Biogas in a Bottle

 Biogas in a Bottle

Two technology students in India could be on to a winning idea. Inspired by our Award winners, ARTI in India who turn kitchen waste into biogas for cooking, these students want to develop the technology to store biogas in cylinders as an affordable substitute for LPG. Whilst studying at the Indian Institute of IT, Design and Manufacturing in Madras, they’ve already attracted development funds from angel investors to help them get closer to making this a reality. Not even content with this, they have their sights set on becoming social entrepreneurs using other green technology ideas. We’ll certainly be watching with interest over the coming months to see how they get on.

(Image: ARTI in India build household biogas plants that create fuel from spoilt food)

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CHENNAI, INDIA: Disappointed with galloping LPG prices burning your pockets? Don't worry. Two students from IIIT DM (Indian Institute of Information Technology, Design and Manufacturing), Kancheepuram, an institution incubated by IIT Madras campus, have come up with a cost-effective bottled biogas fuel which not only acts as a substitute for your cooking gas but also helps manage kitchen waste.

Biofuels As Future Fuels (BAFF), a project by Kunal Bhambhani and Swagat Sharma who are on a mission to bring in a bottled biogas while keeping the environment clean, has already drawn the attention of many.

“The inspiration behind the BAFF was the amount of waste we noticed in Indian cities. A large chunk of the waste is coming from our kitchens,” say Kunal and Swagat. “We were aware of various gobar gas projects initiated by the government in rural areas, but we want to develop something on that lines for the urban India too.”

But what inspired them the most was ARTI, an Ashden award winning technology in Pune that uses kitchen waste to run biogas plant. “We thought a step ahead and we wanted to use the idea to produce a bottled biogas, which acts as a substitute for cooking cylinder.”

The new cylinder will help the cities remain clean, as it uses the waste from vegetable markets, hotels and residential areas.

It may take a while to make their dream a reality, as a compression technology has to be built to use the gas in a compressed form as a substitute for LPG cylinder. But they assure that the new cylinder will be priced Rs. 100 less than the existing price of the gas cylinders.

Since they want to start a manufacturing unit of household gas cylinders with the compression technology, the initial capital is going to be huge. However, the duo did not have to sweat it out to raise funds. A few angel investors came forward to help them. They will provide a total of Rs. 60 lakhs in two tranches -- Rs. 15 lakh initially, and Rs. 45 lakh later to market the product.


“There is no point in building a prototype as it is not a small machine. So, we plan to have an experimental set up and then go for a proper investment of Rs. 2 crore and start manufacturing compressed gas,” they explain.

Kunal and Swagat have no plans to sell the idea to anyone. “It's our idea and both of us are motivated to make this a reality. We do not want to remain just technologists. We want to be social entrepreneurs and bring about a positive change in the society. We are not just getting rid of the waste but we create renewable energy too. Ours is a green product.”

They are not just going to be satisfied with just one product. “We do not want to restrict ourselves to just biogas alone. We want to produce many more green products. Biogas is only one of them,” they say.

“We know that biofuel and biodiesel also have the potential. That is why we have named our product, BAFF (Biofuel as Future Fuel). We want to see the logo of BAFF all over India like that of Indian Oil. That is our dream.”

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Treading the eco-friendly path

Non-conventional: Ramanamma working at the biogas plant at her home. -Photo: KV Poornachandra Kumar

It took the implementation of an idea that occurred as a flash in K.Ramanamma that resulted in saving of Rs.700 in terms of firewood or Rs.900 in terms of LPG consumption every month. More than that, the path she has embarked on has helped the Mother Earth go green!

Ramanamma, wife of K. Marappa Reddy, cooks midday meals for school children of Diguva Chennamarri in Kurabalakota Mandal of Chittoor district. The arduous task of procuring firewood from the nearby woods and cooking food for 30-40 children made her think of an alternative. The biogas plant sanctioned to her by NABARD in her individual capacity was put to use for the community purpose. As she has two cows and 80 sheep at her barn, the dung thus generated started going into the biogas plant, leaving her with virtually no ‘physical ordeal' to go in search of fuel. She is happily able to cook rice and curry with biogas.

