Module 4

Module 4

BIOMASS ENERGY- Introduction- Biomass fuels-

Biomass conversion technologies –Urban waste to
Energy Conversion-
Biomass Gasification-
Biomass to Ethanol Production-
Biogas production from waste biomass- factors
affecting biogas generation-types of biogas plants
–KVIC and Janata model-Biomass program in India
 INTRODUCTION

• Plants grow through photosynthesis process which takes

place primarily in their green leaves.
• Biomass is mainly in the form of wood and it is the source
of energy.
• Biomass is used both in domestic and in industrial activities
by way of direct combustion. Hence, we use solar energy in
the form of biomass for cooking and heating purpose.
• The dominant use of biomass or fuel wood in the world is
made for cooking and heating primarily in rural areas.
Biomass accounts for about l5% of the energy used in
the world.
•
 PHOTO SYNTHESIS

• Photosynthesis is the process by which plants use their

chlorophyll in green leaves to convert solar energy into
carbohydrates in the presence of carbon dioxide from
the atmosphere and water. The carbohydrates are used
by plants for their growth.
• The plants absorb red and blue light but they do not
absorb green light
• . This is the reason why leaves of plant or chlorophyll
look green. The overall chemical reaction involved in
photosynthesis is as follows:
• 6CO2 + 6H2O + light energy = C6Hl2O6 + 6O2
 Biomass production efficiency

• It is the efficiency of converting incident solar energy into

the chemical energy, that is, carbohydrates in plants.
• Plants use visible light with wavelengths between 0.4 and
0.7 mm, which is called photosynthetically active radiation
(PAR).
• To understand biomass production efficiency, consider that
(i) intercepted PAR is 50% of the total radiation, (ii) 80% of
intercepted PAR is used by photosynthetically active
compounds and rest is lost, (iii) 28% of used energy is
converted into carbohydrates and (iv) 40% carbohydrates
energy is used in respiration. Then biomass production
efficiency is given by:
• ç = l00 × 0.50 × 0.86 × 0.28 × 0.60= 6.7%
 Condition for photosynthesis

The photosynthesis depends on the following

factors:
• Temperature should be between 20 and 50°C to
have photosynthesis at the maximum rate.
• Concentration of carbon dioxide in atmosphere
as it increases the photosynthesis.
• Water as its use efficiency increases with
photosynthesis
• Intensity and proper wave distribution of solar
radiation as PAR increases the photosynthesis.

