Kochi: The government of Kerala, in association with BPCL, is planning to generate compressed natural gas (CNG) out of biowaste generated in Kochi. A proposal to set up a CNG plant at Brahmapuram is on the anvil.
A meeting in this regard was held by local self-government minister M B Rajesh and industries minister P Rajeeve with BPCL officials in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday.
BPCL officials presented the feasibility of the project in Brahmapuram and the ministers are learnt to have expressed support to the proposal.
Similar waste-to-CNG plants are currently functioning in Indore and Pune.
“It was a preliminary discussion on the feasibility of the project. We discussed about the availability of land and waste generated in the city. It is estimated that around 200 tonnes of biowaste used to reach Brahmapuram per day from Kochi city and nearby local bodies before the major fire in March. We plan to utilize that waste for the purpose. Oil companies across India are studying the possibilities of generating CNG from biowaste and the central government is also backing it,” said a BPCL official.
CNG from biomass is generated through anaerobic digestion. The biogas generated out of this process is purified further into CNG. BPCL officials expect to generate around 10 tonnes of CNG from 200 tonnes of bio waste per day.
“As much as 90% of biogas contains methane gas, which is inflammable. Since the biogas contains particles, we need to purify it further to make CNG for automobile use. Currently India imports over 55% of its CNG needs. Hence, the central government supports such projects under its sustainable alternative towards affordable transportation scheme,” said the official.
“We need to compress the gas towards 250 bar pressure and fill it in cylinders for selling through retail outlets for industrial purposes. It is technically feasible in Kochi. BPCL already sells compressed biogas (CBG) through 41 outlets,” said the official.
Currently, only the biowaste generated within the Kochi corporation is dumped at Brahmapuram. This comes to around 100 to 110 tonnes per day. Seven other local bodies used to dump their biowaste at Brahmapuram before it was stopped on April 30.
Meanwhile, it has been decided to bring down utilizing the yard for waste dumping in a phased manner from this month onwards. For this, the Kochi Corporation and Suchitwa Mission have identified three agencies for collecting and treating biowaste from houses which do not have facilities to treat biowaste at source.
