Bio-fuel from carcasses in Ahmedabad could be reality

The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) is mulling a project to produce bio-fuel from carcass, something which has never been done in India.

The civic body has received a proposal from a private company that wants to set up plant for producing bio-diesel and CNG along with high quality manure from bio-waste. If the project is implemented, it would be first of its kind in India.

The company has proposed to set up 500 metric tonne per day bio-waste processing unit in three phases in Ahmedabad. The company will use bio-waste such as hotel waste, mandi waste, slaughterhouse waste, fish market waste, dead animals and all types of organic waste as input material for producing diesel and CNG.

“We have received proposal for development of bio-diesel and CNG from bio-waste including carcass and the negotiations are in advance stage,” said IK Patel, deputy municipal commissioner of AMC.

Under the project, animal skin is degraded in the first stage bio-reactor by special bacterial consortium and pH is lowered to five, leading to an acidic environment leading to quick degradation of all the organic matter even the toughest matter like skin.

The company will produce bio-fertilizer from the residue and will supply it to the AMC at subsidies rates for using it in garden. Moreover, the company will also provide bio-diesel and CNG to AMC at lower rates compared to market price, said sources in AMC.

“If the project is implemented in the city, it would be first of its kind of projects in the country,” claimed sources. Sources said that the civic body receives around 10-15 complaints everyday for removal of dead animals in the city. Apart from that it receives around couple of tonne of slaughter waste from AMC-owned slaughter houses in Ahmedabad, said sources. This project will remove the foul and stinking smell in large area around the site of disposal of carcasses as energy efficient technology used by the company promises removal of foul smell as the waste is processed in fully enclosed bio-reactors. The company wants the civic body to provide land and infrastructure along with Rs100 per tonne as handling charge to partly offset huge cost of the project. As per an estimate, the company needs to invest around Rs35 lakh per tonne as project costs, excluding land and other infrastructure expenses.