photosynthetically active radiation

 BIOMAss &Biofuels

• Biomass is organic or carbon-based material that

can either react with oxygen for combustion or
undergo metabolic process to release heat.
• Biomass can be used as such in its original form.
More often, it is transformed to more convenient
and useful form, thereby forming solid, liquid and
gaseous fuels
• The biofuels can be fuelwood, charcoal, fuel
pellets, bioethanol, biogas, producer gas and
biodiesel.
•
different
Fuel wood
forms of biomass
• It is the most common source of biomass energy. Direct combustion
is the simplest way to obtain heat energy. It has energy density
of about l6–20 MJ/kg.
• Charcoal
• It is obtained by carbonization of woody biomass. This helps in
providing higher energy density per unit mass of about S0 MJ/kg.
Charcoal can burn without generating smoke.
• Fuel pellets
• Fuel pellets are formed from crop residues such as straw or rice
husk which are pressed into solid mass.
• Bioethanol
• It is derived from wet biomass containing sugars from sugarcane,
starches from grains andpotatoes or cellulose from woody matters
• . Ethanol (C2H5OH) is a colourless liquid biofuel with boiling point
of 78°C and energy density of 26.9 MJ/kg.
•
• Biogas
• Biogas is the gaseous fuel obtained from biomass (organic waste
from plants, animals and humans) by means of anaerobic digestion
or fermentation. The anaerobic digestion process can be profitably
applied to any wet organic matters. Anaerobes are microorganisms
or bacteria found to live and grow in organic matter at the
temperature of less than 60° in presence of moisture but in the
absence of air or oxygen. The anaerobic organism consumes oxygen
which it obtains from decomposition of organic matters.
Decomposition of the organic matters by anaerobic microorganism
is called digestion or fermentation. The biogas is liberated from the
organic matters during digestion or fermentation. The biogas
produced by digestion contains (i) methane gas (CH4) 65–75%, (ii)
carbon dioxide gas (CO2) 25–S5% and (iii) small traces of nitrogen
• , ammonia, hydrogen sulphide and other gases. The biogas has
energydensity of about 2S MJ/mS
• . It can be used for cooking, lighting, heating and operating small IC
engines.
• Producer gas
• It is obtained by gasification of solid fuels. In this,
woody matter (crop residue, wood chips, rice
husk, coconut shell and sugarcane residue) is
converted into producer gas by thermochemical
method which is infact the partial combustion
and reduction operation of biomass.
• The producer gas has l9% carbon monoxide,
l8% hydrogen, l% methane, ll% carbon dioxide
and the rest remaining nitrogen.
• The producer gas is used for IC engines for
running pumps, motor vehicles, heating and
generation of steam in a small-scale power plant.
• Biodiesel
• It is produced by blending of vegetable oils,
with normal diesel to obtain cheaper version
of diesel engine fuel. Besides vegetable oils,
certain hydrocarbons having molecular weight
equal to that of petroleum and that are
obtainable as by-products from certain plants
can also be used for blending purpose
 Biomass Resources
• Forests
• Forests (natural or cultivated) are source of fuel wood, charcoal and
producer gas. Forest waste and residues from forest processing plants can
be used as biomass. Certain plants produce seeds to yield vegetable oils
which can also be used in biofuels.
• Agriculture residues
• Straw, rice husk, groundnut shell, coconut shell and sugarcane bagasse are
crop residues which are the main biomass resources. The crop residues
are generally gasified to obtain producer gas. The crop residues are also
converted into fuel pellets to be used as solid fuels.
• Energy crops
• Energy crops are those cultivations which provide raw materials for
biofuels. These include
• (i) sugar plants to provide bioethanol, (ii) starch plants (tubular plants and
grains) to produce bioethanol and (iii) oil producing plants (sunflower,
palm oil, groundnut and cottonseeds) to produce biodiesel.
• Urban waste
• Urban waste can be garbage or municipal solid
waste (MSW) and sewage or liquid waste.
Garbage can be burnt to obtain biomass energy
while sewage has to be processed to obtain
biogass.
• Aquatic plants
• Certain aquatic or water plants are capable of
growing extremely fast and supply organic raw
materials for producing biogas. The fast growing
water plants include water hyacinth, seaweed,
algae and kelp.
 What are advantages and
disadvantages of biomass energy?
•

• Advantages
– It is a renewable source.
– It can be stored and used as per the requirement.
– It helps in waste management.
– It is an indigenous source of energy.
– It helps in economic development of rural areas.
– It helps in improving sanitation in rural areas and towns.
– It helps in providing fertilisers.
– It provides economical use of various types of wastes and residues.
• Disadvantages
• It has low energy density.
• It is a labour intensive energy source.
• Its production requires large land area.
 BIOMASS CONVERSION TECHNOLOGIES

• There are basic technologies or procedures to convert the

biomass into (i) direct energy ormore valuable or
convenient products.
• These technologies or procedures are incineration,
thermochemical and biochemical.
• lncineration
• It is the burning or combustion of the biomass to obtain
useful heat. The heat can be used for space heating and
cooking or it can be used to generate steam in boiler to run
turbine withelectric generater, thereby producing
electricity. Furnaces and boilers have been designed to
burn various types of biomass such as wood waste wood,
agricultural waste products, food industry waste, urban
waste and forest industry waste
•
• Thermochemical
• The biomass can be converted into more valuable and convenient
fuels by the use of the thermochemical process called pyrolysis.
Pyrolysis can process all forms of biomass (organic materials),
including rubber and plastic which cannot be converted by any
other methods. The pyrolysis process is carried out by heating the
biomass in absence of air (or oxygen) or by partial combustion of
some portion of the biomass in restricted presence of air (or
oxygen).
• Three types of biofuels are obtained by pyrolysis depending upon
feedstock, temperature and pressure:
– A gaseous mixture of gases such as H , CO, CO , CH and N
2 2 4 2

