Project launched for obtaining biofuel from Delhi’s Barapullah drain sewage

NEW DELHI: Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Science & Technology launched a first-of-its-kind bio fuel generation project in the country on September 18, 2018. A plant with a capacity of 10 lakh litres per day will be set up to produce biofuel by treating sewer water from Delhi’s Barapullah drain.

Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT), Mumbai will set up the plant on the banks of the Yamuna near Sun Dial, Sarai Kale Khan, within the coming nine months.

Each day plant will produce 4.15 tonnes biogas, which can be further processed to prduce one tonne of methane (Bio-CNG). 1.26 tonnes of fertilizers and nine lakh litres of reusable water will also be produced each day.

At present the project is only for demonstration purposes. Scientists from ICT said its capacity can be increased for treating entire Barapullah drain water.

This project is part of a DBT and Delhi Development Authority’s joint venture project, to transform the Barapullah drain near Sun Dial into a clean water technology park.

Under the joint venture, which was started last year, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, has set up a laboratory to test different technologies to treat waste water.

Dr Harsh Vardhan said, “This unique project will turn waste into a profitable resource and help in protecting the environment. I often get request from public to cover the drains in their area. BDT and ICT have shown that waste water can be converted into biofuel.”

Arvind Lali, professor of chemical engineering at ICT and head of DBT-ICT Centre for Energy Biosciences, said, “Waste should be considered as a resource. This is a next-generation technology for waste management, which is at least 20 times faster than the existing technology.”

He explained the process that first drain water will be filtered. Carbon present in the drain water will be captured in filtration process. This will clean water and make it fit for reuse in irrigation, toilets or to be released in the river.  ICT developed ‘catalytically thermo-liquefied (CTL)’ technology will be used for processing solid waste and sludge waste (or captured carbon) into CLT oil, that will be processed further to produce fertilizers, biogas, and methane in the last stage.