India – bio-waste run generator developed by Agra entrepreneur

city-based entrepreneur has successfully developed a biomass-run generator as a major step towards promoting renewable sources of energy.



The generator developer, Rajesh Garg, told NewsPost India ‘‘We have designed, developed and made operational a power generating set run on 100 percent biogas and industrial waste gas-based engines. We have also successfully developed biomass based generators, which can be run by many types of wastes like wood shavings, rice husk, or oil-seed waste.‘‘



The latest version of the generator was released in August 2007 after trials and confirmation of multi-use parameters. The trials began in November 2004 and production started a few months later.



Garg said that since 2004 he has been continuously upgrading the generator by making improvements in design and technology. The latest gensets he has designed use 30 percent cloth and polythene waste plus other wastes in a special gasifier, which does not release any toxic gas or pollutants. These generators are being exported to many African nations and other countries like Australia, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh and Cambodia.



‘‘We are being regularly visited by foreign buyers who want to see and satisfy themselves with the performance and live demonstration of the complete system. Presently, many experts in different countries are doing research work in this field,‘‘ Garg said.



He added that the Indian government is showing a keen interest in manufacturing and popularising the biomass generators to provide electricity in remote rural areas.



‘‘In the rural areas there is an abundance of waste from agricultural produce which at present is either burnt or used to fill up land. After harvesting, farmers usually burn the left over roots in the fields. If all this waste could be collected and used to run the new gensets it will solve a big problem,‘‘ said Garg.



‘‘The generators running on gobar gas were not as efficient because of the low calorific value but the system designed by us has brought about a significant change and the results are impressive. The National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) has identified 1000 villages where our gensets will be installed,‘‘ the entrepreneur added.



He said that new techniques like pyrolysis have made it possible to use even polythene waste and cloth cuttings without any environmental degradation. Pyrolysis is the chemical decomposition of organic materials by heat in the absence of oxygen.



Garg, who has a bachelor‘‘s degree in engineering from Bangalore University, first developed the higher capacity multi-cylinder diesel engines and launched the first self-developed 41 HP diesel engines, followed by 56 and 84 HP diesel engines using his own process and technology.



He later switched over to developing natural gas-based engines for which indigenous technology was not available. ‘‘These engines are widely accepted by customers and hundreds of gas gensets have been successfully sold in the Indian market in last few years,‘‘ he said.



Agra is one of India‘‘s largest manufacturing centres of diesel generators and agricultural implements. With Euro III standards coming into force last year, the diesel generator manufacturing industry is finding hard to survive as costs have escalated due to additional installation of canopies to control air pollution.

>>