PM Modi lays foundation stone for two new Bio-CNG plants of Banas Dairy

Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for two new Bio-CNG plants of Banas Dairy at Radhanpur and Tharad in Banaskantha district on October 30. The implementation of these new projects will significantly increase the fuel production capacity of Banas Dairy. According to a BBC Gujarati report, the proposed plant at Radhanpur will have the capacity to produce 1,350 kg of Bio-CNG daily, while the daily production capacity of the plant at Tharad will be 1,800 kg.

Both these new plants are expected to become operational within the next one year. Once these two units start, the total daily Bio-CNG production capacity of Banas Dairy will increase to 9,300 kg, i.e., 9.30 tonnes. Fuel will be prepared in these plants using cow and buffalo dung, which can be used to run heavy vehicles such as cars and trucks. Through this initiative, Banas Dairy is achieving economic profit while protecting the environment.

This is not a new experiment for Banas Dairy. Since February 2020, the dairy has been producing Bio-CNG from cow and buffalo dung. This fuel is sold to drivers of cars, pickup trucks, and other heavy vehicles, through which the dairy is gaining good economic benefit. The Government of India aims to reduce the use of traditional fossil fuels such as petrol, diesel, natural gas, and coal, currently used for transport and power generation, by obtaining more energy from renewable sources.

According to a World Bank report, India has the highest amount of arable land in the world, while according to a press release from the Government of India, India also has the highest livestock population in the world. For these reasons, India has immense potential for producing biogas and CNG from it, although experts believe there are some challenges on this path.

Biogas, also known as gobar gas, is produced by the fermentation of cow-buffalo dung and crop residues. During this process, gases such as methane, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen sulphide are released. In biogas plants, tanks called 'anaerobic digesters' are constructed, where this process occurs rapidly in the absence of oxygen, producing flammable methane gas.

In ordinary biogas, the methane content is only about 55 to 60 percent, resulting in low energy and insufficient power for vehicle engines. In comparison, Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) made from imported natural gas has a methane content of over 90 percent. To make biogas more energy-efficient, carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulphide, moisture, and other impurities are removed from it, so that the methane content becomes 90 percent or more and it becomes as powerful as natural gas.

In terms of storage, petrol and diesel are easy as they are liquids, but to liquefy methane, a temperature of minus 162 degrees is required, which necessitates complex cryogenic technology. This technology is primarily used in rockets; therefore, methane is filled in cylinders at high pressure for vehicles. One bar equals approximately seven and a half kilograms of pressure per square inch. PNG used in home kitchens has a pressure of 0.021 bar and LPG cylinders have approximately 20 bar pressure, while in India, natural gas is generally compressed at a pressure of 200 to 250 bar and filled in vehicles as CNG.