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No waste, only energy

NATURAL POWER
Last Updated 26 January 2015, 18:38 IST

Oddoor Farm, located in Ganjimutt village on the outskirts of Mangaluru, is known among farmers and agriculturists of Dakshina Kannada and neighbouring districts for its numerous organic produces.

It also has one of the largest private dairies with nearly 200 cows of different breeds that produce nearly 1,000 litres of milk per day. More interestingly, out of the 120-acre farm, it has reserved 15 acres only to grow fodder. However, the lesser known aspect is that it has a 65 kV generator which runs on biogas, where methane gas gets converted into electricity. Cow urine and water used to clean cowshed are the inputs for the biogas. The power generated from this generator is used for running milking machines, cutting grass, running borewells, fertigating the entire plantation, besides using as an alternative power supply to the villa, where its proprietor Rajesh Naik and his family resides.The plantation also comprises a two-acre lake which is about 50 feet deep and ever since the lake was created a few years ago, it has never dried up, though a few borewells in the plantations have gone dry.

Barren to bounty
Today, the entire farm is lush green and it is difficult to believe that the land was barren 20 years ago, with only laterite stones. Rajesh Naik, a BSc graduate, purchased this land, which has an abandoned quarry, two decades ago.

Firstly, he developed the lake to become self-sufficient in water. Through persistent efforts, which included huge investment, he improved the land bit by bit. Says a proud Rajesh, “I could not have imagined that the barren land could be transformed into the fertile bounty that it is today.” As a part of it, he set up a poultry farm (now sold) and then a mini-dairy with two or three cows. Well, his dairy is far from ‘mini’ today, with 200 cows that produce about 1,000 litres of milk and 80,000 litres of slurry a day! The electricity bills would cost him more than Rs 30,000, initially. But after installing the biogas-run generator, the cost has reduced by half! “I don’t use it unless it is used to its full capacity to increase its life,” he said.

Maximum utility
Just like Rajesh Naik, Dr Arun Kumar Rai, proprietor of Bharath Agrovet Industries, has a biogas-run generator, but with a less capacity (20kV) at Ganjimutt, close to Oddoor Farms. While Rajesh Naik produces biogas with the help of cow urine slurry, Dr Arun produces it with the help of slurry produced from poultry processing. He also has two more biogas units at Sakleshpur (hatcheries) and Puttur (coconut processing), both with 50 kV capacity. While Puttur unit is not run to full capacity, Sakleshpur unit is completely utilised, says Dr Arun. He had invested Rs 15 lakh on the Sakleshpur unit and managed to get the amount back
within a year!

“Most of the time, there is no power in Sakleshpur. So, the generator runs throughout the day in the hatcheries.

Besides, cooking for my staff of 40 at the unit is done on the premises using the same generator,” he explains. “If it weren’t for the biogas unit, at least 25 litres of diesel per day would be required to run the generator. And imagine the quantity of LPG required to cook for 40 per day. In spite of using so much gas, there is always some in excess, which is used to burn dead chicken in the incinerator.”

Remarkable achievement
Both Rajesh and Dr Arun give the credit of successful installation of their biogas units to one young engineer, K Selvaraj from Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu. It all happened when the two of them learnt about the success stories of biogas units –at a much lesser price than that of regular biogas units – at a national-level poultry farmers’ meeting a few years ago.

Immediately, they approached Selvaraj, who had quit his job at an effluent
treatment plant in the US, to work on this technology. Resultantly, he came up with biogas units that are low-cost, long-lasting and made from locally available materials. These units are ideal for easy maintenance and could generate rural employment.

“At a time when reputed firms were charging anywhere around Rs 30 lakh to install 5 kV generators, Selvaraj would charge half the amount for 50 kV generators, using locally available materials to run the unit,” recalls a grateful Dr Arun.

Unfortunately, Selvaraj passed away last year, in an explosion, while experimenting with biogas in his own unit, Grace Line Bio-Energy, in Tamil Nadu, and now, his younger brother is continuing his work.

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(Published 26 January 2015, 17:44 IST)

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