Lucknow: The city is a step closer to getting the compressed biogas plant which will convert cow dung into energy, fuel and fertilisers.
A 150-tonne capacity plant will be set up at Kanha Upvan – cattle shelter home. For this purpose, an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed among Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC), Bharat Biogas Energy Ltd and JBM Renewable Pvt Ltd at Raj Bhawan on Tuesday.
As per the agreement, the civic body will give 7.5 acre land on to the private companies to set up a fully automated plant with production capacity of 15,000 cubic metres of biogas every year. As a by-product, 20,000- 30,000 tonnes of organic fertilizers and 1-1.5 lakh litre of liquid fertiliser will also be produced here annually. Kanha Upvan has about 10,000 cattle whose dung will be used for production of biogas and fertilisers.
The process to set up the plant has started with the MoU and the deal will be finalised after getting a green signal from the state government. The initiative will reduce dependence on petrols and diesel and protect the environment, besides helping in increasing production of crops. LMC will use the products itself and also sell in the market for revenue. The income will be shared with the private partners, said city mayor Sanyukta Bhatia, who was present on the occasion.
The idea of such a plant was first mooted by the LMC in 2014. However, it got wings after the governor, Anandiben Patel, motivated the civic body to go for it following a presentation on biogas made by the Bharat Biogas Energy Limited in Raj Bhawan recently. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath was also present during that presentation. Acting on the advice LMC prepared a report. TOI was the first to highlight the report in its report published on February 9.
Experts say cow dung is a major source of biogas, which is an environment-friendly biofuel that is naturally produced from the decomposition of organic waste. The digester in a biogas plant converts chemical compounds in dung into biogas which can be used as a source of energy like heat, electricity and fuel.
