Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), a central public sector undertaking, will set up a compressed biogas (CBG) plant at Budaun in Uttar Pradesh.
The PSU has assigned the work to set up the plant to a Pune based private company. The plant will have the capacity to process 35,000 tons of rice straw as feedstock to generate 5,250 tons of compressed biogas.
The compressed biogas, or CBG, is produced by anaerobic decomposition of agricultural waste, sugarcane press mud and municipal waste. It can be used as a fuel for automobiles.
"This project will contribute to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas's Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT) initiative with the objective to promote CBG as an alternative, green transport fuel." The HPCL said, adding that the plant would also generate significant employment opportunities in surrounding farming and rural communities.
Agricultural waste in the form of rice straw procured as feedstock for the CBG project will provide additional income to farmers, facilitating the government's aim of doubling farmers' income.
In addition, the project, expected to be completed in 12 months, will also generate 23,000 tons of high quality, solid bio-manure and 3,50,000 tons of liquid bio-manure for ferti-irrigation. This could potentially save up to 15,000 tons in carbon dioxide emissions per year and will be completed and commissioned within 12 months.
It will offer its state-of-the-art plant using the RenGasTM technology.
The CBG plant will address the problem of air pollution caused by the burning of the crop residue or stubble every year in October/November after the harvesting of the paddy crop.  It is a well established fact that stubble burning by farmers of Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh is a major contributor to the deadly smog-soaked winters in Delhi and the National Capital Region.
In addition to wheat and paddy, sugarcane leaves are most commonly burnt. According to an official report, more than 5 crore MT of parali (crop residues) is produced annually in the country. Cereal crops (rice, wheat, maize and millets) account for 70 per cent of the total crop residue.  Of this, 34 per cent comes from rice and 22 per cent from wheat crops, most of which is burnt on the farm after harvesting of the crop. According to an estimate, 2 crore MT of rice stubble is produced every year in Uttar Pradesh and a large part of it is burnt.