Sexagenarian A.V. Mohan Rao was instrumental in establishing a bio-gas company at Kodoli near Kolhapur of Maharashtra in partnership with Warana Sugarcane Cooperative, one of Maharashtra’s largest cooperatives by Spectrum Renewal Energy Limited (SREL). He is founder and CEO of SREL.
Equipped with a Ph.D in mechanical engineering, he established the unit in 2010 and completed it in 2012 November with an investment of about Rs. 30 crore, the unit handles 100 tonnes of press-mud, a by-product in sugar mills and an ideal medium for vermicomposting. It produces 7,000 kg of compressed bio-gas with high methane content and 30 tonnes of organic manure on a daily basis. CBG packed in 400, 600 and 1,000- litre capacity cylinders with 250 bar pressure (a measurement for pressure to compress – LPG cylinders carry 6 bar pressure) is being supplied to meet industrial needs there by reducing the dependency on general power production. “We can produce compressed bio-gas which is equal to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG)- grade fuel. By using press-mud we will produce compressed bio-gas (CBG) and organic manure / soil conditioner. Though it is a bio-gas initiative, SREL holds the key to energy security and has the capacity to reduce the demand for electric power and consumption of chemical fertilizer. About 600 farmers in Warna area are using the organic manure being supplied by us for a nominal cost,” Dr. Mohan Rao told The Hindu , who was at International Crops Research Institute for Semi Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) recently.
Mr. Rao says that with three sugar mills located in Medak district, it has a vast potential to produce CBG as well as organic manure. He also said that he can make about 100 farmers beneficial on pilot basis by encouraging them to buy back sweet sorghum, which also carries similar prospects of producing CBG and bio-manure.
Mr. Rao also stated that this can be used for domestic cooking purpose as well. “We are ready to make use of this in place of LPG,” he said.
