.6 litres of butane
Non-conventional Energy
103 metre of bio gas = 6.1 litres of diesel oil
Sources concentrated on
reducing the cost of biogas 103 metre of bio gas = 7 litres of gasoline
unit by development of
different designs: The efficiency of the direct burning of dung cakes is only about
▪Fixed dome digester 11% and the efficiency of biogas is as high as 60%.
▪Flexible bag digester The generation of biogas grants about five times more energy
▪Floating gas holder than direct burning of the same quantity of dung cakes.
digester
▪Prototype digester Combustion of firewood, cattle dung, detritus of raw vegetables,
etc. cause smoke irritation. Use of biogas does not have this
disadvantage.

BIO-GAS

FIXED DOME DIGESTER:
▪ Most popular type of biogas
digester.
▪ Low construction cost.
▪ Local availability of required
building material.
▪ Under ground structure
PROTOTYPE DIGESTER
▪ Reduced maintenance cost.
BIO-GAS
FLEXIBLE BAG DIGESTER:
▪ Rare in India.
▪ Promising in the future due
to few operational
problems.
▪ Easy and cheap installation.
▪ High durability
▪ Stable gas pressure.
FLOATING GAS HOLDER
DIGESTER:
Lost its widespread popularity.
High construction cost.
Problems of corrosion.
Gas leakage.
PROTOTYPE DIGESTER:
• Smaller
• Cheaper
• More appropriate FLOATING GAS
HOLDER DIGESTER
RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES A source of energy is one that can provide adequate amount of
energy in a usable form over a long period of time. These
SOLAR ENERGY sources can be of two types:
(1) Renewable Resources which can be generated
PHOTOVOLTAIC ENERGY
continuously in nature and are inexhaustible e.g. wood, solar
WIND ENERGY energy, wind energy, tidal energy, hydropower, biomass
energy, bio-fuels, geo-thermal energy and hydrogen. They are
BIOMASS ENERGY also known as non-conventional sources of energy and they can
HYDROELECTRIC ENERGY be used again and again in an endless manner.
(2) Non-renewable Resources which have accumulated in
ELECTRIC ENERGY nature over a long span of time and cannot be quickly
replenished when exhausted e.g. coal, petroleum, natural gas
MARINE ENERGY and nuclear fuels like uranium and thorium.
GEOTHERMAL ENERGY SOLAR ENERGY
• Solar energy reaches everywhere, it costs nothing and it is
GEO-EXCHANGE renewable . However, it is very diluted in space and it is not
continuous - it varies with the alternating of day and night, the
different seasons and various weather conditions.
• The amount of energy that reaches earth’supper atmosphere is
about 1,350 W/m2 the solar constant. The atmosphere
reflects, scatters and absorbs some of the energy

RENEWABLE ENERGY SYSTEM

RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES SOLAR ENERGY
• All the energy radiated by the Sun reaches the surface of the
SOLAR ENERGY Earth: some of it is reflected back into space, some is
dispersed and diffused in all directions by air molecules and
PHOTOVOLTAIC ENERGY
dust particles in the atmosphere, and some is absorbed by
WIND ENERGY water vapour, by carbon dioxide and by the ozone in the
atmosphere
BIOMASS ENERGY .
HYDROELECTRIC ENERGY
ELECTRIC ENERGY
MARINE ENERGY
GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
GEO-EXCHANGE

RENEWABLE ENERGY SYSTEM – SOLAR ENERGY

PHOTOVOLTAIC ENERGY
• Solar cells are made of thin wafers of semi conductor materials like silicon and gallium.
• When solar radiations fall on them, a potential difference is produced which causes flow of
electrons and produces electricity.
• Silicon can be obtained from silica or sand, which is abundantly available and inexpensive.
• By using gallium arsenide, cadmium sulphide or boron, efficiency of the PV cells can be improved.
• The potential difference produced by a single PV cell of 4 cm2 size is about 0.4-0.5 volts and
produces a current of 60 milli amperes.
• A group of solar cells joined together in a definite pattern form a solar panel which can harness a
large amount of solar energy and can produce electricity enough to run street-light, irrigation
water pump etc.
• Solar cells are widely used in calculators, electronic watches, street lighting, traffic signals,
water pumps etc. They are also used in artificial satellites for electricity generation.
• Solar cells are used for running radio and television also. They are more in use in remote areas
where conventional electricity supply is a problem

