Saturday, March 24, 2007

German Firm to make Biogas from Bagasse in India

The Indian biogas space is attracting international attention - and investments. While FuelCell Energy is looking at generating power (at least in part) from biogas in an "ultra-clean" way, Biogas Nord has set its eyes on the huge potential to generate biogas in India.

Via Biopact: German company, Biogas Nord is one of the world's biggest biogas companies. It takes its first step into India's rapidly growing biogas market with a contract for the construction of a large biogas plant for a sugar factory in Maharashtra. The Shree Tatyasaheb Kore Warana, is a sugar factory that produces 40,000 tons of bagasse a year. The biogas plants not just produce biogas, but also leave behind high-quality fertilizer. A big plus for the environment is that it prevents the emission of the greenhouse gas methane from the bagasse.

"The highly efficient biogas plants installed by Biogas Nord AG are based on a flow-storage process. This involves the operation of several tanks (fermenters) with biomass substrate continuously flowing through them".

The contract was worth 1.8 million euros, and Biogas Nord would well be setting its sights on the 165 sugar factories in Maharashtra, which is about half the number in India.