– A liquid in the form of oil such as acetic acid, acetone, methanol, oil
and tar
– A pure carbon char
• If pyrolysis is carried out at higher temperature (above l000°C),
maximum amount of gaseous product is formed. This high
temperature pyrolysis is called gasification. This process is generally
used to produce charcoal and it is also called carbonization.
• Liquid product from biomass is obtained by catalytic liquefaction
process at low temperature (250–450°C) and high pressure (270
atm).
 Biomass to Ethanol Production-
• Biochemical
• The conversion of biomass is carried out using
metabolic action of microorganism or bacteria.
The process produces liquid and gaseous fuel.
The major biochemical processes for the
conversion of biomass are as follows:
• Anaerobic digestion or fermentation. The
biomass in the presence of water is converted
into biogas by the action of anaerobic bacteria.
The methane and carbon dioxide are the two
main components of biogas
• The biomass used includes animal manure, algae,
kelp, hyacinth, urbane waste (garbage+ sewage)
and industrial waste.
• Ethanol fermentation. It is formed due to the
alcoholic fermentation of simple hexose sugars
(six carbon atoms per molecule such as C6Hl2O6)
in aqueous solution by the action of a enzyme
present in yeast (act as catalyst) in the acidic
conditions (pH valuebetween 4 and 5).
• The chemical reaction can be given as:
 1.Urban waste to Energy Conversion-

• Municipal solid waste (MSW) is disposed off by

the controlled method of sanitary landfilling.
Biodegradable urban wastes are segregated and
compacted so that these waste can be used to
generate biogas.
• The ground selected for landfilling has to be
prepared in such a way that groundwater is not
contaminated due to any leaching of garbage.
The landfilling site should be first lined with layers
of plastic liner and clay to stop any leaching of
garbage to the underground water at the site.
• When a landfill is completed, a plastic liner is placed
at the top, covering the landfilling before closing it
with soil. The optimum moisture content of the
garbage is about 60%, which should be ensured
before covering the garbage. Less or more moisture
content hinders the biogas production.
• The landfills use a system of water and oxygen
circulation to speed up decomposition of waste and
produce biogas (mainly methane) much faster than
that by natural process. The biodegradable part of
garbage (about 70% of MSW) is slowly digested by
the anaerobic bacteria to produce biogas. The
temperature rises to 60°C during digestion of
biomass. The gas collection system consists of
cylindrical pipes of diameter 80–l20 mm having
holes on their periphery. These perforated GI or
plastic pipes are laid as shown in Figure 5.9
2.Power Generation from Liquid Waste
• Sewage treatment is a facility designed to receive the waste from
domestic, commercial and industrial sources. It is also meant to remove
materials that damage water quality and compromise public health and
safety when discharged into water receiving systems, such as rivers and
streams.
• Conventional wastewater treatment consists of a combination of physical,
chemical and biological processes and operations to remove solid, organic
matter and nutrients from wastewater.
• The treatment is carried out in two stages. Primary treatment is the
removal of organic and inorganic solids by sedimentation and the removal
of scum (floating materials) by skimming. The secondary treatment is
performed to remove the residual organics and suspended solids. The
aerobic biological treatment is applied at this stage to remove
biodegradable, dissolved and colloidal organic matters, which is
performed in the presence of oxygen. Aerobic bacteria are grown to
metabolize the organic matter in the water waste and produce more
microorganisms (bacteria) and inorganic end gaseous products such as
CO2 and NHS. The rate of aerobicdigestion depends upon aeration or
supply of air to the waste which is generally carried inthe controlled
conditions. Trickling filters, oxidation ditches, rotating biological contractor
(RBC) and activated sludge processes are used to control the rate at which
bacteria metabolize the organic matter.
 Biomass Gasification-

