GOBAR-DHAN scheme

  • February 9, 2023
  • Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
  • Category: DPN Topics
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GOBAR-DHAN scheme

Subject : Environment

Section : Sustainable Development

Context: Union Finance Minister announced 500 new ‘waste to wealth’ plants for promoting a circular economy with a total investment of Rs 10,000 crore under the GOBAR-Dhan scheme in the budget speech.

GOBAR-DHAN scheme

  • Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation has launched the GOBAR (Galvanizing Organic Bio-Agro Resources) – DHAN scheme. The scheme is being implemented as part of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin).
  • The Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) comprises two main components for creating clean villages – creating open defecation free (ODF) villages and managing solid and liquid waste in villages.
  • The GOBAR-DHAN scheme, with its focus on keeping villages clean, increasing the income of rural households, and generation of energy from cattle waste, is an important element of this ODF-plus strategy.
  • The programme will be implemented using SLWM funding pattern of SBM-G Guidelines.

Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT)

  • Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT) is an initiative aimed at setting up of Compressed Bio-Gas production plants and make it available in the market for use in automotive fuels by inviting Expression of Interest from potential entrepreneurs.
  • The initiative was launched in October 2018 by the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas in association with Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) Oil Marketing Companies (OMC) viz. Indian Oil Corporation Ltd., Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd.
  • Aim: To produce compressed biogas (CBG) from Waste and Biomass sources like agricultural residue, cattle dung, sugarcane press mud, Municipal Solid Waste(MSW) and sewage treatment plant waste and make CBG available in the market for use as a green fuel.
  • Compressed Bio-Gas (CBG) plants are proposed to be set up mainly through independent entrepreneurs. CBG produced at these plants will be transported through cascades of cylinders to the fuel station networks of OMCs for marketing as a green transport fuel alternative.

About National Bioenergy Programme

  • The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has notified the National Bioenergy Programme in November 2022.
  • MNRE has continued the National Bioenergy Programme for the period from FY 2021-22 to 2025-26.
  • The Programme has been recommended for implementation in two Phases:
    • The Phase-I of the Programme has been approved with a budget outlay of Rs. 858 crores.

The National Bioenergy Programme will comprise the following sub-schemes:

  • Waste to Energy Programme
    • It is Programme on Energy from Urban, Industrial and Agricultural Wastes /Residues to support the setting up of large Biogas, BioCNG and Power plants.
    • Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) will be the implementing agency for the program.
  • Biomass Programme
    • It is a Scheme to Support Manufacturing of Briquettes & Pellets and Promotion of Biomass (non-bagasse) based cogeneration in Industries to support setting up of pellets and briquettes for use in power generation and non-bagasse based power generation projects.
  • Biogas Programme
    • To support setting up of family and medium size Biogas in rural areas.

Biogas

  • Biogas is a co-product of the anaerobic digestion (under the absence of oxygen) of biodegradable waste such as agricultural waste, animal waste like dung and segregated organic fraction of municipal solid waste.
  • Anaerobic digestion yields a variety of products in three different formats. The slurry obtained from the process is usually passed through a solid-liquid separation unit to extract the liquid by-product, known as liquid fertiliser and the solid fraction, known as fermented organic manure (FOM).
  • The co-product obtained in the liquid fraction is usually re-circulated and used in the digestion process, while the solid fraction can be used as a soil conditioner or fertiliser.
  • The gaseous fraction obtained in the process is known as biogas. Biogas contains about 55-65 per cent methane, 35-44 per cent of carbon dioxide and traces of other gases such as hydrogen sulphide, ammonia and nitrogen.
  • In its raw form, biogas can be used as a clean cooking fuel like LPG for lighting, motive power and electricity generation.
  • Further, biogas can be purified and upgraded up to 98 per cent of purity to make it suitable to be used as a green fuel for transportation or filling of cylinders. The process relies on a high pressure of circa 250 bar and hence is called compressed biogas (CBG).
  • Compressed Bio-Gas is exactly similar to the commercially available natural gas in its composition and energy potential. With calorific value (~52,000 KJ/kg) and other properties similar to CNG, Compressed Bio-Gas can be used as an alternative, renewable automotive fuel. Given the abundance of biomass in the country, Compressed Bio-Gas has the potential to replace CNG in automotive, industrial and commercial uses in the coming years.
Environment GOBAR-DHAN scheme