High-rise apartments in Kochi to set up biogas plants

According to reports, now it’s the turn of apartment complexes in the city to set up bio-gas plants. In apartments, bio-gas plants are being set up primarily for treating waste from kitchen.

Though there are different mechanisms for treating waste in apartments, many of them have been finding it difficult to address the issue completely. While some of the apartments treat bio-degradable waste using bio-pots and bio-bins, the corporation collects from others.

According to firms which provide service and technology for setting up bio-gas plants, apartments in the city have been increasingly approaching them to set up plants. The cost of the plants varies between Rs. 3 lakh and Rs.10 lakh, depending on their capacity. “We set up a bio-gas plant in our apartment a year ago after the corporation failed to collect waste regularly. Now we are able to process bio-waste generated in 24 flats in the apartment complex,” said Panampilly Nagar Infra Hamlin Owners’ Association treasurer Bino Charley. However, she said as bio-gas produced was not sufficient enough for apartment dwellers it was used by security staff of the apartment for cooking.

Johny Joseph, a scientist with the Hyderabad-based Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT),feels that bio-gas plants are best suited for treating degradable waste in apartments.

New technique to convert biomass into crude oil substitute

According to reports, a revolutionary new technique converts all kinds of biomass into high grade crude bio-oil, which has a potential to replace fossil fuel, by the virtue of being similar to natural crude. Developed by two Danish researchers, hydro-thermal liquefaction (HTL) accepts sewage sludge, manure, wood, compost and plant material, and wastes from household, meat factories and dairy production for oil conversion.

It can help existing refinery technology, with a simple thermal upgrade, to subsequently obtain all the liquid fuels we know today, developed by the partnership of Aarhus and Aalborg universities in Denmark.

Besides HTL consumes only 10-15% of the energy in the feed stock biomass, yielding an energy efficiency Aarhus and Aalborg statement.It is by far the most feed stock flexible of any liquid fuel producing process in existence.

The water emanating from the HTL process has low carbon contents and can either be recycled into the process or ultimately be purified to attain drinking water quality, which is the long-term goal. As such, HTL replaces the burden of disposal with the benefit of recycling.The bio-oil from HTL can be used as-produced in heavy engines or it can be hydrogenated or thermally upgraded to obtain diesel-, gasoline- or jet-fuels by existing refinery technology.