First cascade of compressed biogas made from waste expected by Friday

Nagpur: The first cascade of compressed biogas (CBG) made out of garbage that goes to the Bhandewadi dumping yard is expected to be lifted by this Friday by Haryana City Gas, the company which distributes CBG in Nagpur. The first phase of processing 400 tonnes per day (TPD) of garbage is ready for gas production. "The capacity will be scaled up to 1,200 TPD by August," said Vrinda Thakur, the executive director of KEVA Green, which is funding the the Rs300 crore project. "When operations reach full-scale, almost entire garbage that the city generates each day would be consumed in the processing units," she said.The company is part of Kedar Vaze (KEVA) Group that is originally into making perfumes. Explaining the details, Thakur said the Netherland-based entity Sustainable Business Development (SuSBDe) originally responded as Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) invited bids for the project in 2023. Later, the funding came from KEVA Green. The bidders were supposed to quote the tipping charges, which is a fee for waste management they would take from NMC. "SuSBDe bagged the deal by quoting nil charges," said Thakur."We are eyeing returns through production of gas, bio-fertiliser and refuse-derived fuel (RDF) that goes into the cement industry. It would begin with gas," said Thakur adding, "The garbage would be processed in 30 tunnels, of which 20 are ready, producing gas and even bio-fertiliser."As gas is expected to be one of the main sources of revenue, starting CBG filling stations is also one of the options, as the producers can also start vending outlets, said Thakur.Thakur clarified that only the fresh wet garbage would be processed and not the legacy waste that has been lying at Bhandewadi, for which another entity has been appointed. "The wet waste would be used for making gas and biofertiliser, and the rest shall go into making RDF, she said. Thakur said she started working for better waste management after the fire in Mumbai's landfill in 2016. Living in Amsterdam, she has been exploring the technology for processing waste and finally could start a project in Nagpur. "A similar agreement has been reached with the civic body in Kanpur too," she said.