Plant to convert wet waste to gas set to be operational in Delhi in March ’24

On July 27, the New Delhi Municipal Council cleared the transfer of 5 acre land in Okhla to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD)

New Delhi: Delhi’s first plant converting domestic wet waste to compressed gas, which will be used to fuel vehicles, is expected to be operational in Okhla by March 2024, according to senior municipal officials overseeing the project.

The facility will process around 300 tonne of domestic wet waste every day to produce bio CNG/CBG (compressed natural gas, biogas). (Raj K Raj/ HT PHtoto)

The facility will process around 300 tonne of domestic wet waste every day to produce bio CNG/CBG (compressed natural gas, biogas). On July 27, the New Delhi Municipal Council cleared the transfer of 5 acre land in Okhla to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) for the development of a solid waste management facility.

A senior MCD official said that the land will be utilised to develop the filling stations, and gas storage areas and augment the capacity of the plant.

“An old 200 tonne per day (TPD) capacity composting plant was operating at Okhla which had become dysfunctional. The plant was removed and the site is now being turned into a 300 TPD bio-CNG plant. We are working with Indo Enviro Integrated Solutions Limited to execute this project. With the land transfer complete, the last hurdle has been removed,” the official said, requesting anonymity.

Around 20 acre in Okhla was leased to NDMC in 1980 for a compost plant and an auto workshop. A proposal was sent by MCD commissioner Gyanesh Bharti in May 2023 regarding the transfer which was approved by the council ten days ago.

A second MCD official associated with the project said that the gas generated in the plant can be used as fuel in vehicles or as a cooking fuel which can be supplied to nearby households.

“The land was needed to set up a storage area for gas, develop a filling station, and expand the capacity of the plant from 300TPD to 500TPD. This will be the first such unit to turn domestic wet waste into fuel. The other three plants are being designed to run on cattle dung,” the second official said.

MCD has also initiated cow dung-based biogas plants in Ghogha, Goyla, and Nangli Sakrwati which will process 200 tonne of cattle waste every day.

“We are trying to complete these biogas plants by the end of this year,” the official added.

The MOU for the Okhla project was signed by the erstwhile South Delhi Municipal Corporation in December 2021 and the Ghogha facility MOU was signed in January 2022.

“As per the agreement, the corporation is providing the land for free for this project and the MCD will provide segregated biodegradable waste (wet waste) to the plant as per Solid Waste Management Rules 2016,” the MCD official said.

A senior MCD official explained that the bio-methanation process of 200 tonne per day of solid waste may lead to the production of 8,000 kg per day of compressed gas, 30 tonne per day of city compost, 100kl (kilolitres) per day of wet slurry.

“The manure may be utilised by MCD at its nursery, garden, and green belt at a mutually decided cost, or the operator may be allowed to sell it in the open market after improving its quality further,” the official added. The project is conceived under public-private-partnership mode under which the contractor will run the plant for a period of 20 years.

Indore operates a similar bio-CNG plant which is used to supply fuel to the bus fleet of the city. On February 19 last year, PM Modi inaugurated a 550 tonne per day capacity plant worth ₹150 crore at the Devguradia trenching ground. It can generate 17,000-18,000kg of bio-CNG and 10 tonne of organic manure.