New Bio-CNG plant opens in India
The Mahindra Group announced the inauguration of its new Bio-CNG plant in Mahindra World City (MWC), Chennai. A joint CSR initiative between Mahindra Research Valley (MRV) and Mahindra World City Developers Limited (MWCDL), the plant is spread over an area of 1,000 square meters and will convert 8 tons of food and kitchen waste generated daily at MWC, into 1000m3 of raw biogas. This biogas can be effectively used to replace CNG as vehicle fuel and LPG for cooking purposes. Overall it will create a carbon neutral ecosystem, wherein even the waste will be utilized for the benefit of the farmers.
Shri.Piyush Goyal, Honourable Minister of State (Independent Charge) – Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy, Government of India, said: “I am delighted to be here at this important event of the inauguration of Mahindra’s Bio-CNG plant. A clean and green environment is clearly the order of the day and it is necessary for businesses as well to contribute in a significant manner towards the same. I do hope that this inauguration will lead the way towards many such similar initiatives”.
Anita Arjundas, Managing Director at Mahindra Lifespaces, also added: “The establishment of the Bio-CNG plant in collaboration with MRV represents a significant milestone in our journey towards creating low carbon footprint world cities that harness the opportunity to convert waste-to-wealth and improve the quality of life of all our stakeholders including the local communities.”
The plant will work on an aerobic digestion of biomass to produce biogas which can be further enriched to make it a CNG equivalent. Subsequently, the purified gas will be compressed to 200 bars and stored in cylinders to power vehicles. The manure that will come out from the plant will be utilized as fertilizer or composted with organic material for producing compost fertilizer. In MWC the biogas will be used for generating power and fueling CNG buses and tractors. Further, the power generated will be used for street lighting, buses for free shuttle service and tractor for cultivation.