• Biomass gasification is used to convert solid biomass such as wood

and its waste or agriculture waste into a combustible gas mixture of
carbon monoxide and hydrogen. This combustible gas mixture is
called producer gas. The gas is produced by partial combuston of
biomass in the absence of sufficient air. It has a great potential for
the gasification process as it can simultaneously produce charcoal
which is a biofuel and producer gas which can be used as fuel for
power generation, irrigation pumping and village electrification. It
has been reported that producer gas can be used to replace up to
75% diesel in a diesel engine.
• The gasifiers can be classified into (i) fixed bed updraft gasifier, (ii)
fixed bed down draft gasifier, (iii) cross draft gasifier and (iv)
fluidized bed gasifier, depending on the direction of airflow. A
typical fixed bed updraft gasification is shown in Figure 5.8.
•
 Biogas
• Biogas is the gaseous fuel which is
obtained from biomass by means of anaerobic
fermentation. The raw materials for biogas
include waste from agriculture, waste from
forest, rural animal waste, urban waste (left
over food and other rubbish) and aqua waste
(fishery, algae and hyacinth
Biogas production from waste biomass
• Biogas is produced from biomass slurry having 90–95%
water content by the bacterial action of microorganism
called anaerobe. The carbon part of biomass is oxidized
and the remaining is reduced to produce mainly
methane gas (65–75%) and carbon dioxide (25–
S5%). These bacteria are found to live and grow
without atmospheric oxygen as they produce
themselves the needed oxygen by decomposing the
biomass. The digestion or fermentation process of wet
biomass by these bacteria is favoured by the factors
such as wetness, warmness and darkness conditions.
• (C6Hl0O5)n + n H2O → Sn CO2 + Sm CH4
• The airtight equipment used to convert the wet
biomass into biogas by digestion or fermentation
process is called biogas digester or plant which is
properly constructed and controlled to favour biogas or
methane production. The conversion process is called
biodigestion or anaerobic fermentation and the output
is methane or biogas. The residuals or nutrients such as
soluble nitrogen compounds remaining in the wet
biomass slurry provide or produce excellent natural
fertilizers and humus. The biogas can provide 60–75%
of the energy of the dry converted biomass during
combustion.
• The biochemical process of converse in from
biomass to biogas takes place in the following
three stages:
– Hydrolysis of organic matter. The biomass (complex compounds
of carbohydrate, protein and fats) is broken due to the action of
water (hydrolysis) into simpler soluble compounds. Similarly,
large molecules (polymers) are reduced to basic molecules
(monomers). The process is completed in a day at a temperature
of about 25°C.
– Anaerobic and faculative microorganisms. These bacteria start
growing to produce acetic and propionic acids. The process is
completed in a day at the temperature of 25°C. The output of the
process is the production of carbon dioxide.
– Digestion. Anaerobic bacteria slowly digest the biomass slurry to
produce biogas. The process is completed in 2 weeks at the
temperature of about 25°C.
• Raw material for biogas
• The raw materials for biogas can be waste, cultivated material and
harvested material. The waste includes industrial waste, agricultural
crop residues and waste, animal waste, urban

• waste, aqua waste and forest waste. Agricultural crops include rice,
wheat and cereals while agricultural wastes include wheat straw,
sugarcane biogasses, groundnut shell, coconut shell and rich husk.
Animal wastes include cow dung, horse manure, sheep manure and
poultry waste. Urban wastes include paper, leftover food, plastic,
rubber, wood and textile. Aqua wastes include water plants
(hyacinth), algae and waste from fishery. Forest wastes include
waste from sugar mill, tannery, fruit processing industry and paper
mill.
Factors affecting the performance of a
digester
• The factors affecting the performance of a digester are as follow:
• Temperature. Anaerobic bacteria grow and work best in the
temperature range of 20–65°C.
• Pressure. A pressure of 6–l0 cm of water column is
considered ideal for proper functioning of the digester.
• Water. The presence of water helps in better mixing of various
constituents of the biomass, hydrolysis of biomass, movement of
bacteria and faster digestion process. The optimum solid content
of biomass is 9–l0%.
• pH value. The pH value in the acid forming stage of digestion
process should be about 6 (acidic). During methane forming stage,
the pH value should be about 6.5–7.5 as anaerobic bacteria do not
grow in acidic solution.
• Feeding rate. A uniform feeding rate should be maintained. In case
of faster feed, acids will accumulate to stop digestion process. In
case of slow feed, the digestion progresses slowly due to non-
availability of sufficient biomass.
• Presence of nutrients. Carbon, nitrogen and other nutrients are
essential for digestion. Carbon and nitrogen are main nutrients for
anaerobic bacteria and their presence in proper ratio is essential to
ensure the maximum microbiological activity. Selected raw
materials should added to maintain the proper concentration of
nutrients in digestion solution of bacteria.
• Seeding. To start or accelerate the digestion process, it is customary
to add a small amount of digested slurry containing methane
forming bacteria to the freshly charged digester. This process is
called seeding of bacteria.
• Mixing and stirring. Mixing and stirring of digester slurry helps to
mix the floating masses of biomass in the slurry for bacterial action
so as to speed up the methane forming process in the slurry.
• Retention time. It is the duration for which the biomass slurry
remains in the digester. The digesters are designed to keep biomass
for the retention period ranging from S0 to 50 days depending on
the region (climatic temperature) and type of biomass. Retention
time is optimised to get atleast 70–80% of digestion of the slurry.
• Toxic substances. The presence of pesticides, detergents and
ammonia in the biomass affects the digestion process.
• Type of biomass. The digestion process also depends on the type of
biomass. The biomass can be cow dung, poultry manure, sheep
manure, night soil, rice husk, algae and water hyacinth and these
have a different rate of biogas yield per unit mass
 types of biogas plants
• Biogas plants can be classified as batch type and continuous type. The
continuous type biogas plants can be further classified as (i) floating drum
or constant pressure type plant and
• fixed dome or constant volume type plant.
• Batch type plant
• A batch type plant consists of a number of digesters which are charged,
used and emptied one by one in a synchronous manner to maintain
regular supply to gas holder or storage tank. Each digester is charged with
fresh biomass and it starts supplying biogas after 8–l0 days. The digester is
now capable of supplying biogas for about 40–50 days till its biomass is
completely digested. Afterwards, this digester is emptied and recharged
with fresh biomass. Hence, each digester should be charged in about at
the interval of 50–60 days. Digesters in a batch biogas plant is shown in
the Figure 5.2. The installation and operation of batch type plant is both
capital and labour intensive
 Continuous type biogas plant

