In about a month or two, the residents of Kamarajar Nagar at Edayarpalayam may not have to buy firewood or kerosene to fuel the stove. They can take their vessels and cereals, spices and other stuff to the community kitchen, which the Coimbatore Corporation is constructing at present.
According to sources, the civic body is constructing a kitchen with 16 stoves that will be fuelled with gas from the nearby biogas plant.
The biogas plant uses human waste from the nearby public convenience facility.
There are around 73 families that stand to benefit.
At present, the biogas plant, constructed by the Nirmal Biogen Technology, is on the verge of completion. The Corporation has to link the public convenience facility’s septic tank with the biogas plant’s inlet tank. The Corporation likewise is also on the verge of constructing the kitchen.
The sources say that the biomethanation process, wherein the microbes feed on the waste to generate methane, will take at least 30-40 days and thereafter the residents will be able to use the gas for cooking.
And, after seven-eight months, the residents will get gas 24 hours a day for seven days a week.
The biogas plant has three chambers – an inlet tank, a digester tank and an outlet tank.
The human waste that falls into the inlet goes on to the digester tank where it will remain for a minimum of 40 days before it starts generating gas, which gets tapped through the outlet tank.
The sources say that the objective was to provide an alternative fuel source for the residents, prevent environment pollution by stopping the use of fire woods and making better use of the human waste, and explore the possibility of establishing such kitchens across the city.
For the Kamarajar Nagar project, the Corporation has spent Rs. 20 lakh from its General Fund.
The Corporation has constructed a biogas plant in Saravanampatty to fuel the Amma Unavagam there and plans to construct another one at the Chokkampudur gassifier crematorium.
