Muscat, Dec 24 - The Sultanate’s waste management flagship, be’ah, says it is collaborating with Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) — the nation’s largest oil and gas producer — in the conceptualisation of a number of Energy-from-Waste (EfW) schemes to support the latter’s growing energy requirements.
According to a senior official, the Energy-from-Waste initiatives are designed to serve as a renewable and sustainable alternative to commercially valuable natural gas as a fuel source for steam generation for PDO’s Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) projects. Electricity generation from waste is another option being weighed by the state-owned solid waste management entity, said Fahad al Kharusi, Head of Business Development.
One such project being looked at by be’ah centres on the combustion of municipal solid waste to generate steam for Enhanced Oil Recovery operations within PDO. According to Al Kharusi, the study initially commenced as a potential alternative to the giant Miraah project currently being jointly developed by PDO with GlassPoint Solar to harness the heavy oil resources of the Amal field in South Oman.
Following a desktop study to demonstrate the preliminary conceptual viability of the initiative, be’ah then decided the explore the feasibility of an Energy-from-Waste project for steam generation. But with the PDO concession — with its sparse population distribution — producing very little by way of municipal waste, be’ah decided to explore the possibility of sourcing the waste from cities and towns outside the concession area
“So we started building the concept, we looked at different technologies, and we have right now engaged a consultant who is running a based study to see what can be achieved,” he said.
Be’ah is presently pondering two Energy-from-Waste concepts, according to the official. One aims to produce steam for PDO’s Enhanced Oil Recovery operations in Qarn Alam. The other seeks to use waste for the generation of electricity and steam.
In light of the logistical challenges of moving large amounts of municipal waste over long distances from cities, where the waste is generated, to the oilfield areas where the Energy-from-Waste plant will be located, be’ah is weighing the production of compact bales of Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) from waste. RDF is produced when municipal solid waste is processed to separate the non-combustible ingredients (such as glass, metal and so on) from the combustible elements. The residual combustible material is then mixed, shredded and packaged into bales.
“RDF is a very stable form of fuel and can be stored for up to 24 months,” said Al Kharusi, noting that each bale is equivalent to 2-3 barrels of oil in calorific terms.
Preliminary plans drawn up by be’ah envision a 3,000 tonnes per annum capacity Energy-from-Waste plant to be set up at Qarn Alam within PDO’s Block 6 concession. Output is estimated at between 130-140 MW of electricity net.
A technical and financial feasibility study has been ongoing since October 2018 with a decision on whether to proceed with the project implementation slated for Q1 2019. If given the final go-ahead, a tender for the implementation of the Energy-from-Waste project, based on the Design-Build-Operate (DBO) model, is expected by Q4 2019, he added.
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