BIOGAS: A Versatile Concept

Author
Dr. Srinivas Kasulla
Independent Biogas Researcher And Green Activist

iogas Technology Make in INDIA is

in high demand worldwide and the
country is gaining more and more
importance in the world market of Biogas,
though Germany remains the world market
leader in this innova ve eld. Many Indian
companies are now having subsidiaries
abroad and we read the news of new biogas
plants being installed all over the world on
regular basis. Indian rms are well
equipped for the interna onal market and
are now gathering experience with projects
in other countries where the condi ons and
requirements are o en quite dierent to
those in India. Although German companies
are being preferred worldwide but the
longstanding exper se of few big Indian
companies are making a way for all the
other smaller players across the country.
Biogas market is ever growing in India since
2007 and few companies are established
and are domina ng the biogas market in
our country.
In India an increasing trend is beginning to
emerge for biodegradable food/vegetable
waste treatment plants across the country
since the year 2005, many thanks to few
www.biogas-india.com

Indian technology inven ons as well as

biogas companies along with the Ministry
for their regular research, pilot plants,
subsidies etc., which has forced the new
sector all together. Since a decade
knowledge of biogas plant installa on is
gradually spreading that the biodiges on of
food waste/vegetable waste rich in organic
substances can make both ecological and
economic sense for waste processing.
Biogas there remains one of the most
important renewable energy sources.
Together, Biogas and fossil natural gas form
a strong team, not only for the provision of
energy but increasingly also in energy
storage.
Biogas plants create jobs and renewable
energy while recycling nutrients and
elimina ng potent methane emissions.
Biogas plants are widespread across our
country, where higher energy prices and
greater experience with the technology
facilitate the lending of construc on
nancing. Despite these mul ple benets
and widespread adop on in other parts of
the world, India has only realized hardly any
percentage of its biogas poten al. With few

more incen ves and nancing programs,

India could support a biogas industry 10
mes its current size. As this ar cle
demonstrates, realizing this poten al
would create at least few thousands of
permanent full- me jobs and reduce
annual greenhouse gas emissions by few
million tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent
emissions.
There are many ini a ves and supports
from the central as well as state for rural
economic growth and environmental
protec on when one installs biogas plant.
State wise programs needs to be in place
with the greatest poten al to generate
biogas along with its progress and success
stories, along with the benets of each
plant which may be unique plant to plant in
terms of economic and environmental
benets and few policies should be in place
to accelerate the construc on and
development of this industry.
Recent development in the eld by the
centre was really a good breakthrough to
start with - where to push clean energy, the
Centre has asked the states to set up one
IBA Newsletter I Edition 5, 2016 I 17

lakh biogas plants of one to six cubic

meter capacity this scal, which will save
21.90 lakh LPG cylinders EVERY YEAR.
"With an objec ve to provide clean
gaseous fuel for cooking and organic biomanure as a by-product, Ministry of New
and Renewable Energy has allocated to
the states an annual target of se ng up
one lakh family size biogas plants (1 m3 to
6 m3 capacity) for the current year, 201617". This will result in saving fossil fuels
and organic manure boom in our country
will soon to follow. Moreover, the
ini a ve would reduce emissions of CO2
and Methane by 4,50,000 tonnes and
2,50,000 tonnes respec vely, mi ga ng
the menace of climate change, these
gures are only a er installa on of
smaller household biogas plants every
year.
One can imagine if similarly medium and
large scale biogas plants come up in huge
numbers then automa cally the POWER
of biogas can be seen throughout our
country. India needs a Biotouch for
installa on of more and more medium
and large scale biogas plants. Though, the
objec ve behind the small household
biogas plants is basically for providing
clean fuel and organic manure to the
people. For Medium and Larger scale
biogas plants already a dra Na onal
Biogas Mission is under review and soon
good news for the people in the industry
will be out by the government.
Biogas generated from the medium and
large scale biogas plants can be used
either to generate electricity or BioCNG.
Biogas generated from the small and
medium scale biogas plants generate
electricity and to convert the same biogas
to BioCNG is not being economically
feasible upto a certain amount of Biogas
generated on per day basis. Whereas the
biogas generated from the large Scale
plants are more economically feasible
when converted to BioCNG rather than
genera ng electricity.
Regarding exis ng Biogas Plants in India,
more than 80% of the biogas plants are
from the industrial waste sources which
are bulk and at source generated. Indeed,
Biogas in India is produced mostly from
industrial waste sources in monodiges on and present move of few

