The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) will establish a compressed biogas (CBG) plant in Tirumala in collaboration with Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL).
The plant will come up on one acre of land at a cost of ₹12 crore which will be shared equally by the TTD and IOCL.
The TTD, as part of its ‘Swachh Tirumala’ programme, has already set up a Municipal Wet Waste Treatment Plant atop the town employing windrow technology with the assistance of an agency for the production of compost/manure, and thereby minimise adverse impact on the environment.
The TTD decided to set up the biogas plant as it was an ideal alternative for disposal of wet waste. The biogas produced from the wet waste can be used in production of electricity and heat while the residual stabilised sludge can be used as a soil conditioner and fertilizer.
TTD deliberated with IOCL authorities who after a detailed technical study of the proposal expressed their willingness for the setting up of the plant on a 50:50 cost-sharing basis.
After an analysis, it was found that the TTD required 3.335 MT of LPG a day. Setting up of a solar steam cooking system under NREDCAP would bring down consumption by 1.10 MT a day, officials said.
Meanwhile, the proposed plant is estimated to generate around 1.625 MT of CBG and drastically reduce dependency on LPG, besides fetching an annual net saving of around ₹2 crore excluding operational and maintenance costs.
A team of TTD officials who assessed the feasibility of a similar plant set up by IOCL at Namakkal in Tamil Nadu in their report suggested that the gas so produced can be transported in cylinders rather than through conventional pipelines after making a few modifications to the existing gas burners and stoves.
Taking into cognisance the volume of savings the proposed plant would fetch, the TTD recently gave its consent to IOCL for taking up the works.
