KPCL plans to use flyash from waste-to-energy plant for road construction

Bengaluru: Karnataka Power Corporation Limited (KPCL) is planning to utilise the fly ash produced at the newly opened Waste-to-energy plant at Bidadi for the construction of roads. 

The corporation, which was struggling to dispose of the fly ash, has now written to the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)-Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), requesting them to test the fly ash and provide a feasibility report on the same. 

According to senior KPCL officials, since November, when the plant began operations, close to 1.4 lakh metric tonnes of waste have been burnt to generate electricity and of this, close to 22,000 metric tonnes of bottom ash were produced and this has been transferred to the landfills.

“Compared to 1.5 lakh metric tonnes of waste ending up in landfill, 22,000 metric tonnes of ash is significantly less. However, we want to make the entire project green. Hence, we have asked the institutes to prepare a feasibility report on how fly ash can be used for construction,” a senior KPCL official said.

According to the officials, the CRRI will construct an artificial road using the fly ash samples from the plant to test its feasibility.

“They will construct a road out of the ash sent from the plant and conduct load testing and such other tests to determine if it is fit and can withstand the load of vehicles. Based on it, they will provide a feasibility report and guide us further on the use of fly ash,” the official added.

Use of fly ash in the construction of roads could bring down the cost of raw materials by as much as 50%, the officials opined.

KPCL is spending close to Rs 42 lakh on the feasibility study.

The Waste-to-energy plant at Bidadi opened in November 2024 after years of delay. The plant has a capacity to process 600 tonnes of waste and produce 11.5 MW of energy a day. At present, 85% of the produced energy is being injected into the grid.