RENEWABLE ENERGY SYSTEM – PHOTOVOLTAIC ENERGY

RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES• The high speed winds have a lot of energy in them as kinetic
energy due to their motion. The driving force of the winds is the
SOLAR ENERGY sun.
PHOTOVOLTAIC ENERGY • The wind energy is harnessed by making use of wind mills.
• The blades of the wind mill keep on rotating continuously due to
WIND ENERGY the force of the striking wind.
• The rotational motion of the blades drives a number of machines
BIOMASS ENERGY
like water pumps, flour mills and electric generators.
HYDROELECTRIC ENERGY • A large number of wind mills are installed in clusters called wind
farms, which feed power to the utility grid and produce a large
ELECTRIC ENERGY amount of electricity.
MARINE ENERGY • These farms are ideally located in coastal regions, open
grasslands or hilly regions, particularly mountain passes and ridges
GEOTHERMAL ENERGY where the winds are strong and steady.
• The minimum wind speed required for satisfactory working of a
GEO-EXCHANGE wind generator is 15 km/hr.
• The wind power potential of our country is estimated to be about
20,000 MW, while at present we are generating about 1020
MW.
• The largest wind farm of our country is near Kanyakumari in Tamil
Nadu generating 380 MW electricity.
• Wind energy is very useful as it does not cause any air pollution.
• After the initial installation cost, the wind energy is very cheap.

RENEWABLE ENERGY SYSTEM – WIND ENERGY

Biomass is the organic matter produced by the plants or animals which include wood, crop
residues, cattle dung, manure, sewage, agricultural wastes etc. Biomass energy is of the
following types :
(a) Energy Plantation
(b) Petro – Crops
(c) Agricultural and Urban Waste biomass:
(a) Energy Plantations: Solar energy is trapped by green plants through photosynthesis and
converted into biomass energy. Fast growing trees like cottonwood, poplar and Leucaena,
non-woody herbaceous grasses, crop plants like sugarcane, sweet sorghum and sugar
beet, aquatic weeds like water hyacinth and sea-weeds and carbohydrate rich potato, cereal
etc. are some of the important energy plantations. They may produce energy either by
burning directly or by getting converted into burnable gas or may be converted into fuels by
fermentation.
(b) Petro-crops: Certain latex-containing
plants like Euphorbias and oil palms are
rich in hydrocarbons and can yield an oil
like substance under high temperature
and pressure. This oily material may be
burned in diesel engines directly or may
be refined to form gasoline. These
plants are popularly known as petro-
crops.

RENEWABLE ENERGY SYSTEM - BIOMASS

RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES (c) Agricultural and Urban Waste biomass: Crop
residues, bagasse (sugarcane residues), coconut
SOLAR ENERGY
shells, peanut hulls, cotton stalks etc. are some of
PHOTOVOLTAIC ENERGY the common agricultural wastes which produce
energy by burning. Animal dung, fishery and poultry
WIND ENERGY
waste and even human refuse are examples of
BIOMASS ENERGY biomass energy. In rural India, animal dung cakes are
HYDROELECTRIC ENERGY burnt to produce heat. About 80 % of rural heat
energy requirements are met by burning agricultural
ELECTRIC ENERGY wastes, wood and animal dung cakes. In rural areas
MARINE ENERGY these forms of waste biomass are burned in open
furnaces called .Chulhas. which usually produce smoke
GEOTHERMAL ENERGY and are not so efficient (efficiency is <8 %). Now
GEO-EXCHANGE improved Chulhas with tall chimney have been
designed which have high efficiency and are
smokeless. The burning of plant residues or animal
wastes cause air pollution and produce a lot of ash
as waste residue. The burning of dung destroys
essential nutrients like N and P. It is therefore, more
useful to convert the biomass into biogas or bio
fuels.
RENEWABLE ENERGY SYSTEM - BIOMASS
 HYDROELECTRIC ENERGY
 The water flowing in a river is collected by constructing a
big dam where the water is stored and allowed to fall
from a height.
 The blades of the turbine located at the bottom of the
dam move with the fast moving water which in turn rotate
the generator and produces electricity.
 Construct mini or micro hydel power plants on the rivers
in hilly regions for harnessing the hydro energy on a small
scale, but the minimum height of the water falls should be
10 metres.
 The hydropower potential of India is estimated to be
about 4 × 1011KW-hours.
 We have utilized only a little more than 11% of this
potential.
 Hydropower does not cause any pollution, it is renewable
and normally the hydro power projects are multi-purpose
projects helping in controlling floods, used for irrigation,
navigation etc