As natural fallout, all the remaining 29 households got 26 biogas plants and three solar cookers installed, thus making the village tread the eco-friendly route. Though the semi-literate Ramanamma could not go beyond the direct benefits, Non-conventional Energy Development Corporation of Andhra Pradesh (NEDCAP) authorities put the reduction of carbon dioxide emission per year at a whopping 86 tonnes, saving of firewood at 60 tonnes and LPG at 5 tonnes for the village. “The biogas plants alone generate organic fertilizer weighing 450 tonnes per year”, NEDCAP District Manager C.B. Jagadeeswara Reddy told The Hindu .

When so much can happen from an innocent woman's initiative, why cannot the State concentrate on alternative sources of energy, especially in the rural areas where cow dung and sunshine are abundant? Every Panchayat school has a kitchen and enough space to stack fuel (firewood).

If biogas plants are built there, cooking will be hassle-free and women engaged in the task can actually see more savings, apart from cutting environmental cost. For those who strain their eyebrows on how and where from to fetch cow dung, Ramanamma says: “Simple. Everybody sells excess cow dung for Rs.1,000 per tractor load and Rs.10 per thatta (basin). The State can procure at a much lesser cost”.

Are the policymakers and administrators listening?

Ramanamma switches to biogas plant for cooking midday meal, spurring the remaining 29 households of the village to follow suit

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Ecosan biogas plant set up at Manjeri

Ecological sanitation plant to use toilet effluents

An ecological sanitation (Ecosan) biogas plant, based on toilet effluents, is being set up at the District General Hospital at Manjeri near here.

Hospital Superintendent A.P. Parvathi said here on Sunday that the plant was ready for commissioning.

The plant will make use of the toilet effluents and food wastes generated at the hospital.

The plant had been set up at a cost of Rs.13 lakh. Funds had been provided from the MP's local area development fund by the then MP, P.V. Abdul Wahab, the Hospital Development Council, and the district panchayat. The plant had been constructed by the Integrated Rural Technology Centre (IRTC), Mundur, a State government-accredited agency, under the supervision of Bio-Energy Systems, a Kozhikode-based agency with technical expertise in ecosan plants.

The model had been done in the Non-Conventional Energy Development Agency (NEDA) model, recognized by the Central government.

The plant would be below ground level, and the roof could be used for parking or gardening. The plant will run on a trial basis for a month, Dr. Parvathi said.

The IRTC will oversee the functioning for three years. The plant would help reduce the problem of waste disposal at the hospital by 85 per cent, she said.

The plant would make septic tanks redundant. A similar plant would soon be set up at the old block of the General Hospital, she said.

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Biogas in India - Current Status and Future Possibilities

