Time To Step on The Gas

It is an imperative to bring parity between Compressed Biogas (CBG) and Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) prices to promote CBG as an alternative fuel in the interest of the gas-based economy

- Dr. A R Shukla

Countries all over the world are focusing on a self-sustainable circular economy. The government of India has also formulated several policies and schemes to steer the country towards becoming a circular economy that is environmentally and economically sustainable.

The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has launched a significant initiative to promote the use of Compressed Biogas (CBG) as an alternative fuel. This initiative aims to provide Sustainable Alternatives for Affordable Transportation (SATAT). The programme was introduced in October 2018 and is an ambitious and promising project.

This scheme on CBG encourages entrepreneurs to set up CBG plants and produce and supply CBG to Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) for sale as automotive and industrial fuel.

The scheme envisages targeting the production of 15 MMT (million metric tonnes) of CBG from 5,000 plants and generating millions of direct and indirect jobs. The CBG produced can be used as an alternative fuel and help cut the country's natural gas expenditure by at least 40 per cent. Moreover, it will consume 1.3 million metric tonnes of crop stubble per year, tackling the issue of air pollution.