Reportedly, NTPC Limited has commissioned a commercial green coal project in Varanasi.
The unit will make torrefied charcoal from municipal waste, the strategy for which was devised nearly three years ago. NTPC’s arm, NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Limited, had awarded the project on engineering, procurement and construction basis to Macawber Beekay. The first reactor module with a capacity of 200 tonnes per day (tpd), was installed and commissioned for NTPC’s Harit Koyla Pariyojna plant at Ramana in Varanasi. The total capacity of this plant after installation of all three modules will be 600 tpd waste handling capacity. The plant is being built on 20 acres of land. NTPC produced 70 tonnes of green coal out of 200 tonnes of waste from this unit. This venture has set a roadmap for more units of green coal from waste.