Biogas is primarily methane that is generated from an anaerobic digestion of organic wastes by microorganisms. It is a relatively simple and economical method to produce a fuel from waste.
While technically biogas can be produced from any type of organic material, most times, biogas is produced from organic waste. This waste could comprise agricultural and crop waste, human waste and animal waste (cow dung for instance). With a calorific value of about 5000 KCal / m3, biogas is an excellent fuel for heating purposes as well as for generating electricity.
It is estimated that India can produce power of about 17,000 MW using biogas. This is over 10% of the total electricity installed capacity in India.
The advantages of biogas-based energy generation are as follows:
1. It is based on renewable sources
2. It can provide distributed energy generation, thereby providing much-needed energy for remote locations and villages.
3. In many cases, it provides a beneficial way of disposing organic waste
Biogas in households and communities
Biogas production has been quite dominant in India at household and community levels (especially in rural areas) than on large scales. In villages especially, thousands of small biogas plants use the cattle waste (especially cow dung) and provide biogas used for home heating and cooking. It is estimated that over 2 million such biogas plants have been installed all over India.
Such use of biogas systems in agrarian communities can increase agricultural productivity. This is because producing heat using biogas is more efficient than producing it using combustion, and hence more agricultural and animal waste can be returned to the land by farmers as organic fertilizer. Moreover, the slurry that is returned after methanogenesis is superior in terms of its nutrient content and can be used as a soil conditioner and plant nutrient (fertilizer).
Biogas for electricity production
The use of biogas for electricity generation in India is more recent, but this trend is accelerating. In many cities across India, sewage treatment centers and organic waste treatment plants (those treating organic municipal solid waste, for instance) already use anaerobic digesters to generate biogas and electricity. Some of the industries that generate significant amounts of solid or liquid organic waste also have installed digesters and gas engines for electricity production. Many of these require sizable investments, but it is estimated that they have a good return on investment as the main feedstock that they use is essentially free.
Biogas in the Indian industry
Use of digesters at industrial complexes (to treat the waste generated at the factory) is also increasing. For the factories and businesses concerned, this is an excellent avenue to dispose of waste in a cost effective manner while at the same time generate heat and/or electricity. Industries that have an especially high potential for using anaerobic digestion include cattle and poultry industry, sugar, breweries, pulp and paper, leather, and the fruits & vegetables industry. As pointed out earlier, some of these industries are already producing electricity from biogas, and this trend is likely to grow further in future.
Many Indian industries, in their quest for becoming more environment conscious, are turning to biogas one of their energy sources. In Sep 2009, for instance, PepsiCo India, a division of PepsiCo installed a biogas plant at its Pune-based Frito-Lay manufacturing unit. It's the first plant within Frito-Lay's global operations to use biogas. Companies such as Sintex Industries have introduced novel biogas digesters for the small users of this renewable energy resource.
Future prospects for biogas in India
With the Indian government keen on utilizing renewable resources for energy production, it is likely that there will be a greater thrust and higher incentives for concepts such as biogas production from waste. An increasing awareness among the public regarding sustainable use of resources will only enhance the production and use of biogas. It can hence be expected that biogas will have a significant growth in India at all levels of usage (household, municipality and industry) for both heat generation and electricity production.
It is also possible to earn carbon credits for biogas-based power or heat generation in India. For instance, in Apr 2008, Andhyodaya, a non-government agency working in the field of promoting water management and non-conventional energy and social development distributed the first installment of the biogas carbon credit to farmers in the state of Kerala. Andhyodaya had helped construct 15,000 biogas plants in the state and earned carbon credits. This trend is likely to grow further.
Both the central and the state governments in India have recognized the significance of biomass-based energy in the context of development of the rural population. It is also heartening to note that steps are already being taken in this regard. For instance, in Feb 2010, the Haryana Government has formulated a Rs. 85 crore project for setting up 50,000 family size biogas plants to harness the potential of generating biogas for cooking and (remnants as) organic manure in the fields.
More such investments and efforts are on the horizon.
In sum, India has significant potential for generating heat and electricity from waste in the form of biogas. While only a portion of the potential has been tapped, it is likely that more investments in this direction could accelerate exploitation of this source in future.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Renga_Nathan

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Biomethanation in india

Biomethanation in india, biomass gasification in India, bio gas, trends, costs of biomethanation and biomass gassifiers, types, business challenges, opportunities 

Biomethanation involves the biodegradation of organic wastes under strict anaerobic conditions to yield methane-rich biogas.

Biomethanation of aqueous wastes involves hydrolysis, acidogenesis, acetogenesis and methanogenesis reactions, which generates a mixture of methane, carbon dioxide and other gases.

Biomethanation can be carried out in a single step or two steps.

In the process of hydrolysis, anaerobic bacteria breakdown complex organic molecules such as protein, cellulose, lignin and lipids into soluble monomer molecules such as amino acids, glucose, fatty acids and glycerol. Hydrolysis phase is relatively slow.

Acidogenic bacteria convert sugar, amino acids and fatty acids to organic acids, alcohols and ketones, acetate, Co₂ and H_2. The products formed vary with type of bacteria as well as with the temperature, PH etc.

Acetogenic bacteria convert fatty acids and alcohols into acetate, hydrogen and carbon dioxide. Acetogenic bacteria require low hydrogen for fatty acids conversion.

Methanogenesis is the formation of methane by microbes known as methanogens. Methanogenesis in microbes is a form of anaerobic respiration. Methanogens do not use oxygen to respire; in fact, oxygen inhibits the growth of methanogens. The terminal electron acceptor in methanogenesis is carbon. 

The two best described pathways involve the use of carbon dioxide and acetic acid as terminal electron acceptors:

CO₂ + 4 H₂ → CH₄ + 2H₂O

CH₃COOH → CH₄ + CO₂

The process of small-scale Biomethanation includes feedstock colleting, pretreatment, fermentation, treatment and purifying, storage and transportation.

Batch fermentation and semi-continuous fermentation are usual technologies for small-scale biomethanation. In batch fermentation technology, all the feedstock is added at the first. The biomethane generates fast at the beginning and then decreases. In semi-continuous fermentation technology, ¼ - ½ feedstock was added at the first. When the biomethane generation slows down, more feedstock is added to make the biomethane generation work in order.

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