After tasting success with two biogas plants, the Coimbatore Corporation has now planned three more.
The Corporation built the first two plants at Saravanampatti, near the Amma Unavagam, and at Edayarpalayam, near TVS Nagar. Now proposals are on to build two biogas plants at R.S. Puram and one at Nanjundapuram.
Sources say that the plan in Nanjundapuram is to build a biogas plant at Rs. 48 lakh to fire the gasifier crematorium there.
At present, the Corporation uses two liquefied petroleum gas cylinders at commercial price, incurring close to Rs. 3,200 a day. Using 60 cylinders or so a month, the Corporation cremates 100 – 110 bodies.
The sources say that the Corporation will get to replace the 60 cylinders in a month, if it were to fire the crematorium using the gas obtained from the biogas plants, which will require 10 tonnes of waste a day to generate gas.
The Corporation says that the 20 wards in the East Zone on an average generate 21 tonnes waste a day, of which only 50 per cent is required for the biogas plant. It gets the waste from the farmers’ market, shops and vendors selling vegetables, restaurants, and other organic waste generators.
The sources say that the Corporation also gets to save more – by not transporting the waste to the dump yard to process the waste there. This savings has been estimated at a little more than Rs. 40 lakh a year
In R.S. Puram, the plan is to build two biogas plants at Rs. 1.21 crore to be used at R.S. Puram Boys’ Higher Secondary School’s kitchen to cook noon-meal, a community kitchen and for 100-plus homes.
The two plants will require 20 tonnes of organic waste a day.
The sources say that the Corporation has obtained the State Government’s permission for constructing the three biogas plants and will soon float tenders to kick-start the process of construction. It has also applied to the Central Government for funds.
Corporation Commissioner G. Latha says the plan to build the biogas plants is in keeping with the civic body’s aims of making effective use of organic waste and relying more on renewable, green energy sources.
