Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
vide further impetus to dissemination of solar
technologies.
Biogas
represents an alternative source of
energy, derived mainly from organic wastes. In
India, the use of biogas derived from animal
waste, primarily cow dung, has been promoted
for over three decades now. Biogas production is
a clean low carbon technology for effi cient man-
agement and conversion of organic wastes into
clean renewable biogas and organic fertilizer
source. It has the potential for leveraging sustain-
able livelihood development as well as tackling
local (land, air, and water) and global pollution.
Biogas obtained by anaerobic digestion of cattle
dung and other loose and leafy organic matters/
wastes can be used as an energy source for cook-
ing, lighting, and other applications like refriger-
ation, electricity generation, and transport
applications. Since biogas plants contribute in the
reduction of greenhouse gases (GHG), hence
they can be installed for availing of Clean
Development Mechanism (CDM) benefi ts
thereby generating additional revenue for wider
coverage and reducing cost of biogas plants to
government and benefi ciaries. Based on the avail-
ability of cattle dung, an estimated potential of
about 12 million family type biogas plants exists
in the country, which can generate annually on an
average basis about 15,000 million cubic meter
of biogas. In addition, biogas plants also provide
high-quality organic manure with soil nutrients
which improves its fertility required for sustain-
able production and productivity. The “National
Biogas and Manure Management Programme
(NBMMP)” is being implemented in the country
since 1981-1982 for promotion of biogas plants
based on cattle dung and other organic wastes.
The NBMMP mainly caters to setting up of fam-
ily type biogas plants for meeting the cooking
energy needs in rural areas of the country along
with making enriched bio-fertilizer available to
farmers. The availability of clean energy miti-
gates drudgery of rural women, reduces pressure
on forests, and accentuates social benefi ts. In
order to provide training support and technical
backup, 12 Biogas Development and Training
Centers (BDTCs) have been set up in Universities,
Indian Institute of Technology (IITs), and other
Technical Institutes. With the installation of 4.31
million family type biogas plants by January
2011, about 35 % of the estimated potential has
been realized so far (MNRE).
Hydrogen
has signifi cant potential as a clean
energy source for a broad range of applications
including power production and transportation.
Hydrogen can be used for power generation and
also for transport applications. It is possible to
use hydrogen in internal combustion (IC) engines,
directly or mixed with diesel and compressed
natural gas (CNG), or hydrogen can also be used
directly as a fuel in fuel cells to produce electric-
ity. Hydrogen energy is often mentioned as a
potential solution for several challenges that the
global energy system is facing. The advantages
are the fact that hydrogen use results in nearly
zero emissions at end use and that hydrogen
opens up the possibility of decentralized produc-
tion on the basis of a variety of fuels. But it is also
found that hydrogen will not play a major role in
India without considerable research, technology
innovations, and cost reductions, mainly in fuel
cell technology.
Hydrogen energy research in India started in
1976 on the initiative of the Government of
India and covers almost all areas of technical
relevance to the deployment of hydrogen as an
energy vector (Sastri
1989
). Now, hydrogen
energy is also at an early stage of development.
MNRE also funded research projects on differ-
ent aspects of hydrogen energy technology
development. India is the member of the
International Partnership on Hydrogen Economy
(IPHE) set up in Washington, D.C., in November
2003. Future challenges to India include lower-
ing cost of hydrogen substantially, improving
production rates from different methods, devel-
opment of compact and inexpensive storage
capacity, establishment of hydrogen network,
development of hydrogen-fuelled integrated cir-
cuit engine, and effi ciency improvement of dif-
ferent types of fuel cell systems. The road map
envisages taking up of research, development,
and demonstration activities in various sectors
of hydrogen energy technologies and visualized
goals of one million hydrogen-fuelled vehicles
and 1,000 MW aggregate hydrogen-based
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