• In continuous type biogas plant, a certain quantity of

biomass slurry is fed daily into the digester. This is made
possible by the removal of digested slurry through an outlet
so that the digester can have space to intake fresh biomass
slurry. The biogas produced is either stored in the digester
or removed to be stored in a gas holder. The plant operates
continuously and it is stopped only for the removal of
sludge. The layer of scum at the top of the biomass slurry is
periodically broken with the help of the stirrer as shown in
Figure 5.S. The stirring also helps in better mixing of
biomass slurry to speed up the digestion process. This type
of plant is most suitable for individual house owners as the
daily wastage can meet the biomass feed requirement of
the digester.
 Floating drum type biogas plant

• The plant consists of an inverted metallic drum to function

as gas holder and an underground digester constructed
from masonry with a partition wall as shown in Figure 5.4.
• The digester chamber is provided with a partition wall at
the centre so that optimum conditions for growth of acid
forming bacteria and methane forming bacteria can be
provided in the partitioned portions as biomass slurry
should be acidic and basic for acid forming and methane
forming bacteria, respectively. The pipe arrangements are
provided to the digester for the supply of fresh feed of
biomass slurry and the removal of digested slurry. As the
digester has floating gas holder, the pressure inside the
digester remains constant. There is no risk of explosion due
to prevailing low pressure of gas
• Advantages and disadvantages of floating drum type biogas plant
• The advantages are as follow:
– Higher gas production per cubic meter of digester volume.
– No gas leakage problem.
– Constant gas pressure.
– No danger of gas explosion.
– No separate pressure equalising device is needed when fresh feed is
added or digested slurry is removed from the digester.
– Simple installation.
• The disadvantages are as follows:
• It has higher cost due to movable metallic drum.
• It has corrosion problem in the metallic movable drum provided.
• It requires more maintenance.
 Fixed dome type biogas plant

