Waste Management using energy recovery Bio-reactors

Project 1 : Bioreactors for Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Waste at Siruguppa, Bellary district, Karnataka

Supported by Infrastructure Development Corporation Karnataka Ltd. (IDeCK)

TIDe, in technical collaboration with Centre for Sustainable Technologies, IISc has implemented a project for the conversion of the organic fraction of the municipal solid waste into energy and resources in sirigupa town, Bellary district. The project constructed a bioeactor (a plug flow disgester) that would convert the organic fraction into methane and compost. The amount of biogas produced depends of the amount of waste fed into the plant, but data collected shows that 1 kg of waste gives between 50 - 60 litres of biogas. the compost was also analyzed for various parameters and its C/N content and found to be 11.4

The project encounters problems in sourcing segregated waste and its delivery to the project site.

Project 2 : Bio Reactors for clean coffee effluent

Supported by Indo Norwegian Environment Project and Coffee Board, Ministry of Commerce

Coffee fruit is pulped and washed to obtain parchment. These two operations lead to the generation of two types of effluents - the pulp water and the wash water. these effluents have organic materials which when let into water bodies deplete oxygen from the water, and cause distress to aquatic life.

This is a project to demonstrate that high BOD effluents released during coffee pulping operations in coffee estates can be treated in bioreactors to generate biogas. The BOD load of the treated effluent is below the permissible limit recommended by the Pollution Control Board.

It also makes commercial sense to install bioreactors in coffee pulping sites. About 80 cu.ms of biogas is produced for every ton of coffee parchment produced. 1 cu. m of biogas substitutes 0.5 kg of LPG in cooking operations and 0.25 litres diesel in dual fuel mode of operation for generation of 1KWH of electricity.

The technology has been demonstrated in 13 locations and is working satisfactorily. In the off season, the bioreactor can be fed with other waste biomass like coffee husk, leaves, grass etc and it would produce biogas as well.

Project 3 : Integrated Solid Waste Management - Chikmagalur and Raichur, Karnataka

Supported by Centre for Sustainable Technologies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India

This project was initiated at the instance of Directorate of Municipal Administration, Governemnt of Karntaka and the Indo Norwegian Environment Program to demonstrate an Integrated Solid Waste Management system in compliance with the Municipal Solid Waste (Management and Handling) rules 2000 as notified by the Ministry of Environment and Forests.

TIDE was associated with the component involving conversion of the organic fraction of the municipal solid waste into energy and resources in the towns of Chikamagalur and Raichur in Karnataka.

TIDE has constructed the bioreactors and the compost yards that would each treat 1 ton of waste per day. TIDE has operated the plant at Chikamagalur for three days and collected data from the site. The project has established that it is possible to convert the organic fraction of the waste into biogas and compost and stream lined all operational and maintenance issues at the processing site

Project 4 : Bio Reactor for Canteen waste at Transport House, KSRTC, Bangalore

Immobilized cell bioreactor is a high rate biomethanation plant using spent biomass as the bacterial support. Methane producing bacteria (methanogens) are trapped on partially digested leafy biomass. Biomass wastes can be fed to these biogas plants in a totally dry state (such as rice straw, bagasse, paper shreds, etc.) or in green state (garden cuttings, lawn mowings, vegetables peels and wastes having on an average 85% moisture and 15% dry matter) or in a slushy state (food wastes such as uneaten rice, plate and dish washings, fruit and vegetable rejects, etc. having 90% moisture and 10% dry matter). These feedstocks need not be powdered or mashed before feeding. On the basis of dry matter fed to the bioreactors, every kilo fed produces between 50 and 80 litres of biogas.

The typical volume of the plant set up at Transport House, KSRTC is designed to handle 25 kg of canteen rejects along with the leaf litter. About 1.5 cubic meters of biogas is produced every day. The plant is a masonry structure, which was built and commissioned in the month of February 2005. A floating dome gasholder has been provided at the top for the collection of the biogas. Pipelines have been provided to the canteen and stove connected. At present, the gas is being used to keep the cooked food warm. The gas utilization time per day is around

Product: Bio Reactors

Project in Focus Areas

Renewable energy technologies

Informal process industries

Water and Environment management

Women and Livelihoods

Building local entrepreneurs

Other Projects

State wise distribution of projects