The public sector oil marketing companies have issued over 200 letters of authorisation (LOA) in the State to non-public events for beginning compressed biogas (CBG) plants utilizing moist waste from municipal strong waste (MSW).
This is underneath the Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT) Scheme and fuel produced from bio waste, together with kitchen waste and poultry litter can be utilized for automobiles in addition to cooking. Under the LOAs, there’s a off-take clause for the fuel produced and the federal government has mounted a worth for a similar.
“The first CBG production plant in the State was setup at Namakkal in June 2020. This plant, which uses poultry litter, cattle dung and agricultural residue has been feeding CBG as automotive fuel to a network of Indian Oil retail outlets in Salem and Namakkal districts and to nearby industries. The plant also has bio-manure as a by-product, which is marketed separately,” stated an official in Indian Oil.
N. Nagendran, CEO, Srinivas Waste Management Services Pvt Ltd, whose company collects moist waste from 400 plus resorts, markets and resorts each day, stated that they generate round 2,500 kg – 3,000 kg of compressed bio fuel each day. “If we get 100 tonnes of food waste daily, we can get around 5,000 kg of CBG. However, that is not possible. Gas is produced based on standards. Around 1/3rd of the gas produced is supplied to hotels for cooking and the rest goes to be supplied as fuel for vehicles,” he defined.
Sources in the oil and fuel sector stated that the CBG sector was fairly new, and was very a lot in the creating stage. “There are not many takers though LOAs have been issued. This is because investment is quite high and returns take a while. The availability and cost of feedstock and connectivity too are issues. Technology too is in a nascent stage and people have to import equipment. But if someone manages it properly, it will become profitable in the long run,” defined a supply.
