Minister of P&NG, Minister of Steel inaugurates IndianOil’s Biomethanation Plant At Faridabad

Faridabad, September 16, 2019: Pushpendra Singh Rajput Haryana Ab Tak: Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas & Minister of Steel, Government of India inaugurated IndianOil’s 5MTPD Biomethanation plant in the presence of Shri. Vipul Goel, Minister of Industries, Commerce, Environment and Industrial Training, Haryana Government, Mr. Sanjiv Singh, Chairman, IndianOil, Dr. SSV Ramakumar, Director (R&D), at Faridabad on September 15, 2019. Dr. G Anupama, Divisional Commissioner, Ms. Suman Bala, Mayor, Mr. Devender Chaudhary, Sr. Dy. Mayor, Mr.Manmohan Garg, Sr. Deputy Mayor, representatives of ISCKON and  other senior officials of IndianOil R&D were also present on the occasion. Shri Pradhan jointly with other dignitaries flagged off the first vehicle loaded with compressed Biogas, produced by the Biomethanation plant, for free supply to ISCKON for cooking mid-day meals for schools in Faridabad.

The minister interacted with the media and shared about the Biomethanation technology. “This technology is in line with the dream of honourable Prime Minister to make ‘waste to wealth’. Appreciating the R&D developed design and microbial technology, he observed that this will give a fillip for the speedy implementation of SATAT scheme and also help gain IndianOil a leading business edge in this domain.

Highly impressed by a Solar cooking system (Solar Chulha) co -developed at IndianOil R&D Centre, of which the pilot study has already begun recently at Leh, the minister advised to make it more attractive and cost effective, to provide energy justice to all.

IndianOil’s Two stage Biomethanation Technology for conversion of organic waste to energy

Biomethanation is an environment friendly process for conversion of organic waste such as food & vegetable waste, organic fraction of municipal solid waste and crop residue to energy. IndianOil R&D Centre has developed an efficient and economical two stage anaerobic digestion process for the conversion of various types of organic wastes to valuable biogas energy. Biogas mainly consists of methane, carbon dioxide and small amount of other impurities which can be purified thru established technologies for its application as cooking biogas, Compressed Biogas (CBG) for transport applications and power generation. Bio-methanation plant also gives a byproduct called organic manure which is used as soil conditioner.  Biomethanation plants benefit the environment by reduction of GHG, pathogen control and odor reduction besides creating additional avenues for employment generation and revenue for farmers.

·         USP of IndianOil’s - Biomethanation  Technology : Higher methane content(>80%) in the biogas against 50-60 % yielded by conventional processes : Leading to better heating value and combustion efficiency

·         Low  HRT (Hydraulic retention time) of 7-10 days against 21-50 days in conventional process  : Low Capex due low capacity reactors

·         High yield of Biogas due to in situ conversion of CO2 to Methane

·         Enviro-tolerant innoculum (upto 55 Deg C)

IndianOil’s R&D Centre has set up a 5 MTPD demonstration plant at Faridabad            (adjoining to the existing R&D centre) based upon in-house technology for conversion of organic waste /kitchen waste to compressed biogas (CBG). The plant has been set up by IndianOil under its CSR initiatives wherein 250 kg/day, CBG can be produced from organic waste for free-of-cost supply to Iskcon for cooking mid day meal of government school children, Faridabad. IndianOil has joined hands with the Municipal Corporation of Faridabad to supply properly segregated kitchen waste to the plant in required quantity. IndianOil’s initiatives are in line with the Swachch Baharat mission of the Government of India and the biogas production plant design is state-of-the-art and patented for its very high quality and quantity of biogas. The plant has been commissioned successfully.