Oman is set to establish the Sultanate’s first waste-to-energy project aimed at converting part of the colossal quantities of municipal waste generated daily to produce electricity for seawater desalination, according to a report.

The national solid waste utility is studying the feasibility of the project, said the Oman Daily Observer report.

The suitably sorted wasted has been proposed to be converted into refuse dried fuel for use as an industrial fuel source in place of natural gas in the Dhofar governorate, it said.

The government-owned Oman Environmental Services Holding Company (Be’ah) is overseeing the management and eventual privatisation of the solid waste sector in the Sultanate.

The project is a landmark scheme during out by the company as part of a broader national strategy to support the reduction, reuse, recycling and recovery of solid waste in Oman, a top Be’ah executive was quoted as saying.

“As a result of the utilisation of waste for energy generation, we will be spending less on developing and maintaining landfills, reducing CO2 emissions, providing economic alternatives to natural gas as a fuel source, saving the subsidy that the government allocates on natural gas use, and tackling the issue of potable water capacity.  Thus, many challenges and problems can be addressed through this project,” Mohammed Sulaiman Al Harthy executive vice president - Corporate Strategic Development, was quoted as saying.

“Given the strategic national significance of this project, we decided to move ahead with discussions with the relevant authorities. If we are successful in putting up a plant in South Al Batinah, we can think of a smaller plant in Sharqiya based on, say 500 – 1000 tonnes of waste per day,” he said.

Be’ah aims to convert waste with calorific value into ‘Refuse Dried Fuel’ (RDF) using a mechanical biological treatment (MBT) process. The fuel can be used as an alternative to natural gas in industries such as cement manufacturing, he added.