Rush for 50-tonne biogas plant in Punjab’s Bathinda

The Bathinda municipal corporation is gearing up to establish a compressed biogas (CBG) plant capable of processing 50 tonnes of biodegradable waste daily. The objective of the new biogas project in Bhatinda is to enhance waste management practices in the area.

With assistance from the central government, the municipal corporation aims to have the biogas plant operational within a year.

The biogas project initiative has been proposed by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. The project will be implemented through a public-private partnership (PPP) model and would be able to generate 50 tonnes of biogas on everyday basis. Municipal Commissioner Rahul emphasized that the primary objective is to recycle the city’s waste.

 The Bhatinda biogas would fall under the Centre’s Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT) Scheme, enabling entrepreneurs to market CBG. The municipal corporation’s involvement will primarily be in providing five acres of land and supplying municipal waste. Technical support for project execution will be provided by Engineers India Limited.

The chosen site for the biogas plant construction is Mansa Road. This area was previously used for waste management and is currently undergoing legacy waste removal.

As per the reports, the new plant will handle 50 tonnes of wet waste daily for the next 25 years, complemented by the existing waste management plant’s upgraded capacity to process 60 tonnes of dry waste.

Various entrepreneurs, including public sector oil companies with bottling units in Bathinda, have expressed interest in establishing CBG facilities, indicating a promising future for waste management in the region.

Central PSU GAIL has announced that it will be establishing 10 CBG plants in the state of Punjab. Recently, Punjab minister Aman Arora said that 7 CBG projects will be operationalised in the state this year only and would collectively produce 79 TPD of compressed biogas utilizing more than 2.72 lakh tons of paddy straw annually.