Letters: Waste conversion practices

Rajiv Rao's article "The tangled tale of Jindal's waste-to-energy project" (June 3) is a good effort to address a sensitive issue but certain facts lack credibility. For example, he writes that when dioxins and furans are superheated, they are rendered harmless. It is correct that dioxins and furans disintegrate at temperatures above 850 degrees. The author, however, misses the point that de-novo synthesis takes place as gases cool to 450-200 degrees range and dioxins and furans are formed again. Other points in that paragraph are also sketchy. It is worth pointing out that scrubbing, lime injection and activated carbon injection are not so uncommon. To the best of my knowledge, the Jindals are also using the same technology. Most of the scientists and journalists quoted in the article are comments of those who are residents of colonies in neighbourhood of the plant in question. Obviously, their views will have some bias, as the societies world over suffer from the "NIMBY" (not in my back yard) syndrome. The article, thus, is manifestation of the feelings of one party. Overall, the article has been written with very little knowledge of the subject. Waste management is going to acquire serious dimensions in future and it would be prudent not to mislead readers.

Gyan Prakash, Misra Delhi

Rajiv Rao replies:
Regarding dioxins and furans forming again when gases cool to a 450-200 degrees, I am not sure of the implications of this point regarding the safety aspects of the Jindal plant.

Yes, I am aware that lime injection and activated carbon injection are common technologies. My point was that while we can't say anything definitively about the quality of the technology used in the Chinese-built plant, it is evident that there is a considerable variance in costs between this plant (at around $30 million, supported by documents in my possession) and the preponderance of plants built in Europe (between $400-500 million). Perhaps, this differential could shed some light on the fact that the dioxin level in Boiler 1 was 1,200 times the permissible level and the dioxin level in boiler 2 was 254 times the permissible level. This was what the story was getting at.

Regarding the number of voices in the story - it used only one voice representing the Sukhdev Vihar community. The rest were: Ravi Aggarwal, a hazardous waste expert, Dieter Mutz with GIZ, Germany's development arm, a Technical Evaluation report put out by the Central Pollution Control Board, and a report compiled by a six-member Expert Committee (consisting of the heads of the CPCB, DPCC and MoEF, among others) appointed by the National Green Tribunal. Bahri, who was quoted, was a member of this tribunal and was quoted in that context.

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