Relevance: GS-3 (Energy, Environment, & Infrastructure) | Source: The Hindu

1. The Core News Context

Global energy disruptions are pushing India to build decentralised bioenergy systems.

Instead of importing expensive fossil fuels, India aims to convert its massive local organic waste (crop residue, food waste, sewage) into commercial energy. This creates a self-reliant, circular rural economy.

2. Core Technologies (How it Works)

Waste is converted into energy through two specific scientific methods:

• Biomass Gasification (For DRY Waste):
  • Input: Dry farm stubble, rice husk, and wood.
  • Process: A thermochemical process where waste is heated at high temperatures with limited oxygen (so it doesn’t burn completely).
  • Outputs: Syngas (a fuel gas for electricity) and Biochar (a carbon-rich solid used as fertilizer).
• Anaerobic Digestion (For WET Waste):
  • Input: Wet food scraps, cow dung, and sewage.
  • Process: A biological process where microbes eat the waste in the complete absence of oxygen.
  • Outputs: Biogas (can be purified into vehicle fuel) and Digestate (nutrient-rich organic manure).

3. Why “Decentralised” Plants?

Instead of building massive, central power plants, the government is funding small, local units:

• Zero Transport Burden: Raw farm waste is bulky and expensive to transport. Processing it locally saves massive logistics costs.
• Rural Industrialization: Village-level bioenergy plants create local green jobs and boost rural MSMEs.

4. UPSC Value Box

• SATAT Scheme: A central policy encouraging private entrepreneurs to produce Compressed Bio-Gas (CBG) from waste and sell it to oil companies as vehicle fuel.
• GOBARdhan Scheme: A rural sanitation initiative to safely convert village cattle dung and farm waste into biogas and organic compost.
• Fixing Stubble Burning: Gasification gives commercial value to dry paddy stubble. It pays farmers to sell their waste instead of burning it, directly cutting down North India’s winter smog.

Consider the following statements regarding bioenergy production technologies in India:

1. Biomass gasification is a biological process that breaks down wet organic waste in the absolute absence of oxygen to produce syngas.
2. Anaerobic digestion utilizes microorganisms to process wet feedstock like animal manure and food waste into methane-rich biogas.
3. Under the GOBARdhan scheme, rural agricultural and cattle waste is managed to produce both organic manure and biogas.

Which of the statements given above are correct?

(a) 1 and 2 only

(b) 2 and 3 only

(c) 1 and 3 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

Correct Answer: (b) 2 and 3 only