Page 173 - CW E-Magazine (8-7-2025)

Special Report Special Report

Compressed biogas – a green alternative for a Digesters, Balloon (Bag) Digesters, and is off ering fi nancial assistance through Oil Corporation Ltd. (IOC) has part-
To promote CBG, the Government up 15 CBG plants pan-India. Indian
Plug Flow Digesters. The common in-
sustainable tomorrow dustrial facility uses Continuous Stirred various schemes. It has allocated a nered with GPS Renewables dedicated
Tank Reactors, which involve continu-
cumulative budget of Rs.1,715-crore to advance biofuel adaptation in India.
iogas is a renewable fuel pro- An inventive Victorian engineer, John A.K. DAS ous mixing of the feedstock by stirring for establishing both large-scale CBG Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd.
duced by the anaerobic diges- Webb (1754-1828) from Birmingham Retd. Industrial Advisor to ensure uniform digestion and plants and small biogas facilities. Addi- (HPCL) also has plans to enter into
Btion of organic matter primarily created the Sewage Lamp. This devise Dept. of Chemicals & Petro- temperature distribution. tionally, the government is off ering CBG manufacturing. Reliance Group
consisting of methane (CH ) (50-75%) converted sewage into biogas to light chemicals, Govt. of India fi nancial aid for the development of has announced plans to put up 500
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and carbon dioxide (CO ) (25-50%). It streetlamps. Email: amiyakantidas2010@gmail.com Several factors infl uence the effi - pipeline infrastructure to inject CBG CBG plants in Andhra Pradesh, as well
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also contains trace quantities of other ciency of biogas production: Typical into city gas distribution (CGD) net- as 350 integrated CBG facilities in the
gases like hydrogen suphide (H S), Feedstock teins and fats are broken down into temperature range is 30-60°C. Main- work. SATAT (Sustainable Alternative Northeastern States. It is also partnering
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water vapour, and nitrogen. A wide variety of organic materi- simpler soluble compounds such as taining an optimal pH (6.5-7.5) is im- Towards Aff ordable Transportation) is with the Indian Council of Agricultural
als can be used as feedstock for biogas sugars, amino acids and fatty acids portant. Loading rate and retention time an initiative of the Government of India Research (ICAR) on a Rs. 100-crore
Biogas can be used for various production. This includes agricultural by hydrolytic enzymes. of feedstock in the digester depends on with the objective of setting up CBG initiative to develop 11 grass species as
purposes like cooking, heating, power waste (crop waste, straw, bagasse, press  Acidogenesis – Acidogenic bacteria feedstock type and pH. Stirring the plants and supply CBG to Oil Market- feedstock for biogas production.

generation and is considered a cleaner mud from sugar industry), sewage convert these simple compounds digester content is also essential. ing Companies to blend it with CNG
alternative to fossil fuels. For certain sludge, industrial wastewater, distillery into volatile fatty acids (VFAs), and Piped Natural Gas (PNG), which Concluding remarks
applications biogas needs upgradation spent wash, cattle dung, etc. ‘Gobar alcohols, carbon dioxide, hydrogen Benefi ts will be mandatory in phased matter. Production of biogas is an estab-
by removing impurities like CO and gas’ is biogas produced from cow dung and ammonia. Biogas production is a sustainable lished pathway to create wealth from
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H S to increase methane content and and is a widely used term in rural India.  Acetogenesis – Acetogenic bacteria technology off ering several benefi ts. It India has witnessed a signifi cant waste and also to create rural employ-
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quality. Compressed biogas (CBG) is a further break the VFAs into acetic generates renewable energy; reduces of year-on-year growth in the number of ment opportunity. It is the fuel of the
purifi ed and compressed form of biogas Production methods acid, hydrogen and carbon dioxide. greenhouse gas emissions; and produces CBG plants over the past fi ve years. future.
with a methane content of over 90%. It Biogas production consists of an-  Methanogenesis – In this step a nutrient-rich digestate which is used as The total operational units have in-
has similar calorifi c value and proper- aerobic digestion, a natural process group of archaea (single cell orga- bio-manure. Biogas production is also a creased from 19 in 2020 to over 125 ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ties of compressed natural gas (CNG), where microorganisms break organic nisms), called methanogens, convert novel way of waste management. by December 2024. It is reported that
making it a green renewable alternative matters in absence of oxygen. The acetic acid, carbon dioxide and about 133 plants are at various stages of Mr. Amiya Kanti
for automotive, industrial and commer- process occurs in sealed containers hydrogen into CH and CO , which Commercial developments in India implementation. Some recently opened Das (born 1939) is
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cial uses. CBG is also sometimes called called Biogas Digesters or Bioreactors. are the main components of biogas. Jashbhai J Patel (1909-1992), the plants are at Batala, Hosiarpur, Sangrur a B.Sc. (Hons.) and
as renewable natural gas (RNG). Anaerobic digestion is a complex bio- then Adviser to Khadi and Village in Punjab; and Badaun, Gorakhpur, M.Sc. in Chemistry
chemical process involving three main Types of biogas digesters Industries Commission (KVIC) popu- Mathura in Uttar Pradesh. Asia’s largest from Calcutta Univer-
Once considered an intermediate steps, carried out by diff erent groups of Biogas digesters come in vari- larized biogas production in the country CBG plant based on municipal waste is sity. Widely travelled
technology fi t only for the under privi- bacteria working in synergy: ous shapes and sizes to suit diff er- and installed about 450 biogas plants in in Indore and is producing 1,700-kg of in Europe and India,
leged ‘Third World’, biogas has gene-  Hydrolysis – Complex organic ent feedstock and operational scale: early 1960s. His pioneering work gave biogas every day. One such facility has he was a regular contributor in
rated interest during past decades as a polymers like carbohydrates, pro- Fixed Dome Digesters, Floating Drum him the reputation as ‘Father of Biogas also been put up recently at Naini, Uttar chemical journals during 80’s and
cheap renewable source of energy. Technology’. Pradesh. 90’s and is profi cient in German
and Russian. Before superannuation
History As per the Ministry of New & Renew- Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. on May 31, 1997, from the post of
Biogas is not a new discovery. The able Energy (MNRE), which has been (BPCL) and GPS Renewable Pvt. Ltd. Industrial Advisor in the Dept. of
fi rst human use of biogas dates back giving subsidies to put up biogas plants have very recently entered into a JV Chemicals and Petrochemicals, he
to 3,000 BC in the Middle East. It is since long, there are about 4.31-mn to establish CBG plants across India. dealt with diverse chemical indus-
believed that the Assyrians used biogas to family-type biogas plants working in ONGC’s Board of Directors has tries for three decades.
heat their baths. A 17thcentury Chemist, rural areas. approved a JV with Ever Enviro to set

Jan Baptiste van Helmut (1577-1644)
from Brussels, Belgium, discovered Chemical Weekly | Import-Export Data | Market Surveys
that fl ammable gas is formed from de- Directories | Business Forums | Expositions
caying organic matters. He is also res-
ponsible for bringing the word ‘gas’ The only organisation in India catering exclusively to the needs of the entire chemical industry
from the Greek word ‘chaos’ into the Contact:
science vocabulary. The fi rst large an- SEVAK PUBLICATIONS PVT. LTD.
aerobic digestion plant in India dates 602-B, Godrej Coliseum, K.J. Somaiya Hospital Road, Behind Everard Nagar, Sion (E), Mumbai 400 022.
back to 1859 in a leper colony in Bombay. Phone: +91-22-24044471 / 72; Email: admin@chemicalweekly.com

172 Chemical Weekly July 8, 2025 Chemical Weekly July 8, 2025 173

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