Biogas plant, praised by PM Narendra Modi in ‘Mann Ki Baat’, lies idle in Hyderabad

Telangana’s first biogas plant set up to generate electricity from vegetable waste is now defunct. PM Modi had praised the plant’s innovative effort in the Mann Ki Baat episode

Hyderabad: Lauded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his ‘Mann Ki Baat’ for turning vegetable waste into electricity and biofuel, the innovative biogas plant at Dr B R Ambedkar Vegetable Market in Bowenpally has been defunct for the past one month, despite it being hailed as a model for waste-to-energy conversion in India.

The biogas plant generates around 500 units of electricity and 30 kg of biofuel from vegetable waste. Market Secretary M Venkanna told Telangana Today, “The tender contract to run the plant expired in April, and fresh tenders were floated. The process of tender finalisation is expected to be completed shortly and then the biogas plant will start functioning as usual.”

The plant was set up in March 2021 on the Bowenpaly market premises with a technical support system from the city-based CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (CSIR-IICT). The IICT scientists and expert teams used bio-methanation technology based on Anaerobic Gas lift Reactor (AGR) and operated the biogas plant.

Interestingly, the innovative technology caught Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s attention, and he praised it in one of his ‘Mann Ki Baat’ editions in 2021. “We have observed that in sabji mandis, vegetables rot due to multiple reasons, spreading unhygienic conditions. However, traders at Hyderabad’s Bowenpally sabji mandi decided to produce electricity out of the waste vegetables. This is the power of innovation,” Modi said in his Mann Ki Baat. Modi also stated that the market’s waste is now being turned into wealth.

The biogas plant was initiated during the BRS government, and the then Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan visited the plant, too. The plant ran for four years without interruption, and in the Congress government, the process halted, said T N Sridhar Srinivas, former chairman of Bowenpally Vegetable Market, during whose tenure the plant was inaugurated. Both the Department of Biotechnology and the Department of Agriculture Marketing, Telangana and the central government spent Rs 3 crore.

Bowenpally Vegetable Market, the largest vegetable market in Telangana, collects nearly eight to ten tons of vegetable waste daily. Venkanna, the market secretary said that the vegetable waste collected by the workers and used to generate approximately 500 units of electricity and 30 kg of biofuel daily. “We are using the electricity to light streetlights, 170 vegetable stalls, the market’s administrative building, and the water supply network, while the biofuel is used in the market’s kitchen,” said Venkanna.

The vegetable waste generates nearly 6,290 Kg of CO2 per annum, which causes pollution in the market’s environment, but this innovative technology has not only kept the market area hygienic but also pollution-free, said the market official.

The process begins with chopping the waste vegetables into pieces and then transferring them through a conveyor belt to a shredder, which crushes them into small pieces. Later on, convert them into a slurry using a grinder. This slurry is then sent to anaerobic digesters for processing.

The biogas generated is collected and stored in balloons for future use. The balloons were set up adjacent to the main process. The biogas is directed through a pipeline system for cooking purposes, while the biofuel is supplied to other purposes, like 100 streetlights, vegetable stalls, and the water supply network. Due to this biogas plant and generates electricity, the market is saving Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh monthly on its electricity bills.

The Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) installed this biogas plant as part of Swachh Bharat Mission initiative.

After coming to know that the biogas plant was shut, on Monday, former chairman of the Bowenpally vegetable market committee and senior BRS leader held a protest in front of the biogas plant and submitted a representation to the Market chairman, R Anand Babu, urging him to re-open the plant.

GFX: Bowenpally’s Biogas Plant: Turning Waste into Energy

Salient features of AGR technology:

Advanced high-rate digester design

Ammonia/ sulfide inhibition control mechanism

Continuous mixing without mechanical equipment

Three-phase separation mechanism

No scum formation

Smaller digester volume per unit weight of waste

Lower footprint area

Scaled up to 10 tons/day (Design capacity available from 150 kg/day to 10 tons/day)

Higher methane/biogas yield

Generation of nutrient (NPK) rich fertilizer