GKVK campus to have biogas power plant
Posted by Labels: biofuel, India, Sustainable Power and Energy
(DNA Correspondent)Here’s a bit of news that civic authorities and producers of large quantities of organic waste should sit up and take notice. The University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS) is set to inaugurate a biogas power generation plant at the GKVK campus. This is the first of its kind on any university campus in the country.
There are package plants that can handle as little as 50kg to 300kg. These can be assembled anywhere. All it requires is 20x20 sqft space, water and electricity. However, it is not viable to equip small plants for electricity generation, says KC Achappa, a general manager at the Mailhem Engineers company that is executing the project on the GKVK campus. “The generator engine costs Rs2 lakh to Rs3 lakh. It is not viable for smaller plants. You need at least one tonne of cowdung to extract power,” he said.
One tonne of cowdung can yield 40-50cubic metre biogas per day. Such a plant would cost Rs17lakh-Rs18lakh plus about Rs2.5 lakh for the engine. A tonne of food or other waste can give 70-80 cubic metre of biogas. If you go in for a biogas plant of 500kg of food waste, you can plan for power generation; you will get 40cubic metre of gas and can generate 60 units per day. The plant itself consumes only 6-7 units a day.Such an installation will cost Rs10-12 lakh, said Achappa.
The potential of such a facility is immense, especially for cities with huge amounts of organic waste. “Pune already has five plants of one tonne each. This is used for street lighting,” he added.
In the last 18 years, the company has set up 300 biogas plants all over India. “We have put up plants in Parliament and a five-tonne plant in the Hampi heritage centre,” he says.
While UAS now has a biogas plant, the city’s civic authority, which claims to handle over 3,500 tonnes of solid waste every day, is yet to make progress. The university plant will be inaugurated during the Rashtriya Krishi mela, which begins today.
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