RENEWABLE ENERGY SYSTEM – HYDROELECTRIC ENERGY

 • The energy available due to the difference in temperature of
water at the surface of the tropical oceans and at deeper
levels is called Ocean Thermal Energy.
• A difference of 20°C or more is required between surface
water and deeper water of ocean for operating OTEC (Ocean
Thermal Energy Conversion) power plants.
• The warm surface water of ocean is used to boil a liquid like
ammonia.
• The high pressure vapours of the liquid formed by boiling are
then used to turn the turbine of a generator and produce
electricity.
• The colder water from the deeper oceans is pumped to cool
and condense the vapours into liquid.
• Thus the process keeps on going continuously for 24 hours a
TIDAL ENERGY day.
•Ocean tides produced by gravitational forces of sun and moon contain enormous amounts of energy.
•The high tide and low tide refer to the rise and fall of water in the oceans.
•A difference of several meters is required between the height of high and low tide to spin the turbines.
•The tidal energy can be harnessed by constructing a tidal barrage.
•During high tide, the sea-water flows into the reservoir of the barrage and turns the turbine, which in turn
produces electricity by rotating the generators.
•During low tide, when the sea-level is low, the sea water stored in the barrage reservoir flows out into
the sea and again turns the turbines.

RENEWABLE ENERGY SYSTEM – MARINE ENERGY

GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
• The term “geothermal” has been used to describe two quite different energy systems: (1) the
extraction of heat originating deep in the earth, and (2) the use of the ground just below the
surface as a source of heat in the winter and a heat sink in the summer.
• To eliminate confusion, the second system is often called by the much more descriptive name
“geo-exchange.”
• Geothermal energy is available where sufficient heat is brought near the surface by conduction,
bulges of magma, or circulation of groundwater to great depths.
• The energy harnessed from the hot rocks present inside the earth is called geothermal energy.
• High temperature, high pressure steam fields exist below the earth’s surface in many places.
• This heat comes from the fission of radioactive material naturally present in the rocks.
• In some places, the steam or the hot water comes out of the ground naturally through
cracks in the form of natural geysers as in Manikaran, Kullu and Sohana, Haryana.
• Sometimes the steam or boiling water underneath the earth do not find any place to come
out.
• We can artificially drill a hole up to the hot rocks and by putting a pipe in it make the steam or
hot water gush out through the pipe at high pressure which turns the turbine of a generator to
produce electricity

RENEWABLE ENERGY SYSTEM – GEOTHERMAL ENERGY

 REFERENCE
http://www.cyen.org/innovaeditor/assets/Solid%20waste%20management.pdf

BIBLOGRAPHY
1. Rangwala S. C., Water Supply and Sanitary Engineering : Including Environmental
Engineering (Gujarat: Charotar Publishing House Pvt Ltd.,2015)
2. Rangwala S. C., Water Supply and Sanitary Engineering : Environmental
Engineering (Anand: Charotar Book Distributors.,2007)
3. Ghose D. N., A Dictionary
RENEWABLE of ENERGY
Civil Engineering
SYSTEM –(New Delhi, CBS Publishers and
Distributors Pvt.GEOTHERMAL
Ltd.,2013) ENERGY
4. Er. Shrikrishna A. Dhale, Er. Kiran M. Tajne, Basics of Civil Engineering (New
Delhi, S.Chand And Company Pvt. Ltd., 2014)
5. Lal D., Upadyay A. K., Water Supply and Waste Water Engineering (New Delhi,
S. K. Kataria and Sons, 2014)
6. Dr. B. C. Punmia, Er. Ashok Kumar Jain, Dr. Arun K. Jain, Environmental
Engineering-II : Wastewater Engineering : Including Air Pollution (Bangalore,
Laxmi Publicatons (P) Ltd.,2014)
7. Norbert Lechner, Heating, Cooling and Ventilation : Sustainable Methods for
Architects (Canada, Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2014)

REFERENCE AND BIBLOGRAPHY