Asia's largest Compressed Bio Gas plant inaugurated in Sangrur by Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri

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The Union Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas and Housing & Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri inaugurated Asia's largest Compressed Bio Gas (CBG) plant in Lehragaga, Sangrur, and Punjab on 18 October 2022. 

The plant has been set up by German company Verbio AG at an investment of Rs 220 crore. Initially the plant will have the production of 6 tonnes per day of CBG which is likely to be increased to 33 tonnes per day of CBG.

Benefit of the Compressed BioGas (CBG) plant

The plant will procure 1 lakh tonnes of paddy straw from farmers thereby providing them an additional source of income. 

The paddy stubble which is burnt by the farmers in the field will now be used in the plant thereby reducing pollution in the surrounding areas.

This Plant will reduce stubble burning of 40,000 – 45,000 acres of fields, translating into an annual reduction of 150,000 tons of CO2 emissions, 

The plant will produce about 600-650 Tons of Fermented Organic Manure per day, which can be used for organic farming. 

What is a compressed biogas plant?

Waste/Bio-mass sources like agricultural residue, cattle dung, sugarcane press mud, municipal solid waste, sewage treatment plant waste, etc. produce Bio-Gas through the process of anaerobic decomposition.

The Bio-Gas is purified to remove hydrogen sulphide (H2S), carbon dioxide (CO2), water vapour and compressed as Compressed Bio-Gas (CBG), which has methane (CH4) content of more than 90%. 

CBG has calorific value and other properties similar to CNG and hence can be utilized as green renewable automotive fuel. 

Thus it can replace CNG in automotive, industrial and commercial areas, given the abundance of biomass availability within the country.