Soon, the Capital would be running on biogas. The Arvind Kejriwal Government is exploring possibility with the Swedish Government of converting biogas to CNG. The project, a first for the city, will see biogas generated at sewage treatment plants being converted into CNG.
Swedish Ambassador Harald Sandberg met Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal recently and reportedly offered a technology to convert biogas into CNG through sewage treatment plant. A business delegation from Sweden also is in Delhi to explore the possibility. Recently, Delhi Transport Minister Gopal Rai and PWD Minister Satyendra Jain had visited Sweden to study their transport system.
Senior officials said on the condition of anonymity that the Delhi Government is exploring possibility to use bio gas to run DTC buses in the national Capital.
The Keshopur STP was selected for the project because it is located close to a CNG-filling station and a CNG-fuelled power grid. The STP, functioning partially at present, can treat 72 million litres of wastewater per day.
The Delhi Jal Board is currently renovating it to make it fully functional as part of the Yamuna Action Plan. At full capacity, the STP will emit enough raw gas for the biogas plant to generate around 25,000 cubic metres of compressed biogas per day. This is enough to fuel 120 buses. Officials said the plant will receive raw gas emitted by the STP and upgrade it so that it can be used to propel vehicles.
The project, once completed, will earn the capital city the distinction of having the country’s first public transport fleet that runs on two types of clean fuel: biogas and CNG.
“Sweden has developed a technology that convert biogas into CNG which is being use to run public transport system. Sweden is considered pioneer in biogas technology for heating, power generation and fuelling vehicles. More than 40 per cent of the biogas generated in the country is used to run vehicles. The compressed biogas is almost similar to CNG, the main constituent of which is methane. Thus it can be directly injected into CNG cylinders for vehicular use or fed into CNG-fuelled power grid. It can be mixed with CNG and used,” officials said.
The biogas produced by the sewage treatment plants has a 60 per cent concentration of methane. For CNG, it has to be concentrated up to 90 per cent. Delhi at present has the largest fleet of CNG-run buses in the world. Around 450,000 vehicles-this includes some 16,000 buses-in Delhi run on CNG.
A joint venture was also signed between the Swedish and the Delhi Governments in 2009 to convert biogas into CNG. The Government will get 50 per cent funding for the project from Swedish Development Corporation Agency, and will pay for the rest.