• It has constant volume but varying pressure inside the digester as it has no
movable type gas holder but a fixed dome at the upper portion of the
digester as shown in Figure 5.5. The biomass and water are mixed into
slurry in inlet mixing tank, which is fed into the digester through the inlet
pipe. A stirrer is provided in the digester tank to mix the slurry inside the
digester, which also helps in mixing of scum floating on the slurry. The
generated biogas accumulates in the fixed dome of the digester and it is
taken out by an outlel pipe. The residual digested slurry is taken out from
an opening in the digester. In the modified fixed dome type biogas plant, a
displacement tank is also provided which is connected to the digester. As
the pressure of gas in the fixed dome increases, the level of the slurry
inside the digester goes down and it forces the slurry to rise in the
displacement tank. This arrangement helps in maintaining a constant
pressure inside the digester about l m of water column and the removal of
digested slurry from the displacement tank
• Advantages and disadvantages of fixed drum type biogas plant
• The advantages are as follows:
• It has lower cost.
• It has no corrossion problem.
• It has better heat insulation.
• It requires no maintenance. The disadvantages are as follows:
• Gas production per cubic meter of the digester is less.
• It has variable pressure of biogas.
•
• It has more risk of leakage due to higher pressure of gas.
• It has more risk of explosion.
• It involves complex installation.
KVIC and Janata model-
• These plants are commonly known as KVIC (Khadi Village and Industrial
Commission) plants and were standardized in 1962 and are used widely
even now. These plants have an underground well-shaped digester having
inlet and outlet connections through pipes located at its bottom on either
side of a partition wall. An inverted drum (gas holder) made of mild steel
is placed in the digester which rests on the wedge shaped support and the
guide frame at the level of the partition wall and moves up and down
along a guide pipe with the accumulation and use of gas. The weight of
the drum applies pressure on the gas to make it flow through the pipelines
to the points of use. The different components of KVIC biogas plants are
shown in Fig. 6.1.
• The gasholder alone is the costliest component which accounts for about
40% of the total installation cost of biogas plant. It also needs to be
painted regularly for protecting it against corrosion. These plants can be
of any size to cater the needs of the users.
• Janta model biogas plant
• This is the first fixed-dome biogas plant was introduced in the form
of the Janta Model Biogas Plant by Gobar Gas Research Station,
Ajitwal in 1978. The main feature of this model is that the digester
and the gas holder are integrated parts of brick masonry
structure. The digester is made of a shallow well having a dome-
shaped roof on it. The inlet and outlet tanks are connected with
the digester through large chutes which are called displacement
chambers. The gas pipe is fitted on the crown of the masonry
dome and there is an opening on the outlet wall of the outlet
displacement chamber for the discharge of spent digested slurry.
The size of these plants is limited to 15 m3 par day. The different
components of Janta Model Biogas Plant are shown in Fig. 6.2.
Deenbandhu model biogas plant
• Deenbandhu model biogas plant was developed by AFPRO (Action for Food
Production, New Delhi) in 1984. The world Deenbandhu is meant as the friend of
the poor. This plant is designed on the principle that the surface area of biogas
plants is reduced (minimized) to reduce their installation cost without sacrificing
the efficiency of the plant. The design consists of segments of two spheres of
different diameters, joined at their bases. The structure thus formed act as the
digester as fermentation chamber as well as the gas storage chamber. The higher
compressive strength of the brick masonry and concrete makes it preferable to go
in for a structure which could always be kept under compression. A spherical
structure loaded from the convex side will be under compression and therefore,
the internal load will not have any residual effect on the structure.
• The digester is connected with the inlet pipe and the outlet tank. The upper part
above the normal slurry level of the outlet tank is designed to accommodate the
slurry to be displaced out of the digester with the generation and accumulation of
biogas and is called outlet displacement chamber. The size of these plants is
recommended up to 6 m3 par day. The different components of Deenbandhu
Model Biogas Plant are show in Fig. 6.3.
 Biomass Energy Programme in lndia

• It has been estimated that 40 million tons of solid

waste and 5000 million tons of liquid wastes are
generated in India every year in the urban areas over
and above the wastes generated in industrial sector.
Owing to lack of stringent provision against pollution
and lack of awareness, most of the waste generated is
discharged into rivers, ponds and low-lying land
without any treatment or utilisation. Such disposal of
waste without treatment or utilisation results in
creating odour, pollution of water and air, and emission
of greenhouse gases such as methane and carbon
dioxide.
• Biomass conversion technology can help in
generation of biomass energy, reduction in the
quantity of waste and improvement in quality of
waste water to meet the pollution control
standards before discharging into rivers and
streams. It is estimated that there is a
potential of generating about l700 MW power
from urban and industrial wastes in India.
Currently nearly 4l5 MW power is being
generated from industrial wastes in India. MNES
is promoting the setting up of more waste energy
projects in India
• India is in fact a predominantly agricultural
country and it is reported to have the potential to
generate nearly l9,500 MW power from
agricultural wastes. It is reported that a total of
6lS MW power is being generated from these
wastes in India. India has also launched a
scheme to blend 5% ethanol in petrol, which has
helped to considerably reduce the import of
crude oil. Ethanol is produced from sugarcane
and this blending has encouraged greater
cultivation of sugarcane crop in India.
• Biomass fuels such as firewood are used by villages for
cooking and heating purposes. The present chulhas are
incapable of burning such fuels efficiently, thereby
causing serious health problems besides economic
loss. Technologies and devices are being developed to
produce more efficient and clean fuels from the rural
biomass. More efficient chulhas are also developed.
India has presently installed 58 MW power plant
running on biogasifiers. About l20 lakh biogas plants
have been installed which are running on cow dung,
family waste and agro waste.
END