www.biogas-india.com

companies have created a path and a

vision for co-diges on of substrates, one
of the best example is food waste,
vegetable waste along with cow
manure. Among the other waste
streams cow manure is another best
example from our country for
genera ng biogas and organic manure.
Various government supports for such
plants are already in place and are being
regularly reviewed and many
developments are seen in this sector.
Personally I have the experience of
economical assessment of standardize
biogas plants and supply chain in India. In
par cular the focus is always put on the
es ma on of specic electricity
genera on or BioCNG genera on costs.
Many books available can also help in
assessing one about such costs. Quite a
few consultants from our country have
done various studies on analyzing the
protability of a large scale biogas plant
and more par cularly the electricity
genera on or BioCNG genera on costs
and the specic capital costs involved in
installa on of the en re project. Various
studies have been done where the costs
of electricity/BioCNG genera on from
the industrial waste biogas plants are
much lower than the food
waste/vegetable waste based biogas
plants. Similarly, when one compares the
same situa on with European Biogas
Plants then the electricity/BioCNG
genera on costs agricultural waste are
much lower than the food
waste/vegetable waste. Basically it
appears that the investment related costs
are higher in case of food
waste/vegetable waste based biogas
plants when compared to the industrial
waste based biogas plants. This is mainly
due to the cost intensive food/vegetable
waste treatment systems such has
crushing system, feeding system,
pretreatment like hydrolysis and
hygienisa on etc. These systems do not
appear in the case of Industrial waste
based biogas plants, where the waste to
be treated are directly fed into the
digesters.
Further, the food/vegetable waste based
biogas plants also requires addi onal
supplementary manpower when biogas
plants, which also impacts the personnel

costs and makes the overall costs higher

when the costs are compared with
Industrial Waste Based Biogas plants.
Again the digestate has to be further
treated in case of food waste/vegetable
waste biogas plants and it is not in few
cases of industrial biogas plants, these
are the few points which explains the
visible gap between the two substrates
in the biogas eld.
Global Data's new report says that the
German government has been
instrumental in developing the biogas
market in the Germany through the
development and opera on of
agricultural waste based biogas plants.
The key driver for the increase in biogas
installa ons is the Renewable Energy
Sources Act (EEG) in Germany, which
provides feed-in taris for biogas
projects. The act also provides support
for the development of the bio power
market in the form of bonuses for biogas
Combined Heat and Power plants. Similar
moves from the Indian Government will
be appreciated and only then the Biogas
boom will be visibly seen by every
common man of our country.
15000 Large Scale Biogas Plants to be
installed in our country by 2025:
If this dream is realized then India will
contribute to the largest share to the
world's cumula ve biogas installed
capacity in 2025. India will account for
approximately a quarter of the global
biogas installed capacity by then. Thanks
to con nuing support from various
support agencies, NGO's, Associa ons
and few die heart green revolu onists
suppor ng the Biogas Industry. Global
Data forecasts moderate growth for the
global biogas power market between
2012 and 2025.
Biogas technology is ready for
widespread implementa on but
addi onal support is needed to realize its
economic and environmental value. Few
more policy support and subsidies will
create rural as well as urban jobs,
advance energy independence and
reduce potent methane emissions. The
me is right to realize the poten al of
India's biogas resources. Wait and watch
for the POWER of Biogas.....Biogas has
the POWER.

IBA Newsletter I Edition 5, 2016 I 18