Researchers from BITS Pilani Hyderabad develop tech to turn waste into biofuel

Developed by Prof P Sankar Ganesh and his team, iSTAR, a single-stage advanced anaerobic digestion process is designed to treat organic waste, converting to methane-rich biogas

Hyderabad: In a smart solution for landfilling leachate, domestic septage management, and food waste, a team of researchers from BITS Pilani’s Hyderabad campus developed a technology that converts organic waste into methane-rich biogas, which can be used as biofuel.

Developed by Prof P Sankar Ganesh of Environmental Science and Technology department and his team, iSTAR (Intelligently Stirred Thermophilic Anaerobic Reactor), a single-stage advanced anaerobic digestion process is designed to treat organic waste, converting to methane-rich biogas.

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The new approach, which is designed to treat municipal solid waste, landfill leachate, faecal sludge/domestic septage, food waste, and sewage sludge among other waste, has an impressive conversion rate, translating 85 per cent of organic waste to biogas containing 60-70 per cent of methane.

Additionally, the process generates value-added products such as nutrient-rich biofertilizer, acids, and alcohols. The technology also treats the waste at faster rate and the reactor requires a much lesser footprint for installation and operation.

Another feature of the iSTAR is the continuous remote monitoring system, which monitors critical process parameters such as pH, temperature and pressure to fix the problems related to process and microorganisms, ensuring overall health of the reactor. Further, there is no requirement for water addition except for dry feedstock such as leaf litter and agro-residues.

“The iSTAR is designed to treat various liquid and solid organic wastes as the sole substrate or in combination with two or more,” Prof Ganesh said. According to the team, iSTAR can produce 10,000 litres of biogas from 100 kgs of organic waste fed daily. This biogas generated in a year is equivalent to 92 commercial LPG cylinders.

“The simple reactor design makes it easy to fabricate, install, operate and maintain it by anyone, including the housekeeping personnel. This technology can be readily launched at an industry scale, and it is ideal for urban and rural local bodies, restaurants, institutions, and gated communities. Such installations can also receive a subsidy on capital costs from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy,” Prof Ganesh added.