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DAILY NEWS ANALYSIS

  • 01 February, 2021

  • 12 Min Read

Biomethanation plants

Biomethanation plants

  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his first Mann Ki Baat address for the year, made mention of the garbage-to-power plant being commissioned inside the Dr B.R. Ambedkar Agriculture Market in Bowenpally, Telangana.
  • Vegetable and fruit waste is used to generate power to the extent of 500 units a day and 30 kilos of green manure at the plant.
  • This is being done by making use of 10 tonnes of leftover market waste. The power generated is being used to light up the market and also run the canteen on the premises enabling the market committee to make substantial savings in power bills.
  • In his address, Mr. Modi said, it was amazing that the market waste was being used profitably. “This is the power of innovation, it was nice to learn about it. This is the journey of turning garbage into gold,” the Prime Minister remarked.
  • The CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) has designed and patented the high-rate bio methanation technology-based Anaerobic Gas lift Reactor (AGR) for this. 3 crore project funded by the Department of Biotechnology and the Telangana government’s Agriculture Marketing Department.

What is Biomethanation?

  • Biomethanation is a process by which organic material is microbiologically converted under anaerobic conditions to biogas.

  • Three main physiological groups of microorganisms are involved:
    1. Fermenting bacteria,
    2. Organic acid oxidizing bacteria, and
    3. Methanogenic archaea.
  • Microorganisms degrade organic matter via cascades of biochemical conversions to methane and carbon dioxide.
  • Syntrophic relationships between hydrogen producers (acetogens) and hydrogen scavengers (homoacetogens, hydrogenotrophic methanogens, etc.) are critical to the process.
  • Determination of practical and theoretical methane potential is very important for design for optimal process design, configuration, and effective evaluation of economic feasibility.
  • A wide variety of process applications for biomethanation of wastewaters, slurries, and solid waste have been developed.
  • They utilize different reactor types (fully mixed, plug-flow, biofilm, UASB, etc.) and process conditions (retention times, loading rates, temperatures, etc.) in order to maximize the energy output from the waste and also to decrease retention time and enhance process stability.
  • Biomethanation has strong potential for the production of energy from organic residues and wastes. It will help to reduce the use of fossil fuels and thus reduce CO(2) emission.

Source: TH


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