Biogas is one of the most productive ways of disposing organic waste at the source of generation. Organic waste such as food waste, garden waste and STP sludge is sent to the Biogas plants as an input. Biogas generated is used for cooking in canteens and kitchens, thus reducing the need to purchase LPG cylinders .The manure produced after generation of Biogas can be used as a soil conditioner.

Electronic city has Biogas plants located at the larger member company- campuses of the city. These Biogas plants in total are diverting about 5 tons of organic material from landfills and making productive use of waste. Here is a quick read on their Biogas plants.

Velankanni Biogas plant :

Velankani Tech Park has a Biogas plant with a capacity of 2000 kg/day. The Biogas generated is used for cooking (thermal use) meals at the staff canteen of the Crowne Plaza Hotel, located on the Tech Park campus. The amount of food waste generated in VTP alone does not cross 1000kg/day. Therefore organic waste from the ELCITA SWM facility and a certain quantity from Infosys is delivered to Velankani’s BioGas plant.

The purpose of having a larger capacity Biogas plant by Velankanni is to help the township achieve its goal of “zero” waste to landfill while contributing towards ensuring a cleaner environment through saving at least 78 tonnes of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere per year.
The Bio Gas Plant functions 365 days a year and generates about 45 cubic meters of bio gas per day. Government students also visit the Biogas plant to take back, hands on experience of how food waste can actually be converted into a resource.

TCS Biogas Plant

TCS Think Campus in Bangalore is a 10 acre fully independent Green campus. . The campus is operational round the clock and the facility houses three cafeterias to service the employees on a 24/7 basis which generates approximately 400 kgs of Kitchen waste per day . TCS Think Campus took up the project of installing a Bio Digester with a capacity of 500kg/Day to dispose of the Kitchen waste generated, in an environmentally sustainable manner .
A Bio digester was installed in 2014 and has been in successful operation till now. From May 2014 onward, 43000 kgs of wet waste has been fed to the bio digester and 5280 Cu Mtrs of Biogas (2200 kg Equivalent LPG) has been generated.
To effectively utilize the gas, it was decided to start a small beverage outlet close to the Bio Digester, where this gas would be used for preparing beverages and snacks, which is sold to the associates and contractors on a subsidized cost.

Wipro Biogas Plant

A scientific method of disposal of food waste, generated out of the cafeterias is processed through Bio Methanation plant located at the Wipro campus. It also takes as input the STP sludge at the campus.
The plant is designed to process 3 tons of organic waste / day (1.5 tons – food waste + 1.2 m3 – STP sludge + 0.3 tons – buffer. Power consumed is 40-45 units / day .The plant yields 160 -180 cubic meters / day (at full load) of Biogas I.e. equivalent to 4-6 commercial LPG cylinders.

Manure produced is of high quality, weed less & odorless. It can be used as soil conditioner.

Overall the bio digester is Clean, efficient, trouble free, simple and safe operation.

Kudos to the companies who have implemented Biogas plants at their campuses. Biodigesters come in all sizes , more companies can generate Biogas within their premises based on their requirement and quantity of waste that they generate.

A couple of Biogas vendors to help companies to start with :