Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri dedicated a Asia’s largest Compressed Biogas Plant CBG to the people of Punjab in Lehragaga, Sangrur on October 18.
About Sangrur CNG Plant
- The plant set up in 20 acres has been commissioned with an Foreign Direct Investment of 220 crore rupees by Verbio AG one of the Germany’s leading bioenergy company.
- The Compressed Bio Gas (CBG) plant inaugurated by Shri Hardeep S. Puri in Sangrur is a step in achieving objectives of the Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT) scheme, which was launched by Government of India in October 2018 to establish an ecosystem for production of Compressed Bio Gas (CBG) from various waste/ biomass sources in the country.
- The SATAT scheme aims to empower and unleash the rural economy by supporting farmers, increase India’s domestic energy production and self-sufficiency and also reduce the air pollution, and help India lead the world toward a clean energy transition. Apart from this plant, 38 CBG / Biogas Plants have been commissioned under the SATAT initiative.
- The CBG Plant at Sangrur, is spread across an area of 20 acres (approx.). The plant’s present production is about 6 TPD CBG, but soon this plant will process 300 Tons Per Day of paddy straw at max. capacity to produce 33 TPD of CBG using 8 digesters of 10,000 cubic meters.
- The Minister observed that this plant will consume 100,000 tons of paddy straw, which will be procured from 6-8 satellite locations within a 10 km radius of the plant.
- There shall be daily production of about 600-650 Tons of FOM (Fermented Organic Manure), which can be used for organic farming.
- The CBG Plant shall also provide direct employment to 390 and indirect employment to 585 people.
- Not only will this plant generate additional income for Sangrur’s farmers, but it will also provide a much-needed alternative to stubble burning, the Minister added further.
- He said that this Plant will reduce stubble burning of 40,000 – 45,000 acres of fields, translating into an annual reduction of 150,000 tons of CO2 emissions, which will not only ensure that the citizens of Sangrur, Punjab, breathe in cleaner air but also contribute towards India’s COP26 Climate Change targets of total projected carbon emissions by one billion tonnes from now to 2030 Achieving the target of net zero emissions by 2070.
What is Compressed Bio Gas (CBG)?
- Waste / Bio-mass sources like agricultural residue, cattle dung, sugarcane press mud, municipal solid waste and sewage treatment plant waste, etc. produce bio-gas through the process of anaerobic decomposition.
- The biogas is purified to remove hydrogen sulfide (H2S), carbon dioxide (CO2), water vapor and compressed as Compressed Bio Gas (CBG), which has methane (CH4) content of more than 90%.
- CBG has calorific value and other properties similar to CNG and hence can be utilized as green renewable automotive fuel.
- Thus it can replace CNG in automotive, industrial and commercial areas, given the abundance biomass availability within the country.
