Encouraged by the successful functioning of its bio-methanation plants in the city, the Corporation is planning to persuade big establishments producing bio-degradable solid waste in large volume to go for bio-digesters on their premises.
The plants would produce bio-gas from solid waste. The move, the Corporation hopes, would not only help promote use of the non-conventional energy source but also help manage and process the solid waste generated at the micro level.
In an attempt to create awareness by explaining the advantages of installing bio-digesters, the civic body has convened a meeting with owners of hotels, marriage halls, hostels, fruit, vegetables and meat shops, big apartment complexes, residential welfare association and representatives of the CREDAI later this week. It has roped in P.Shanmugam, Principal Scientist, Central Leather Research Institute, who is an expert in the technology, to explain the salient features, said Special Officer and Corporation Commissioner N.Ravichandran.
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Mr. Ravichandran said the civic body has three bio-methanation plants in the city. The one at Ambedkar Nagar processes vegetable waste from the Gandhi Market and the energy generated is used for street lighting. A community kitchen is being fuelled by methane that is generated from the faecal waste of a nearby toilet complex. Another unit is functioning at the Amma Canteen at Amma Mandapam Road, he said and added that two more plants are coming up at the Woraiyur market and the Karumandapam gasifier crematorium.
The bio-digesters do not require major investment or space. They can be installed at an investment as low as ₹25,000 in an apartment complex, he told The Hindu .
As a follow-up to the meeting to be held on Thursday, the Corporation would provide support to get technical assistance to those interested in setting up the plants. He said that bio-methanisation technology is widely used in some Western countries and offered much potential here too. The civic body had asked major establishments generating solid waste in the city to go in for micro compost units. The establishment of bio-digesters could be a cost effective and attractive option to the establishments, civic officials observed. The city generates, on an average, about 450 tonnes of solid wastes and 60% of this is estimated to be bio-degradable solid waste which would be utilised for producing energy through bio-digesters.
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