Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri inaugurated Asia's largest Compressed Bio Gas (CBG) plant in Sangrur, Punjab on Tuesday (18 October).

The plant has been commissioned with a Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) of Rs 220 crore by Verbio AG, one of Germany's leading Bio-energy companies.

The CBG plant at Sangrur, is spread across an area of 20 acres with a production capacity of about six tons per day (TPD) CBG.

Soon this plant will process 300 Tons Per Day of paddy straw at maximum capacity to produce 33 TPD of CBG using eight digesters of 10,000 cubic meters.

This plant will consume one lakh tons of paddy straw, which will be procured from six to eight satellite locations within a 10 km radius of the plant.

It is estimated that this plant would reduce stubble burning in 40,000 to 45,000 acres, translating into an annual carbon emission reduction of 1.5 lakh tons.

Also, the CBG plant produces about 600 to 650 tons of FOM (Fermented Organic Manure) per day, which can be used for organic farming.

Besides the above benefits, CBG plant provides direct employment to 390 and indirect employment to 585 people.

After the inauguration of the plant, Hardeep S. Puri said that this plant in Sangrur is just the beginning of India's master plan for a CBG-based rural economy.

He added that CBG plants are a huge leap forward in arriving at a win-win situation for farmers and the environment.

“Not only will this plant generate additional income for Sangrur's farmers, but it will also provide a much-needed alternative to stubble burning,” he said.

The Union government launched the Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT) scheme in October 2018 to establish an ecosystem for production of Compressed BioGas (CBG) from various waste and biomass sources.

According to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, apart from Sangrur plant, 38 CBG/Biogas Plants have been commissioned under the SATAT initiative.