Bowenpally: Veggie waste packs a 'power' punch

Bowenpally: Soon you will not find vegetable waste dumped at the Dr Ambedkar Vegetable Market Yard or Bowenpally Market Yard. A biogas plant has been installed in market yard and trial runs are going on. The project is a joint collaboration between Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and the state government is estimated to cost Rs 4 crore.

The plant is designed by the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) by using Anaerobic Gas lift Reactor (AGR) Technology and is executed by Ahuja Engineering Services Private Limited. The private company is the turnkey service provider that is responsible for the engineering design, fabrication, installation and commissioning of the plant while IICT is the technology provider.

Speaking to THI, TN Srinivas, the chairman of the Bowenpally market yard, said, "The plant was installed in January. For the past one-and-a-half-months, trial runs are being conducted with 6 tonnes of waste. The idea is to increase the load to 10 tonnes. On an average, five tonnes of vegetable waste is produced in the market yard. Every month Rs 5 lakh is spent towards the power bills and also to remove vegetable waste from the market. Now with the help of this plant, it would save 27 units of electricity per day and 800 to 900 units per month."

"The plant would be fully commissioned to produce biogas by the end of March 2020. Biogas would be converted into electricity by using a biogas generator. As the plant is expected to produce at least 800 units of electricity per day from 10 to 15 tonnes of vegetable waste per day," said Shruti Ahuja, Director and business head, Ahuja Engineering Services Private Limited.

In addition to this, approximately 10 to 15 tonnes per day of nutrient-rich digestate which is a biofertilisers would be produced every day and this fertilisers would be given to the vegetable vendors. To monitor this plant six helpers and an operator are deployed. The operation and maintenance of the plant would be operated by the company for a term of one year.