First Naanovo plant in ASEAN built in Vietnam: prospects and plans

As a person who is directly involved in the project, can you please share some details about it?

WTE Thanh Hoa is located in Dong Nam commune in the Dong Son district of Thanh Hoa province and has an area of 25 hectares with the total investment capital of $101.6 million. It was initially designed to have three modules, each capable of treating 180 tonnes of garbage a day. The plant is going to produce 127.8 million kWh of electricity and 306,720 cubic metres of pure water as well as 5.68 million cubic metres of ash each year. It is going to create employment opportunities for 155 workers with the average monthly salary of VND20 million ($938) per month.

What is special about WTE Thanh Hoa in terms of technology and equipment compared to other waste treatment plants?

WTE Thanh Hoa uses the most modern technology available as of now. It protects the environment, kills all disease-carrying germs in the garbage and does not pollute underground or surface waters the way garbage disposal in open air does. Also its land area is more compact compared to any other methods of waste treatment.

At the plant, garbage is burned at 1,070°C, decreasing its weight to 5-10 per cent of the original. Four fifths of the ash is going to be captured within the incinerator, the remaining will be fly ash. But thanks to the pollution prevention equipment, heavy metals and pollutants are going to be retained and not released into the environment. The ash captured during incineration will be used to produce bricks, concrete and asphalt to be used in road pavements.

All plants that produce power from waste using Naanovo technologies are equipped with fume treatment facilities and boast significantly reduced emissions. The processes meet all the existing environment requirements including those of Europe and Sweden, which are stricter than those of the U.S.

WTE Thanh Hoa is the first plant of Naanovo not only in Vietnam but in the ASEAN as well. What support does Naanovo give to the host province?

Naanovo gives the province a discount in waste treatment fees. Thanh Hoa pays VND213,200 ($10) for each tonne of waste treated, whereas the regulated price set by the Ministry of Construction is $19.23 per tonne for this technology.

It seems that once the project starts operations it is going to bring a lot of other benefits to the province. Is WTE Thanh Hoa’s construction going to be on schedule?

The province and government agencies have been helping us a lot with the site clearance. They also helped us build the 2.5-kilometre long road linking National Road 45 with the project perimeter. Naanovo is doing its best and hopes to receive support from the province in order to start the construction in August 2015 and start the operation of the plant in August 2017, as planned.