CHENNAI: In a move to boost wet waste processing, the corporation has given work orders to construct four bio-compressed natural gas (bio-CNG) plants. ‘’The plants will come up in Chetpet, Madhavaram, Pallikaranai and Sholinganallur. It would be constructed by June,’’ said an official with the Solid Waste Management Department. While the total estimate is Rs 37.31 crore, each plant will be constructed at a cost of Rs 9.33 crore. While the Chetpet plant will have a capacity of 50 metric tonnes, the other three will be 100 metric tonnes each. ‘’Mostly, fruit and vegetable waste will be processed and could be sent to Amma Unavagams as a renewable fuel source,’’ said the official.
What is Bio-CNG?
According to research, Bio-CNG is the purified form of biogas where all unwanted gases are removed to produce a high amount of pure methane gas. According to a paper titled ‘Fuelling the future with renewable energy’, published in the website of Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), due to its high level of methane and less carbon dioxide, bio-CNG can be environmentally friendly with very low emission levels.
‘’It has the capacity to replace every utility of LPG and CNG in India and has the potential to be the future of renewable fuel because of the abundance of biomass in the country,’’ says the study. As per the study, bio-CNG has commercial, industrial and automotive values and can be used in restaurants, cement factories, public transport and CNG-fitted vehicles. According to MNRE data, the country has 17 bio-CNG plants out of which, Maharashtra tops with five plants while Tamil Nadu has one.
The plant in Mahindra World City processes eight tonnes of food and kitchen waste, daily generating 1000 cubic metres of raw biogas. Corporation officials said the four plants would bring down 350 mts of metric waste from going to landfills.