India to Come Up with First Plant to Convert Paddy Straw into Biogas to Tackle Pollution

With a major initiative to tackle pollution in the country specially in Delhi, India is finally come up with its first Bio-plant to convert paddy straw into biogas that can be used as CNG in automobiles. The Bio-plant will be established at Karnal in Haryana, the state which often comes into the limelight for pollution due to stubble burning. 

The agencies and administration are giving its double effort to prevent the burning of crop stubble, which is said to be the main reason for pollution in the Delhi-NCR region. 

E S Ranganathan, managing director of Indraprastha Gas Ltd, the largest CNG distribution company in India, led the groundbreaking ceremony of the plant to convert paddy straw into compressed biogas (CBG) at Karnal on October 18, a company statement said here. 

As per reports, the plant will deploy special machines that will chop and bundle paddy straw for transportation to storage. This storage will be used throughout the year to production CBG. 

This unit, which is expected to come up by 2022, has been set up by Ajay Bio-Energy Pvt Ltd, under 'SATAT' (Sustainable Alternative towards Affordable Transportation) scheme on CBG launched by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. 

Some important personalities including Amit Garg, Director (Commercial), IGL; Ajay Bansal, Chairman, Ajay Bio-Energy Pvt Ltd and other senior officials of IGL were also present on the occasion.  
IGL which currently supplies CNG and piped cooking gas to households in Delhi, Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad, Rewari, Gurugram, Karnal, and Muzzafarnagar is said to be one of the major parts of the plant. 

Ranganathan said while speaking on the occasion, "As an organization committed to providing clean energy solutions to the society, IGL has been proactive in leveraging the latest technology in all its operations to ensure that the entire community is able to benefit from its initiatives. Environmental pollution is the biggest concern in the region today and it is our endeavor to reduce alarming levels of pollution apart from creating opportunities for additional income for farmers." 

As per the reports, the plant will produce a maximum of 10,000 kg CBG every day where the major input of the plant will be paddy straw. The plant has the capacity of consuming around 40,000 tonnes of paddy straw in a year which will be taken from 20,000 acres of farmland in Karnal district. 

CBG from the plant will run tractors and earth-movers as well as power gensets. 
Speaking on the occasion, Garg said, "This project will be a step in the direction of creating energy self-sustaining villages along with creating a pollution-free environment in the region. It will send a positive signal to the stakeholders about the possibilities of replicating this model across India to improve the quality of life. In the coming future, I see agro-waste management becoming a major area of focus due to increasing environmental concerns." 

Stubble burning is one of the major threats and major reasons for the pollution in the national capital including the NCR region which not only affects soil fertility as it results in loss of essential nutrients but also affects human health. It often results in heavy smog in the Delhi-NCR where lakhs of people heavily affect every year. 
 
The project aims to convert paddy wheat straw into bio-CNG. This project will also add to the income of the farmers in the region.