Cows/Bullocks Are Forever: Methane Gas the Answer to the Uncontrollable Rising Oil Import Bills

Cows/Bullocks Are Forever: Methane Gas the Answer to the Uncontrollable Rising Oil Import Bills

In the wake of continuously increasing prices of LPG/Diesel/Petrol, I would like to share a very informative article published as the LEADER ARTICLE in Times of India: By ARUN FIRODIA (The author is chairman, Kinetic Group) way back on Dec 8, 2004. Please spare some time and go through this data-rich, thought-provoking content outlining a solution to this monstrous problem.

Cows/Bullocks Are Forever: Methane Gas the Answer to Oil Imports

Our country has a livestock population of around 250 million, which produces close to 125 million tonnes of cowdung. Using this we can produce enough methane gas to entirely replace LPG/kerosene in cooking, and substitute petrol in transportation. This Gas can also generate electricity to meet requirements, at least in rural areas. The by-product can serve as excellent organic manure, substituting chemical fertilizers which require LNG as feedstock.

The Gobar Gas research station in Uttar Pradesh has established that one Cow gives enough cowdung in a year to produce methane gas equivalent to 225 litres of petrol in energy terms.

The calorific value table would show that one kg of methane gas is more or less equal in energy content to one kg of petrol, LPG, kerosene or diesel.

LPG is generally used for cooking in urban areas while kerosene is the preferred fuel in rural India. A 15 kg LPG cylinder lasts about two months for a family of six. This works out to 15 kg of LPG per capita per year. The same holds true for kerosene. The entire LPG and kerosene requirements of our 100 Crore population can be met by methane gas cylinders, produced from the cowdung of 75 million cows.

Just like CNG, methane gas can be used to run automobile engines in place of petrol. Our petrol consumption last year (2003-04) was eight million tonnes. On the assumption that one cow produces methane gas equivalent to 225 litres of petrol, we will need about 40 million cows to produce an energy equivalent to eight million tonnes of petrol.

A generator needs 200 gm of petrol to produce one kilowatt-hour (kwH) of electrical energy. The per capita electrical energy consumption in rural area is 112 kwH per annum. Our rural population being 74 Crore, we will need another 85 million cows to meet the electrical energy needs of rural areas. This comes to a total of 200 million livestock to satisfy our energy requirements.

Obtaining methane gas from cowdung is simple enough. It consists of an airtight tank filled with raw organic waste like cowdung. The anaerobic decay of this matter generates gobar gas. An agitator quickens the process. The gas is collected in an inverted drum. This gas has 68 per cent methane & 31 per cent carbon dioxide. It is passed through lime water to remove the CO2 & over iron fillings to remove HoS. It then becomes enriched with methane.

The gobar gas plants are available in various sizes, from three cubic metres to 270 cubic metres, costing between Rs 20,000 and Rs 100,000. A compressor can extract and compress this methane gas into portable cylinders. These methane gas cylinders can then be used for cooking, or in automobiles and two wheelers. As much as 50 per cent of the cowdung slurry is available as leftover in the gobar gas plant, which then can be used to produce organic manure rich in nitrogen and phosphorus. The cowdung of 200 million cows can produce 50 million tonnes of manure, which can be used for two rotations in a year to take care of the fertilizer needs of the entire 143 million hectares in the country. This will completely offset the need to import LNG, used as feedstock in fertilizer plants.

If every village (approx. 6.25 lakh villages) has 50 farmer families who maintain just two bullocks and four cows each, the cowdung of these animals can produce enough methane gas to take care of country's entire energy needs, now being met by LPG, kerosene, petrol and LNG. Besides, this livestock can provide rural electricity as well.

The West has already started generating biodiesel in a big way. Even in India, trees like pungan, neem, karanji, ratanjyot or jatropha can be grown to produce oil. A thousand such trees can be planted on one hectare, which will yield 10 tonnes of oilseeds, from which 2.5 tonnes of oil can be extracted. This oil can be converted into biodiesel after esterification and used as fuel in diesel engines. Our annual requirement of diesel oil last year was 38 million tonnes. This amount of biodiesel can be produced by trees planted on 15 million hectares of fallow or wastelands. And, we do have 25 million hectares of fallow land. In other words, we can generate enough biodiesel to meet our entire need of diesel oil.

Methane farming and biodiesel are the Renewable sources to meet our entire energy needs. Why should we import oil from the Gulf or gas in a pipeline via a hostile Pakistan, when we can manage from our resources?